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Blue Jays Trade Josh Walker To Phillies

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The Phillies announced the acquisition of lefty reliever Josh Walker from the Blue Jays for cash considerations. Philadelphia has had a free 40-man roster spot since José Alvarado was suspended. They optioned Walker to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, so no additional move was necessary.

Toronto had designated Walker for assignment earlier in the week. An injury to backup catcher Tyler Heineman forced the Jays to select Ali Sánchez to pair with Alejandro Kirk. That required a 40-man roster move and squeezed Walker off the depth chart. The 6’6″ southpaw had been on optional assignment and pitching in Triple-A for most of this month.

Walker had a brief stay on Toronto’s MLB roster earlier in the year. He made three appearances and allowed four runs over five innings. He struck out eight against two walks while relying primarily on a mid-80s curveball. Walker backs up that breaking pitch with both a four-seam and two-seam fastball that typically land in the 93-94 MPH range.

A product of the University of New Haven, Walker entered the professional ranks as a 37th-round draft choice by the Mets in 2017. He overcame that lack of prospect pedigree to get to the majors in 2023. Walker hasn’t had much success against big league hitters, tallying a combined 6.59 earned run average through 27 1/3 frames. He has pitched well up through the Double-A level, though his Triple-A results are more mixed.

Walker carries a 4.45 ERA with an above-average 26.6% strikeout rate over parts of five seasons at the top minor league level. He has struggled there in the early going, giving up eight runs (seven earned) on 13 hits and seven walks through his first 10 innings this season. He has managed 16 strikeouts on only 51 batters faced, however, which is presumably a selling point for Philadelphia.

Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks are each pitching well in Rob Thomson’s bullpen. They were the only two lefty relievers on the 40-man roster. Walker is in his last option year and can bounce between Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley for the remainder of the season.

Latest On Aaron Nola

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  • The Phillies are another club relatively deep in starting pitching options, though they may be without Aaron Nola for longer a 15-day minimum stint on the injured list.  Manager Rob Thomson told Lochlahn March of the Philadelphia Inquirer and other reporters that Nola’s sprained ankle is still feeling sore, which scrapped plans for Nola to begin throwing off a mound this weekend.  Nola’s IL placement began on May 15, and while Thomson didn’t this continued discomfort as any sort of big setback, he hinted that Nola might need to face some live batters (whether in the form of a live batting practice or a minor league rehab start) before being activated.

Jake Diekman Announces Retirement

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Jake Diekman announced his retirement in a lengthy social media post this evening. The longtime reliever appeared with nine major league teams during a career that spanned parts of 13 seasons. His announcement is worth a full read, as he went on to thank his former organizations, teammates, family, fans, representatives at Beverly Hills Sports Council and more.

Now 38, Diekman entered professional baseball as a 20-year-old back in 2007. The Phillies drafted the lanky lefty in the 30th round out of a Kansas junior college. He’d been committed to attend the University of Nebraska the following spring but elected to sign with the Phils. Diekman moved to the bullpen a couple seasons into his minor league career and received his first MLB call in May 2012.

Diekman made 191 appearances over three and a half seasons for the Phils. Philadelphia was rebuilding for most of that run, but he was part of a combined no-hitter in 2014 and tallied a cumulative 3.84 earned run average. The Rangers acquired him alongside Cole Hamels in a massive 2015 deadline deal.

While that was primarily the Hamels trade, Diekman was a significant part of the Texas bullpen for the next few years. He tallied 124 1/3 innings of 3.18 ERA ball over parts of four seasons as a Ranger. He appeared in the postseason in 2015 and ’16, firing six innings of one-run ball in his first October action during the former season.

Diekman was on the move at the 2018 deadline. Texas was headed to a 95-loss season and he was ticketed for free agency, making him an obvious trade candidate. The D-Backs picked him up for the stretch run, though he struggled during his brief stint in the desert. Diekman signed a one-year contract with the Royals during the winter. Kansas City flipped him to the A’s at the 2019 deadline, and he impressed the team enough to re-sign on a two-year deal the following offseason.

After three seasons in Oakland, Diekman firmly moved into journeyman territory for his final few seasons. He played for another four teams between 2022-24, concluding his big league run with 43 appearances for the Mets last year. The Nebraska native returned home on a contract with the independent Lincoln SaltDogs a few weeks ago, but he’s now decided to wrap up his playing days.

Diekman finishes with a 3.91 ERA in a little over 600 big league frames. He recorded 764 strikeouts, fanning almost 29% of opposing hitters throughout his career. He never had pristine command, but he reliably missed bats behind a fastball that got into the 97-98 MPH range at his peak. He recorded 187 holds, a mark topped only by Tony Watson and Adam Ottavino since his 2012 debut, and secured 19 saves in scattered closing opportunities. Baseball Reference calculates his career earnings north of $28MM. MLBTR congratulates Diekman on a strong career and sends our best wishes for his post-playing endeavors.

Can Kyle Schwarber Earn $100MM On His Next Contract?

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Designated hitter Kyle Schwarber is slated for free agency at the end of this season. Recently, a couple of different writers have floated a rough $100MM figure as a possibility for his next contract. On May 6th, Jeff Passan of ESPN published a column where he described Schwarber getting to $25MM annually over a four-year deal as “eminently reasonable.” About a week later, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that Schwarber’s recent performance might “lead to the $100 million contract” which previously eluded him.

While Passan did conclude that nine figures is “reasonable” for Schwarber, he is aware that it would set a new precedent. He writes that “a designated hitter who’s going to be 33 next Opening Day getting a nine-figure deal” would be an “outlier” but believes that Schwarber is himself an outlier and deserving of a contract that breaks the mold.

This post will dig in on those current precedents to see how far Schwarber would have to push the market in order to hit the century mark, with the help of MLBTR’s Contract Tracker.

This image (link for app users) shows all the free agent deals for designated hitters going back almost 20 years, sorted by total guarantee. As you can see, designated hitters have not been paid $25MM annually, nor have any received a $100MM guarantee.

Shohei Ohtani is out on an island here, for obvious reasons. He’s a unicorn in terms of on-field ability as a two-way player and his international stardom is unparalleled. No one else has topped $20MM annually. Anthony Santander came close to the century mark in terms of total sticker price but his $92.5MM deal had notable deferrals which pushed the net present value closer to the $70MM range. He’s also not a strict DH, having logged over 1,000 innings in the outfield for the Orioles last year.

Next on the list is Schwarber himself. The last time he hit the open market, he was going into his age-29 season, yet he could only get $79MM over four years, an AAV just under $20MM. Inflation usually pushes the market forward but somewhat similar players like Joc Pederson and Santander could only get to $18.5MM annually in the most recent offseason.

Schwarber is better than those guys, but let’s also look at the age question. Here are all free agent contracts for hitters starting at age-33 or older, regardless of position.

In this image (link for app users), we can see that no free-agent hitter has received a $100MM guarantee beginning at age 33, nor have any secured a $25MM annual salary beginning at that age. Another path to $100MM would be to get $20MM annually over five years. But as shown in that image, there have been no recent deals of that length for players in this age category.

Josh Donaldson did come close to the $25MM AAV and $100MM total. But at the time of that deal, he was still an above-average third baseman. He had just hit 37 home runs for Atlanta while being credited with ten Defensive Runs Saved and nine Outs Above Average. He continued playing well through the first half of that deal but was subpar at the plate in the final two years.

As for Starling Marte, his 2021 season saw him post a 132 wRC+, play over 1,000 innings in the outfield, and steal 47 bases in just 120 games. Still, he was limited to four years and an AAV just under $20MM.

So, designated hitters don’t get $100MM contracts. Nor do players pushing into their mid-30s. For Schwarber to get $100MM as a 33-year-old DH, some team would have to consider him to be worth significantly more than any other previous player in those categories. In fact, 33-year-old Schwarber would have to be valued higher than 29-year-old Schwarber.

What Schwarber has working for him is that he has found a new gear at the plate since coming to Philadelphia. Since signing that deal with the Phils, he has hit 148 home runs. He has drawn walks at a 15.4% clip. His 28.7% strikeout rate is high but he’s always been in that range. Overall, he has a .224/.348/.496 line and 131 wRC+ for the Phillies. Only Aaron Judge and Ohtani have hit more home runs in that time. Judge and Juan Soto are the only guys ahead of him in terms of walk rate, while the wRC+ number is 11th for hitters with at least 2,000 plate appearances in that span. This year, Schwarber’s even above his own pace, with 17 home runs already, a .253/.390/.573 line and 164 wRC+.

Prior to coming to Philadelphia, he had been a few notches below that. From 2017 to 2019, he slashed .234/.337/.492 for a 113 wRC+ with the Cubs. His 12.9% walk rate was good but a few ticks below what the pace he has subsequently managed in Philly. Similarly, he hit 94 home runs over those three seasons, a pace of just over 30 annually. That’s very good, but he’s pushed that up to an almost 45-homer annual pace with the Phils.

He then had a dip in the shortened 2020 campaign. He did hit 11 home runs but his .188/.308/.393 line led to a 91 wRC+. The Cubs could have retained him for 2021 with a projected arbitration salary in the $8-10MM range, but they decided to move on instead. He bounced back tremendously in 2021, splitting his time between the Nationals and Red Sox. He signed a $10MM deal with Washington and was traded to Boston at the deadline. He hit 32 home runs and put up a .266/.374/.554 line for a 145 wRC+.

It’s possible that his rough 2020 showing was still fresh in the minds of baseball decision makers and hampered his market the last time he was a free agent. Since then, he has shown himself to be incredibly reliable at the plate, erasing the memory of his non-tender.

The question now is whether teams will think he can keep it going. When he signed his last contract, he was still a somewhat viable fielder. He has never been good in left field but nonetheless was a regular out there prior to signing with the Phils and got roughly 1,000 innings on the grass in both 2022 and 2023. He has become almost exclusively a DH more recently, with just 41 innings in the field in 2024 and 36 so far in 2025. That means he’ll need to keep hitting to provide any value.

Even the most talented players are subject to declining performance in their mid-30s. Donaldson and Marte were performing well on both sides of the ball in their platform years, but Marte has essentially been a replacement-level player starting with his age-34 season. Donaldson’s bat fell below league average in his age-36 campaign. José Abreu was the A.L. MVP in his age-33 season but was unplayable by his age-36 season.

That could leave Schwarber with a few good years to go. Perhaps not playing the field will help him to gracefully descend that aging curve. Looking at some of the names above, Edwin Encarnación had 34 home runs and a 130 wRC+ in his age-36 season. Victor Martinez had 32 bombs and a 168 wRC+ in his age-35 campaign. He followed that up with a nightmare season, 11 homers and a 77 wRC+, but was able to bounce back with a solid campaign at the age of 37 that features 27 long balls and a 120 wRC+.

Santander just hit 44 home runs last year and still couldn’t get to nine figures, even though he was going into his age-30 season. However, he has never had strong walk rates, so his overall offensive profile is less than Schwarber’s. Even with those bombs, he only had a 129 wRC+ last year, his best such mark in a full season. Schwarber’s average production over three-plus years in Philadelphia has been better than that, with a big spike here in 2025.

Pederson put up a 151 wRC+ last year but was mostly shielded from lefties. He has a .209/.305/.328 line and 78 wRC+ against southpaws in his career. Schwarber had some platoon issues earlier in his career but seems to have put those behind him. At the time of signing his deal with the Phillies, he had a .214/.324/.361 line and 86 wRC+ without the platoon advantage. Since coming to Philly, he has a .235/.357/.468 line and 130 wRC+. Amazingly, his wRC+ against lefties has been growing year over year: 95 in 2022, then 107 in 2023, 153 last year and a shocking 223 so far in 2025. That could certainly be an argument for Schwarber doing better than he did on his last deal.

It’s also perhaps worth noting that lowering the age cut-off by one year opens up another interesting comp from recent years. While Donaldson’s $92MM deal is the top mark for a 33-year-old, Freddie Freeman got a six-year $162MM deal going into his age-32 campaign. He’s a better overall hitter than Schwarber with a career 143 wRC+. He’s also a first baseman and not limited to the DH spot. Those factors and the one-year age difference are arguments for Schwarber coming in below Freeman, but it’s possible for him to do so and hit the century mark.

Another factor to consider is the qualifying offer, as Schwarber has never received one. Since he was traded in 2021, he wasn’t eligible to get a QO prior to signing with the Phils. If he sticks in Philadelphia all season long and keeps producing like this, they would surely issue him one, which would probably be in the range of $22MM or so.

Would a team be willing to make a four-year, nine-figure bet on a 33-year-old DH and give up a draft pick in the process? It’s never happened before. Time will tell if Schwarber is unique enough to set some new benchmarks.

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: The Disappointing Orioles, Dalton Rushing, And The Phillies’ Bullpen

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Who are some hitters who could be available at the deadline? (36:05)
  • Who are some pitchers who could be available at the deadline? (46:40)
  • When will the Pirates fire general manager Ben Cherington? (53:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Jean Segura Retires

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Longtime MLB infielder Jean Segura has retired, according to a social media post from his representatives at CAA. Segura last appeared in the majors in 2023 and spent time in Triple-A with the Orioles last season.

Segura had an accomplished 12-year big league run. The Dominican Republic native signed as an amateur with the Angels in 2007. He was one of the sport’s top prospects when he debuted with the Halos in July 2012. Segura played one game, then was traded to Milwaukee less than a week later as the centerpiece of the prospect package for Zack Greinke.

The Brewers immediately installed Segura as their starting shortstop. He held that role for the next three and a half seasons. His first full season was his best in Milwaukee, as he hit .294 to earn an All-Star selection. His production plummeted between 2014-15. The Brewers moved on before the ’16 season, moving him to the Diamondbacks in a deal for starter Chase Anderson and minor league second baseman Isan Díaz.

Segura only spent one season in the desert, but it was the best year of his career. He led the National League with 203 hits while posting a .319/.368/.499 line over 694 plate appearances. He set personal highs in all three slash stats. He tallied a career-high 41 doubles and hit 20 home runs for the only time. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each credited him with over six wins above replacement.

Fantastic as Segura’s season was, his greatest impact on the Arizona organization came the following winter. They packaged him alongside Mitch Haniger to Seattle for Ketel Marte and Taijuan Walker. Marte is on track to spend over a decade with the Snakes and has become one of the best players in franchise history.

The Mariners signed Segura to a five-year, $70MM extension midway through his first season in the Pacific Northwest. He would only spend one year of that contract in Seattle, though he remained an above-average regular during his time there. He hit .300 or better in both years and slashed .302/.345/.421 in nearly 1200 plate appearances overall. He was on the move again during the 2018-19 offseason. The M’s dealt him to Philadelphia in a deal that netted J.P. Crawford.

The move worked out well for both clubs. Crawford has developed into Seattle’s long-term answer at shortstop. Segura was a solid regular over four seasons with the Phils — first at shortstop, then for three seasons at second base. He hit .281/.337/.418 in 427 games in a Philadelphia uniform. It was his second-longest run with one team, trailing his early-career stint in Milwaukee. It also afforded him the only playoff experience of his career. Segura was a regular throughout the Phils’ pennant run in 2022, though he hit .214 in 17 postseason games.

Philadelphia bought out Segura’s $17MM club option for the 2023 season. That sent him to the free agent market for the first time. He signed a two-year, $17MM contract with the Marlins to move to third base. The deal did not pan out, as he hit .219/.277/.279 across 85 games for the Fish. They traded him to the Guardians in a salary swap for Josh Bell at the ’23 deadline. Cleveland immediately released him, and Segura’s final game as a Marlin turned out to be his last in the big leagues.

While his last season didn’t go well, Segura can look back on a very good major league career. He finishes with a .281/.327/.401 batting line in more than 1400 games. He topped 1500 hits, connected on 110 home runs, and stole 211 bases. Segura drove in 513 runs and scored 737 times. He hit .300 on three occasions, made a pair of All-Star Games, and received down-ballot MVP votes for his year in Arizona. Baseball Reference calculates his lifetime earnings close to $106MM. He was a part of five notable trades, two of which remain consequential today. MLBTR congratulates Segura on his run and wishes him the best in his post-playing days.

Image courtesy of John Geliebter, Imagn Images.

Phillies Sign Lucas Sims To Minor League Deal

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6:21pm: Philadelphia also added righty Wil Crowe on a minor league contract and assigned him to Double-A Reading, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. A former Nationals draftee, Crowe owns a 5.30 ERA over parts of four MLB seasons. He spent last year in Korea with the Kia Tigers, putting up a 3.57 mark with 43 strikeouts across 40 1/3 innings.

6:02pm: The Phillies have signed right-hander Lucas Sims to a minor league deal, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Gelb adds that Sims will initially report to the Phillies’ pitching lab in Florida. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after that, though it’s unclear how long he’ll be in the lab.

Sims, 31, started the season with the Nationals. He had signed a one-year, $3MM deal with Washington, though it quickly turned sour. He made 18 appearances but logged only 12 1/3 innings, allowing 19 earned runs. He issued 14 walks, a massive 19.4% of batters faced, which doesn’t even tell the whole story. He also hit seven batters in that time and threw three wild pitches. The Nats released him earlier this month.

Presumably, that’s why the Phils will start Sims with a trip to the lab, to try to find out what’s wrong with him. If they can get him back on track, he could be a nice buy-low pickup. From 2019 to 2023, Sims did a lot of good work for the Reds. He tossed 183 1/3 innings over that time. His 12.2% walk rate was certainly high but he offset that somewhat by striking out 31.9% of batters faced.

He’s been in a tough stretch more recently. In 2024, he was largely his old self for a while, posting a 3.57 ERA through 43 appearances with the Reds. But he was traded to the Red Sox at the deadline and immediately floundered. He logged 14 innings for Boston around an IL stint for a lat strain, with a 6.43 ERA. He had a 14.8% strikeout rate and 16.4% walk rate for the Sox. That was a small sample size of work with an injury in the middle, but his struggles carried forward into 2025.

If the Phils can get him back to his 2019-2023 form, he’ll be a low-cost addition to their bullpen. Since the Nats released him, they are on the hook for the rest of his salary for this year. If the Phils call Sims up at any point, they would only have to pay him the prorated version of the league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Nats pay.

The Phils are a third-time payor of the competitive balance tax and are above the top tier, meaning they face a 110% tax rate on anything they add to the payroll. They also have concerns in their bullpen. Philly relievers have a collective 4.48 ERA, putting them in the bottom third of the league. One of their most effective relievers this year has been José Alvarado, but he just got hit with an 80-game PED suspension.

The club will surely be looking for various ways to bolster the bullpen in the coming months, including with trades as the July 31st deadline approaches. Not many teams are selling this early, so it makes sense to take a flier on a guy like Sims to see what happens.

Photo courtesy of James A. Pittman, Imagn Images

Phillies Had Reached Out To David Robertson Before Alvarado Suspension

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The Phillies bullpen took a huge hit over the weekend, as José Alvarado was hit with an 80-game suspension after a failed performance-enhancing drug test. Players suspended for PEDs are barred from participating in the postseason that year. Alvarado should return to the Phils bullpen in early August, but he will not be a factor in October.

Relief pitching stood out as a clear target for the Phils even before they lost their closer. To that end, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that Philadelphia reached out to free agent reliever David Robertson prior to the announcement about Alvarado’s suspension. Robertson remains unsigned, of course, and Feinsand writes that initial talks with Philadelphia never seriously developed.

Perhaps the Phillies will look to reengage with the All-Star righty now that circumstances have changed. Robertson, who turned 40 in April, has not provided any indication that he’s retiring. At the same time, he clearly wasn’t motivated to take what he considered below-market money to sign. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote last month that Robertson had sought a $10MM contract during the offseason. That’s not an outlandish number for one season of a high-end setup man.

Robertson pitched for Philly in 2019 and ’22, combining for a 3.30 ERA over those separate stints. He remained a key high-leverage arm with the Rangers last year. He reeled off a career-high 72 innings with an even 3.00 earned run average. Robertson punched out more than a third of opponents while averaging 93.3 MPH on the cutter that has long served as his primary offering. While there’s always a risk that a player’s production will drop off sharply in his late 30s or early 40s, Robertson didn’t show any obvious signs of decline a year ago.

That makes it fairly surprising that he wasn’t able to find a deal to his liking early in the offseason. It’s far more difficult to see him commanding a significant salary on a midseason contract, as teams tend to be up against their imposed budgets (at least until closer to the trade deadline). Alvarado is not paid during his suspension, so he’ll lose nearly $4MM of his $9MM salary. That could theoretically open spending room for the Phils, but Alvarado will return to the payroll for the final two months of the season and it’s unclear whether Robertson is willing to budge at all on his asking price.

The trade deadline is a little more than two months off. The Phils made one of the biggest reliever moves at last summer’s deadline, acquiring rental closer Carlos Estévez from the Angels for a pair of pitching prospects. They might be similarly aggressive this July. They’ll have a tough time pulling off a significant trade within the next few weeks, though.

The Cardinals have long been expected to move Ryan Helsley this summer, but they’ve been one of the best teams in the league over the past month and are within a game of the NL Central lead. The Nationals will probably deal Kyle Finnegan at some point, though it seems unlikely that’ll happen two months into the season. The reeling Orioles have a couple arms (e.g. Félix Bautista, Keegan Akin) who’d generate interest if they’re willing to listen on players who are controllable beyond this year. Feinsand highlights a few speculative trade candidates on the handful of truly rebuilding teams, but those clubs (Rockies, White Sox, Marlins, Pirates) rank near the bottom of the league in bullpen effectiveness.

For now, Jordan Romano is expected to return to the closing role in Philadelphia. The offseason signee has kept opponents off the board in each of his past eight outings. He hasn’t allowed a hit in any of four most recent appearances. Romano’s season numbers are weighed down by a horrendous start, but he’s been dominant since the calendar turned to May. Matt Strahm is an excellent setup option from the left side. They’re light on right-handed options to bridge the gap to Romano, as Orion Kerkering remains inconsistent because of scattershot command.

Jose Alvarado Issued 80-Game PED Suspension

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12:16PM: The Phillies reinstated right-handed Jose Ruiz from the 15-day injured list, and he’ll take the open spot on the 26-man roster now that Alvarado has been moved to the restricted list.

Dombrowski provided some background on Alvarado’s situation when speaking with reporters (including Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer) today.  Alvarado told Dombrowski that he didn’t take the PED knowingly, as Alvarado believes it stemmed from his usage of a weight loss drug during the offseason.  After the reliever’s positive test, Alvarado tested negative on two subsequent follow-up tests.  As expected, Dombrowski didn’t address trade possibilities, and noted that the Phillies’ “abundance of starters” could help provide an internal answer to their bullpen needs.

10:37AM: Major League Baseball announced that Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado has been issued an 80-game suspension for a violation of the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.  Alvarado (who turns 30 on Wednesday) has tested positive for the PED known as exogenous Testosterone.  In addition to the 80 games lost in the regular season, Alvarado is also ineligible for any postseason action if Philadelphia reaches the playoffs.

The stunning news leaves the Phillies without not just their closer, but one of the few reliable members of what has been an overall shaky bullpen.  Jordan Romano’s early struggles quickly cost him the closer’s role, and Alvarado stepped in as the primary stopper by converting all seven of his save opportunities.  Alvarado has a 2.70 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate, 47.3% grounder rate, and a career-best 4.8% walk rate over 20 innings for the Phils, and that major improvement to his control was seemingly the headline story of the left-hander’s season.

Now, of course, those numbers have to be called into question in the wake of the league’s ruling.  This is the final guaranteed year of the three-year, $22MM extension Alvarado signed with the Phillies in February 2023, and the Phils hold a $9MM club option (with a $500K buyout) on his services for 2026.  Exercising that option was looking like a no-brainer move for the Phillies just hours ago, yet the team might now prefer to part ways with Alvarado if any doubts remain about the sustainability of his performance.

The shorter-term financial impact on Alvarado is also significant, as the suspension will cost him roughly $4.18MM of his $9MM salary for the 2025 season.  That money is also subtracted from the Phillies’ books, which may bring their estimated luxury tax number (as per RosterResource) under the maximum penalty threshold of $301MM.

That being said, it seems likely that Philadelphia will re-invest that money into reinforcing its bullpen.  The Phillies were surely already looking to add relief pitching even before Alvarado’s suspension, and that need has become even more pronounced now that the team’s closer will be out until mid-August.  President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is likely going to be challenged to make a quick trade, as even the few teams clearly out of playoff contention will put a high asking price on any trade chips this early in the season.

Romano hasn’t allowed a run over his last seven innings of work, so after a brutal start to the season, he might get the first crack at any save situations.  Matt Strahm or Tanner Banks might also get some looks in late-game situations, or the Phillies could use a committee approach rather than settling on a single full-time closer.

Phillies Place Aaron Nola On IL With Ankle Sprain

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The Phillies announced that they have placed right-hander Aaron Nola on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 15th, due to a sprained right ankle. Right-hander Daniel Robert has been recalled to take his roster spot. Todd Zolecki of MLB.com was among those to report that prospect Mick Abel will be promoted to make his major league debut but only to make a spot start on Sunday. After that, he will be optioned to Triple-A and Taijuan Walker will take Nola’s rotation spot. In other Philly news, manager Rob Thomson relayed that prospect Moisés Chace will undergo Tommy John surgery. Lochlahn March of the Philadelphia Inquirer was among those to pass that along.

Per March, Nola injured his ankle prior to his recent start in Cleveland. He went on to allow four earned runs in five innings in that game. His next start was even worse, as Nola allowed nine earned runs over 3 2/3 innings against the Cardinals on Wednesday.

Perhaps the ankle injury provides an explanation for those outings but Nola was also struggling before that, with a 4.61 earned run average over his first seven starts this year. Though for what it’s worth, he was building a bit of momentum. On April 27th, he pitched seven innings of one-run ball against the Cubs, then six scoreless against the Diamondbacks on May 3rd.

Whether it’s due to the ankle or not, Nola now has a 6.16 ERA on the year. His 23.6% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 44.6% ground ball rate are all decent numbers, but 11 home runs have pushed more runs across the plate. SIERA, which expects home run rate to normalize, has Nola at 3.66 this year. However, home runs have always been a part of Nola’s game, so that might not be the best metric in this specific instance. The Phillies haven’t provided an estimate for how long they expect Nola to be out but it seems he will miss at least a few turns.

Nola’s injury will allow Walker to return to the rotation. He started his season with six great starts, posting a 2.54 ERA in those. But when Ranger Suárez was ready to come off the IL, someone had to go. Walker got bumped to the bullpen as the Phils ran with a rotation of Suárez, Nola, Zack Wheeler, Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez. Walker made two relief appearances, each three innings long. The first was scoreless but he allowed three earned runs in the second one, which came in relief of Nola on Wednesday.

He’ll retake a rotation spot next week, but Abel will get to make his major league debut in the interim. A former first-round pick, Abel’s prospect stock has dropped a bit due to some inconsistent control. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 375 minor league innings and struck out 26.9% of batters faced but he also gave out walks at a 13.3% clip, leading to a 4.75 ERA.

Despite the rough edges, the Phils added him to their 40-man roster in November, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. The early results are encouraging this year. He has a 2.53 ERA through eight Triple-A starts, with a 26.6% strikeout rate and 49.2% ground ball rate. His 9.9% walk rate is still a bit higher than par but an improvement for him. He’ll get a chance to make a brief debut this weekend.

As for Chace, it’s obviously an unfortunate blow for him. Acquired from the Orioles in last summer’s Gregory Soto trade, Chace is one of the club’s top pitching prospects and a fringe top 100 guy. He wasn’t on every list but FanGraphs had him at #74 coming into the year, ESPN at #90 and Baseball Prospectus put him in their #101 slot.

Like Abel, Chace was given a 40-man spot in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He started this year at Double-A and could have worked his way to Triple-A or even the majors during the 2025 season. That will now be on pause for a long time, as he should be rehabbing until the summer of 2026. The Phils could recall him and place him on the major league 60-day injured list at some point if they so choose. Doing so would open a 40-man spot but would also require Chace to start earning big league pay and service time.

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

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