Phillies aquire José Alvarado in three-way trade

Philadelphia Phillies new president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has made his first trade with the team as they have acquired left-hander José Alvarado from the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-way trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Phillies announced today. The Phillies have sent left-hander Garrett Cleavinger to the Dodgers, who will send infielder Dillon Paulson and a player to be named later to the Rays.

BREAKING: Phillies make their first trade of the Dombrowski era as the #Phillies acquire left-hander José Alvarado from Rays in a three-way trade with the Dodgers. Phillies send LHP Garrett Cleavinger to Dodgers. pic.twitter.com/78rZVG58RJ
— Philly Sports Reports (@PhlySprtsReprts) December 29, 2020

In Alvarado’s four-year career, all years with the Rays, he’s appeared in 149 games with a 3.46 ERA and has struck out 27.9% of the total batters he has faced. Among all active pitchers with at least 130.0 innings pitched since 2017, Alvarado’s .302 opponent’s slugging percentage is the eighth-best mark in the majors and among all left-handers, ranks fourth behind only Aroldis Chapman (.267), Zack Britton (.281) and Aaron Bummer (.298). He appeared in nine games for the Rays last season and posted a 6.00 ERA (6 ER, 9.0 IP) with 13 strikeouts.

Alvarado is 6-foot-2 and 245-pounds. Alvarado has set career bests in most categories in 2018, when he appeared in 70 games for the Rays, and posted a 2.39 ERA and held the 263 batters he faced to a .183/.276/.249 slash line. That season, 2018, his 2.1 fWAR ranked fourth among all American League relievers. This is very good. Alvarado also threw one of the most disgusting pitches you might ever see that had social media going crazy. Here’s that pitch.

Yes. #Phillies
pic.twitter.com/3xPC6xgxGM
— David Esser (@DavidEsser_) December 29, 2020

Now, Garret Cleavinger, who was originally selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the third round of the 2015 draft, was acquired by the Phillies with outfielder Hyun Soo Kim in 2017 in exchange for right-hander Jeremy Hellickson. Cleavinger has made one appearance for the Phillies this past season, this was his major league debut on September 17 against the New York Mets.

This is a good pickup by the Phillies and a good sign as this is Dave Dombrowski’s first trade as the Phillies president. Now let’s hope this doesn’t end up how the Brandon Workman trade ended up last year.