Joe Girardi’s plan to give his starting rotation an extra day’s rest backfired, as fill-in starter Bailey Falter and reliever Nick Nelson allowed eight runs over five innings Friday – but he’s hoping the move made to get Falter up from Triple-A doesn’t.
That move saw lefty Jose Alvarado, who has made 17 appearances for the Phils this season, optioned to Lehigh Valley, a decision Girardi said Friday was done to get the southpaw back on track.
"What we're trying to do is get him to where he's an extremely valuable piece again," Girardi said. "He's struggled this year and the concerning thing is he's struggled against lefties and last year he was dominant against them."
The demotion of Alvarado, who was only about a month from hitting the five-year service time threshold that would allow him to block being sent to the minors, may seem dubious, given the struggles of the Phillies bullpen overall, and the fact that the Mets’ roster as constructed currently has a career line against him of 8-for-42 with five walks and 15 strikeouts.
In terms of overall performance, though, Alvarado, who held lefties to a .123 batting average over 64 games last season, was getting hit by lefties at a .333 clip this year, and he had a 7.62 ERA and even 2.000 WHIP in 13 innings.
"His sinker is not sinking and we've just got to get him back on track," Girardi said. "It's hard to get people work at this level to get them back on track."
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Alvarado wasn’t happy, Girardi said, and it’s not optimal that his bullpen now has just one lefty, former Met Brad Hand, for a series against a Mets team that, as currently constructed, can put out a lineup with five lefties and two switch-hitters (and that’s not counting All-World first baseman Pete Alonso).
Still, something that had to be done for the betterment of the Phillies, now and in the future.
“I think he understands what we're trying to do and how much we care for him,” Girardi said. “Hopefully, this is just for a short time to get him back to where he was and he can be dominant for us again."
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