Phillies reliever José Alvarado is suspended 80 games for PED use

Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, said he believes the positive drug test came from Alvarado's use of a weight-loss drug.

Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado reacts during a game against the Colorado Rockies on March 31. Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Alex Coffey

Published May 18, 2025, 12:37 p.m. ET

Phillies reliever José Alvarado has been suspended without pay for 80 games after testing positive for exogenous testosterone, a performance-enhancing drug, MLB announced Sunday. As a result, Alvarado will not be eligible for the postseason this year.

In a corresponding move, the Phillies reinstated reliever Jose Ruiz from the 15-day injured list before Sunday’s game against the Pirates. In a statement, the team said the following:

“The Phillies fully support Major League Baseball’s Joint Prevention and Treatment Program and are disappointed to hear today’s news of José’s violation.”

Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, said he learned about the official suspension on Sunday morning, but had heard rumblings of it when the team was in Tampa earlier this month. He talked to Alvarado about it, and said he believes that the reliever was not taking the substance knowingly.

Dombrowski said Alvarado had taken a weight-loss drug during the offseason, which led to a positive test. He said the reliever tested positive “a while ago” — he didn’t know the exact date — and had two subsequent negative tests after that.

“The system is very stringent, in the sense that you’re responsible for what goes into your body,” Dombrowski said. “That’s what it really comes down to. And so I know what he was doing. He was trying to take a weight loss reduction.

“He’s always been self-conscious of his weight, he’s been working hard on it, and something he took gave [him] a positive [test] result. But ultimately, it’s a situation where if that happens, you’re still responsible.”

Dombrowski characterized the loss as “disappointing,” but said he’s treating it like he would any other long-term injury.

“I’ve had plenty of players be injured and miss postseasons and clubs that won world championships and all that,” he said. “It’s not ideal, by any means. It’s not something you want to see happen, but you just have to deal with it. It’s like an injury. And when you go into the postseason, it’s probably actually easier to deal with during the postseason, because you have starters that can become relievers during that time period. And we also have the trading deadline in the meantime.

“So it’s not good. It’s not the news, by any means, you want to hear. But I want to keep it in perspective. We’ve dealt with other injuries, other situations, that you end up still having a really good club, and you end up overcoming them and winning. And usually clubs that win world championships overcome something.”

Alvarado will turn 30 on Wednesday. In 20 appearances this season, he had a 4-1 record with a 2.70 ERA and seven saves. He was one of Rob Thomson’s most-trusted relievers, if not the most trusted, to use in high-leverage innings.

When asked how he’d fill those spots, Thomson mentioned reliever Joe Ross, Taijuan Walker, and Ruiz as options. Ranger Suárez pitched out of the bullpen throughout the beginning of his big league career, but for now, the Phillies are going to look to triple A for another reliever.

Prospect Mick Abel, who is making is big league debut on Sunday afternoon, will be sent down to triple A after his start against the Pirates. It’s unclear which reliever the Phillies will call up to replace him on the active roster.

“I think we try to figure out who already is down there that can step up and do the job before we start making these massive moves,” Thomson said when asked why he wouldn’t transition Suárez to the bullpen now. “[Before we] react to this. So you’ve got to figure it out. And we will. “

When asked how it would impact the Phillies’ moves at the trade deadline, Dombrowski said it’s too early to say. The Phillies now have only two lefties in their bullpen: Tanner Banks and Matt Strahm.

“I can’t even answer that yet,” Dombrowski said. “That’s still a while away. We already started looking at our club and we’ll just evaluate. ... we have some guys that have thrown the ball well for us out of our pen. We like the guys out there. We’ll just have to see how it all fits together.

“We do have an abundance of starters, which is good, a good place to start. How that affects the decisions we make, I guess that’s more as time goes on, we’ll see what happens.”

Thomson didn’t get the chance to talk to Alvarado before he left Philadelphia, but Dombrowski did. He said the reliever was “emotional.”

“He‘s very emotional about it, because A, he did not want to do this,” Dombrowski said. “And then secondly, you’re in a position where not only didn’t he want to do it, he feels like he let people down, and so he’s very emotional about that, and it’s understandable.”

Thomson informed the team at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

“Guys were kind of shocked,” he said, “but then again, they realize that we’ve got business to take care of. It’s out of our control. It’s out of their control. Just got to keep moving forward.”