Phillies exercise José Alvarado's $9 million option for 2026

Dave Dombrowski's first acquisition as Phillies president of baseball operations will be back with the team in 2026.

The Phillies announced Wednesday they have exercised José Alvarado's $9 million club option for 2026. The Phillies would have owed Alvarado $500,000 had they declined the option. 

In his year-end press conference, Dombrowski didn't commit to picking up the option, but did strong imply that Alvarado would be back with the team. 

"...I'd be surprised, without making any announcements, if Alvarado's not back with us," Dombrowski said. "But we'll see what ends up happening." 

Why didn't the Phillies want to commit to picking up the option then? They didn't have to until five days after the World Series, and an injury or something else could have crept up in the meantime. There was no reason to commit to it at that point. 

Is there risk in picking up a $9 million option for a player who served a PED suspension in 2025, ended the campaign on the injured list with a left forearm strain and has a 4.00 ERA over the last two seasons? Yes. 

With that said, the Phillies gave Jordan Romano $8.5 million last winter after he was non-tendered by the Toronto Blue Jays and had an elbow injury limit him to just 15 games the prior season. For a one-year commitment around this price, you aren't going to get a certain thing. 

Rob Thomson: “I’m bullish on the club. I’m really bullish on Alvarado too.”

(Via @TimKellySports) pic.twitter.com/fFS3a15lIM

— OnPattison (@OnPattison) October 16, 2025

Alvarado had a 2.53 ERA across 101 appearances between 2022 and 2023. Will he, now entering his age-31 season, get back to that? Time will tell. But the chance to have anything like that version of Alvarado set up for Jhoan Duran was too good to pass up. 

The Phillies could have declined the option for Alvarado, paid the buyout and still tried to bring him back at a lower price. That strategy would have carried risk. What if Alvarado tested free agency and there was a team willing to give him $10 million for 2025? What if a club was so interested in him they gave him an option for 2027, or even guaranteed a second season? 

Listening to Rob Thomson's year-end press conference in October, it was clear that the Phillies planned to bring back Alvarado. This was the cleanest way to do that. 

"Tough year, it really was for him ... in a lot of different ways," Thomson said. "But I think making sure that he's healthy going into the offseason kind of eased his mind, eased my mind. 

"I think I'm bullish on the club. I'm really bullish on Alvarado too," Thomson continued. "I love him. I love his energy. I love his stuff. I think wherever he's at, he's gonna have a really good year next year." 

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