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José Alvarado has left the Philadelphia Phillies in a tough spot.
After being slapped with an 80-game suspension for a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance, Alvarado will not only miss most of the Phillies' remaining regular-season games, but he'll be ineligible for postseason play.
The Phillies had struggled to find a reliable closer early in the season, but Alvarado went 7-for-7 in save opportunities and momentarily stabilized the role. Now, they're back to square one, and that could lead to an interesting trade or two this summer.
That's led one baseball insider to suggest that the Phillies could go after a future Hall of Fame closer on the trade market.
On Monday, MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand named Los Angeles Angels closer Kenley Jansen, a four-time All-Star, as a potential Phillies trade target in the wake of the Alvarado news.
"Perhaps the Angels would be willing to move closer Kenley Jansen, who is earning $10 million on a one-year deal. But Los Angeles is still within 4 1/2 games of a Wild Card spot, making it unlikely the Angels would begin selling now," Feinsand wrote.
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With 456 saves, Jansen ranks fourth all-time on the Major League Baseball closer leaderboard. He's got a 5.02 ERA so far this season, but most of that stems from one disastrous outing (six earned runs, two-thirds of an inning), and he's 9-for-9 in save opportunities.
The Angels often delude themselves into thinking they're still in playoff contention, but the Jansen signing seemed to come with at least a tacit acknowledgement that he would be good trade bait if they couldn't hang around the hunt all summer.
By mid-July, it seems likely that Jansen will be available. But will the Phillies already have their solution by then?
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