Jose

Alvarez

Alvarez was working his way back from Tommy John surgery and expected to compete this spring for a spot in Detroit’s season-opening bullpen. Clearly, that’s not happening. The 34-year-old lefty has made 447 appearances (eight starts) in the big league dating back to 2013.

The 34-year-old southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Tigers prior to the 2023 season, and used the year to rehab from Tommy John surgery that he underwent in September of 2022. Now back and fully healthy, he’ll have a chance to compete for a spot on the team’s Opening Day roster — likely in a swingman role. Alvarez holds a 3.47 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and a 360/137 K/BB ratio over 420 2/3 innings in his career at the big league level.

Alvarez underwent Tommy John surgery last September and is expected to miss the entire 2023 campaign. The 33-year-old veteran southpaw reliever holds a solid 3.47 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 360/137 K/BB ratio across 420 2/3 innings (447 appearances, eight starts) in the majors dating back to 2013.

The last we had heard was that Álvarez was heading for a second opinion on his injured elbow, and it looks like they confirmed the original diagnosis. He’s likely to miss most -- if not all -- of the 2023 campaign while recovering from the procedure.

Álvarez has been bothered by elbow discomfort since before the All-Star break and was recently diagnosed with a UCL strain. He’ll seek out additional medial opinions, but it seems the writing is on the wall here. The lengthy recovery process (13-15 months) that follows Tommy John surgery would probably prevent the veteran lefty reliever from returning to a major league mound before the start of the 2024 season.

Álvarez missed 15 games due to lower back tightness earlier this season and landed back on the injured list earlier this month due to left elbow inflammation. The 33-year-old lefty has already been transferred to the 60-day injured list and will be out until early September.

This move clears out a 40-man roster spot for Aaron Fletcher, who was claimed off waivers from the Pirates on Thursday afternoon. Alvarez just went on the 15-day injured list last week due to what was diagnosed as left elbow inflammation. It’s obviously a little more serious than that.

Alvarez was just activated off the injured list on Tuesday because of a back injury, but will be back on the shelf for at least two weeks. The Giants recalled Zack Littell in a corresponding move.

Alvarez will return to the Giants’ bullpen on Tuesday night against the Diamondbacks after missing a little over two weeks due to a back injury. The veteran lefty has a 5.28 ERA in 21 appearances this season.

Which would put him in line to return to the Giants’ bullpen when first eligible this weekend. Alvarez had a 5.28 ERA through 15 1/3 innings of work when he landed on the IL retroactive to June 18 with back tightness.