PHILADELPHIA — When the fourth inning was over — 26 pitches in 14 arduous minutes — Rob Thomson found Taijuan Walker in the dugout. The Phillies needed Walker to pull this off. They entered Wednesday with the best record in baseball, and by now everyone knows Walker won’t matter in October, when it all matters most. He’s a problem in the regular season. He deactivated his X-account earlier this month when the insults got too vitriolic. He’s the easiest target.
“Absolutely,” Walker told Thomson when the manager asked if he could keep pitching to save the bullpen. He pitched six innings.
The next conversation could be more uncomfortable.
The debate over a fifth starter on a team with four good starters has several facets. It’s hard to imagine the Phillies keeping Walker in the rotation this September.
“We need to talk about this,” Thomson said.
No Phillies pitcher had allowed 13 hits without a strikeout since Blix Donnelly in 1948. Walker’s six-run outing in a 10-0 loss to the Houston Astros lowered his ERA (from 9.26 to 9.17) in four starts since returning from the injured list. He managed two swinging strikes in 93 pitches. None of it looked promising.
This could, however, spark a larger discussion about Walker’s future. He is under contract for two more years. The Phillies currently owe him around $39 million. Swallowing that much money would be unprecedented in Phillies history, but other teams have done it before. Walker was an effective mid-rotation pitcher last season who got the job done.
Teams don’t drop regular players that quickly.
So maybe the Phillies are putting the issue off. On Sunday, the roster will be expanded, and the club could hide Walker for a month as a cleanup man. Last October, they didn’t consider him for a bullpen position because of concerns that Walker wouldn’t be able to adapt to a faster routine. If the Phillies want to try it all again next season, here’s what they’ll do. They can hide him. In September, they can make do with 13 other pitchers.
The problem is that Walker’s performance was so underwhelming that there are doubts about whether the 32-year-old right-hander will return to form. Results matter. The Phillies have held others accountable. When they kicked Spencer Turnbull out of the rotation in late April, the Phillies had a clear message for Walker.
“Now it’s up to him to go out there and pitch well,” Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski told MLB.com in late April. “Nothing lasts forever, right? He’s earned the ability to do that. But now he’s got to go out there and perform. We believe he will. If not, we’ll address that in due course.”
It might be time.
Last season, Taijuan Walker (pictured) had a 4.38 ERA in 31 starts. This season, he has a 6.50 ERA in 14 appearances. (Eric Hartline / USA Today)
The highest amount ever spent on an outright release was $48.3 million, which is the amount the Boston Red Sox paid Pablo Sandoval not to play for them in 2017. Dombrowski did not sign Sandoval in that deal, but he was managing the Red Sox when they released Sandoval.
The New York Mets once paid Robinson Canó $37.6 million to leave. Earlier this season, Houston released José Abreu even though his contract was still worth about $35 million. The Arizona Diamondbacks ended their relationship with Madison Bumgarner last season, a decision that cost them $34 million.
Walker couldn’t miss a bat on Wednesday. The 13 hits allowed were the most by a Phillies pitcher since 2015, when Aaron Harang allowed 14. No Phillies pitcher had gone six innings without a single strikeout since Ben Lively in 2017. The plan, Walker said, was to make contact early.
The first two Astros reached base; Jose Altuve hit a 3-2 hanging splitter for a 366-foot double. Yordan Alvarez, who hit three home runs on Wednesday, worked four pitches with a walk. But Walker retired the next two batters. He was nearly free. Then Altuve stole home after Walker attempted a pick-off throw to first base. Bryce Harper threw to the plate, but it was too late.
“Harp just assumed he wasn’t going to walk,” Thomson said. “And as we all know, you can’t assume anything. So there’s another inning that he probably should have gotten out of.”
But even Altuve was able to deny Walker this run.
“When I’m on third base, I try to see guys throw to first base if I can get a little something,” Altuve said. “That wasn’t the best throw you can make. It was pretty deep and threw Bryce the other way. So I thought I had a good chance to get to home plate.”
“I feel like I’ve never fought like this,” said Taijuan Walker, a 12-year veteran who signed with the Phillies for $72 million in December 2022. (Kyle Ross / USA Today)
Thomson said he doesn’t have many answers to explain Walker’s failures. He has a 6.50 ERA in 14 starts. Only two other Phillies since 1934 have made that many starts and posted a higher mark — David Buchanan in 2015 (6.99 ERA) and Paul Byrd in 2000 (6.51 ERA).
“I feel sorry for him,” Thomson said of Walker. “I really do. You know how much I respect and love the players, and he works extremely hard. He’s taken the time off the injured list to try different things to gain speed and improve his splits. There’s no lack of effort there. So when the guys put in the effort and it doesn’t work out or you don’t see results, it hurts. It hurts me. And of course it hurts him too.”
Rookie starter Tyler Phillips will be eligible to return to the major leagues on Sunday when rosters expand to 28 players. He will have spent 15 days in the minor leagues by then, and if he is on his optional assignment for fewer than 20 days, the Phillies will retain his final minor league option for 2025. That would allow them to use Phillips as rotation depth next season.
It has priority.
But Phillips hasn’t been effective in three starts since a shutout against Cleveland in late July, posting a 13.91 ERA in 11 innings. Since his demotion, he’s allowed nine runs (and four home runs) in two Triple-A starts. Even if the Phillies wanted to let him start next Tuesday in Toronto – Walker’s next move – there’s no guarantee the rookie will pitch competent innings.
The Phillies have a new waiver claimant, Kyle Tyler, who has been passable in Triple A. He was also in the mix Wednesday night at Lehigh Valley as a pitcher and had a strong four-inning outing that was shortened by rain. Tyler relied on a cutter-curveball combination and hit 92 mph — nearly 2 mph above his usual speed.
The Phillies could use Monday’s off day to skip the fifth spot in the rotation, but the club has prioritized additional rest for its other regulars. Turnbull, who was a big reserve in April, won’t return as a starter this season — if he returns at all. It’s been more than two months since he’s thrown from the mound. He’s running out of time.
Walker too.
“I feel like I’ve never fought like this before,” Walker said. “So it’s a little tough right now. I’m confident. I mean, obviously I want to keep going and keep working at it.”
This is not an October problem. But Walker’s situation is the one that is troubling them right now.
— The athlete‘S Chandler Rome contributed to this report.
(Top photo: Matt Slocum / Associated Press)
