PHILADELPHIA — When the fourth inning was over — 26 pitches in 14 painstaking minutes — Rob Thomson found Taijuan Walker in the dugout. The Phillies needed Walker to wear this. They entered Wednesday tied for the best record in baseball, and by now everyone knows Walker will not have a role in October when all of this matters most. He is a regular-season problem. He deactivated his X account earlier this month when the insults had become too vitriolic. He is the easiest target.
“Absolutely,” Walker told Thomson when the manager asked if he could keep pitching to preserve the bullpen.
The next conversation might be more uncomfortable.
There are layers to this debate about a fifth starter on a team with four good ones. It is difficult to imagine the Phillies keeping Walker in the rotation this September.
“We have to talk about that,” Thomson said.
No Phillies pitcher had allowed 13 hits without recording a strikeout since Blix Donnelly in 1948. Walker’s six-run outing in a 10-0 loss to the Houston Astros actually lowered his ERA (from 9.26 to 9.17) in four starts since returning from the injured list. He generated two swinging strikes on 93 pitches. Nothing about it looked viable.
But this may trigger a larger conversation about Walker’s future. He is signed for another two years. The Phillies, as of now, owe him roughly $39 million. Eating that amount of money would be unprecedented in Phillies history, but it’s been done by other teams. Walker, a season ago, was an effective mid-rotation pitcher who did his job.
Teams are not quick to discard starters.
So, maybe the Phillies kick the can down the road. Rosters expand on Sunday, and the club could hide Walker as a mop-up man for a month. They did not consider him for a bullpen role last October because there was concern Walker would not be able to adapt to a quicker routine. If the Phillies want to try this all again next season, this is what they will do. They can hide him. They can manage with 13 other pitchers in September.
The issue is Walker’s performance has been so discouraging that it has cast doubt on the 32-year-old righty recapturing his form. Results matter. The Phillies have held others accountable. When they bumped Spencer Turnbull from the rotation at the end of April, the Phillies had a clear message for Walker.
“Now it’s up to him to go out and pitch well,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told MLB.com in late April. “Nothing comes in perpetuity, right? He’s earned the ability to do that. But now he has to go out and perform. We think he will. If he doesn’t, then we’ll tackle it at that time.”
It might be time.
Last season (pictured), Taijuan Walker logged a 4.38 ERA over 38 starts. This season he has a 6.50 ERA in 14 outings. (Eric Hartline / USA Today)
The most money ever eaten on a straight release was $48.3 million. That’s what the Boston Red Sox paid Pablo Sandoval to not play for them in 2017. Dombrowski did not sign Sandoval to that deal, but he ran the Red Sox when they released Sandoval.
The New York Mets once paid Robinson Canó $37.6 million to go away. Earlier this season, Houston released José Abreu with about $35 million left on his contract. The Arizona Diamondbacks cut ties with Madison Bumgarner last season, a decision that required them to eat $34 million.
Walker could not miss bats Wednesday. The 13 hits allowed were the most by a Phillies pitcher since 2015 when Aaron Harang surrendered 14. No Phillies pitcher had gone six innings without a single strikeout since Ben Lively in 2017. The plan, Walker said, was to induce early contact.
The first two Astros reached base; José Altuve hit a 3-2 hanging splitter for a 366-foot double. Yordan Alvarez, who hit three homers Wednesday, walked on four pitches. But Walker retired the next two batters. He was almost clear. Then, Altuve stole home after Walker attempted a pick-off throw to first base. Bryce Harper fired to the plate but it was too late.
“Harp just assumed that he wasn’t going to run,” 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 put that run on Walker.
“When I’m on third base, I try to see guys throwing to first, if I can take a little something,” Altuve said. “It wasn’t the best throw you can have. It was kind of low and took Bryce the other way. So I thought I had a great chance to go to home plate.”
“I feel like I’ve never really struggled like this,” said Taijuan Walker, a 12-year veteran. He signed with the Phillies for $72 million in December 2022. (Kyle Ross / USA Today)
Thomson said he did not 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 bad 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 that time on the IL to try different things to gain velocity, to gain action on his split. There’s no lack of effort there. So, when guys give effort and it doesn’t work out or you don’t see the results, it hurts. It hurts me. And, obviously, it hurts him too.”
Rookie starter Tyler Phillips is eligible to return to the majors on Sunday when rosters expand to 28 players. He’ll have spent 15 days in the minors by then, and if he is on his optional assignment for less than 20 days, the Phillies will preserve his final minor-league option for 2025. That would enable them to use Phillips as rotation depth next season.
It’s a priority.
But Phillips was not effective in three starts after a complete-game shutout against Cleveland in late July; he had a 13.91 ERA in 11 innings. He’s allowed nine runs (on four homers) in two Triple-A starts since his demotion. Even if the Phillies wanted to start him next Tuesday in Toronto — Walker’s next turn — the rookie is not guaranteed to provide competent innings.
The Phillies have a recent waiver claim, Kyle Tyler, who has been passable at Triple A. He also pitched Wednesday night — at Lehigh Valley — and had a strong four-inning outing that was shortened by rain. Tyler leaned on a cutter-curveball combo and sat 92 mph — almost 2 mph above his typical velocity.
The Phillies could use Monday’s off day to skip the fifth spot in the rotation, but the club has prioritized extra rest for its other starters. Turnbull, who was great depth in April, will not return this season as a starter — if he returns at all. It’s been more than two months since he’s thrown from a mound. He is running out of time.
So is Walker.
“I feel like I’ve never really struggled like this,” Walker said. “So it’s a little tough right now. I feel confident in myself. I mean, obviously, I want to keep going and keep working through it.”
It’s not an October problem. But Walker’s situation is the one staring them down right now.
— The Athletic’s Chandler Rome contributed to this report.
(Top photo: Matt Slocum / Associated Press)
