It came too soon — a pivotal offseason for the Phillies as they scratch their heads after an embarrassing loss to the Mets in the NLDS.
The first thing the team will need to decide is what they should do with the 26 men who got them the 2-seed in the National League with 95 wins this past season. Who should stay, and who should go?
It would be lunacy to return the entire roster. They need some changes. The bullpen was obviously an issue in the playoffs, the team did not have enough contact hitters, nor did it have the best defense in place to handle the young and feisty Mets. But just how and should the team approach these necessary changes?
Our next visit to this topic will touch on a player who might be the biggest disappointment of the entire 2024 season, Taijuan Walker.
Phillies stay or go
The stars | The bullpen | The bench | Alec Bohm | Taijuan Walker
Bryson Stott | Brandon Marsh | Johan Rojas | Nick Castellanos | Rob Thomson
Why he should stay?
It's sort of hard to make a case for Walker getting another go at it — the only real argument to be made is that due to baseball's strong union and guaranteed contracts — Walker is due $18 million not only next season, but in 2026 as well. That's a lot of money to just send packing with nothing to show for it.
The Phillies have a financial motivation to try and figure out how to get Walker right. We'll explain just how he went wrong in the section below, but it will be a very difficult battle for the 32-year-old right-hander to work his way back into the picture.
Walker has only ever appeared eight times in relief with a 4.56 ERA over his 12-year career. He's made a total of 209 major league starts. But maybe he can find a role as a middle reliever to at least contribute something next season?
Why he should go?
When the Phillies first inked Walker to a relatively rich four-year, $72 million deal before the 2023 season, he had the right kind of track record to be the third or fourth starter for a loaded rotation. A career 3.89 ERA and recent All-Star berth in 2021 made it seem like he'd be able to eat some innings at a proficient level every fifth day behind aces Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, while helping to bridge the gap to some young pitching prospects.
Instead, he's been one of the worst pitchers in baseball since coming to Philly. He was lackluster in 2023 despite a 15-6 record, and did not find a role in the team's postseason rotation or bullpen. When healthy, which is a big issue in and of itself, Walker has a 5.27 ERA and a 1.443 WHIP across his two years as a Phillie. This past season he missed just under half the year with various minor injuries stemming from a late start to spring training, and he was so unpitchable that the team elected to use unproven journeymen like Tyler Phillips, or total bullpen games, rather than send him to the mound.
In 19 games in 2024, Walker had a 7.10 ERA. His fielding independent pitching was 6.94, a career-worst, as was his home run rate per 9 innings at 2.6, and strikeouts per nine at 6.2. He had noticeably worse velocity in 2024 as well.
Walker might get a chance to show he can turn it around in spring training, but the Phillies are almost definitely willing to eat his salary if they have to while looking elsewhere to try and shore up their rotation.
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