Take a good look at the photo at the top of this story.

It might be the last one you see of Taijuan Walker pitching for the Phillies this year.

I know what you are thinking – ‘From your keyboard to God’s ears, SanFilippo!’ 

Except, it probably doesn’t need divine intervention at this point. After the latest debacle – a three-inning performance where he yielded six runs on eight hits and a walk, including two monstrous home runs, and exit velocities that would make NASCAR drivers shiver, that resulted in a 7-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals, the Phillies can’t afford to hand him the ball again this season.

They just need to eat the financial mistake that he has been and move on. Tyler Phillips was giving you better outings. Kolby Allard was giving you better outings. Heck, anyone else at Lehigh Valley right now would be more intriguing.


It’s exacerbated more by the fact that his next scheduled start seems to be the opener of a four-game series with Atlanta that now has much bigger meaning as there is an unexpected divisional race at hand. The Braves won again Friday to move within five games of the Phillies for first place in the N.L. East.

Walker can’t make that start. He can’t.

Manager Rob Thomson was asked about it after the game and said, “We haven’t talked about it yet.”

Translation: ‘No, but I haven’t told Walker, so I can’t tell you.’

Walker only faced 18 hitters in the game. Exactly half of them hit the ball 95 mph or harder off of him.

It seemed like he was throwing batting practice:

If you watch that interview in the X post above, you see Walker owning up to his bad pitching and stating, “I know I’m better than this.”

It’s the one admirable thing about Walker. He is accountable. He always is. He never shies away from the questions he knows he has to face. And he’s another guy who cares and wants to be better than he is, even if the body language doesn’t show that sometimes.

But if that’s the only good thing you can say about a player at this level, then it might be time to cut bait.

You can be a nice guy, a good human, a great friend to your teammates and just not be good enough at your job. Plain and simple.

And while Walker may have been “better than this” at one point in his career, he hasn’t been for the Phillies in more than a year. That’s enough of a sample size to warrant whatever comes next.

What comes next is a conundrum, not just for the remainder of this season – as the Phillies will need someone to make 5-6 more starts in this spot in the rotation, and it shouldn’t be Walker – but for the future as well.

The Phillies are on the hook for another $36 million over the next two seasons as well with Walker. That’s a lot of chowder to eat. But eat it the Phillies should.

I mean…

O.K. while true, that’s a little unfair. Stubbs -0.2 WAR is based on 3 1/3 innings vs. Walker’s -0.6 WAR coming in 64 2/3 innings. But it’s worth noting that Walker, in 13 starts, has been worth less than a replacement-level pitcher this season.

Since he’s signed for two more years for such big money, how the Phillies handle this has to be delicate. Maybe they feel like they can part ways with him via trade in the offseason, and they only have to eat some of the money, and not all of it. Maybe they hold on to him and try to get him back to where he’s been previously in his career.

Or maybe they waive him and take the financial bloodbath as soon as they return home Monday.

In the first two instances, the Phillies would have to find a spot for him still on their roster for the rest of 2024, unless he’s injured again, which I don’t think is remotely the case. Can you live with Walker as the 28th man (after September 1st) as just a mop up guy pitching with either a big lead or big deficit?

If not, then the only option is the third one, which means ownership and management has to take that one on the chin.

Either way, Walker can’t make another start for this team this season. I can’t reiterate that enough. The season is slipping through the Phillies’ fingers at the moment, and if they are going to save it, they need to have everyone be able to get a firm grip on it to pull it back up to where it needs to be.

And Walker hasn’t been able to get a grip on anything – after all, he missed a month and half because he couldn’t hold his splitter properly. So, why would you think he could suddenly start now when it matters most?