The Philadelphia Phillies have a former All-Star that one analyst believes should be moved for the greater good of the team.
Phillies pushed to trade declining RHP Taijuan Walker
FanSided’s Matt Grazel recently implored the Phillies to trade away starting righty Taijuan Walker, saying this in part to justify his claim (h/t Aaliyan Mohammed of The Sporting News):
“If Thomson did not have enough confidence in Walker to use him out of the bullpen during the 2023 playoffs, the pitcher did not give the manager any reason to consider using him during the NLDS with his struggles this year,” wrote Grazel. “Dombrowski should explore trading the Shreveport, Louisiana, native this winter.”
Phillies: Walker had a concerning season in 2024
Walker was far from productive in 2024. The Louisiana native went 3-7 with a mere 58 strikeouts across 83.2 innings pitched and an ERA that ballooned up to 7.10 from his sub-4.60 earned runs averages every other year in his 12-year career.
The 32-year-old posted a negative wins above replacement metric with his -1.6 WAR. That was far and away the worst WAR on the Phillies’ entire pitching staff, bullpen, or starters.
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Phillies could sell teams on Walker’s strong track record & likely rebound
Nevertheless, he is not far removed from his All-Star campaign in 2021 where he retired 146 batters behind a 1.182 WHIP for the New York Mets. He even played considerably better and was more impactful toward winning in the ensuing two seasons with the Mets and Phillies respectively. Thus, if Philadelphia feels as though he can’t return to that form in 2025, they could attempt to trade him to a team that does.
