The Philadelphia Phillies have cakewalked their way to a third straight playoff appearance in 2024. But that doesn't mean every player on the team has had their best season.
The strength of this Phillies team was the starting rotation, which boasted three All-Stars at the Midsummer Classic. Four of the Philadelphia starters are locks for postseason starts. But the designated fifth starter for most of the season has been a shocking disappointment.
Former National League All-Star pitcher Taijuan Walker has been almost impossibly bad in 2024, the second year of his four-year, $72 million contract with the Phillies. So bad, in fact, that an insider named him the slam-dunk winner of a dubious imaginary postseason award.
Jayson Stark of the Athletic designated Walker as the National League's "Cy Yuk" winner on Friday, essentially calling him the worst pitcher in all of baseball this season.
"The Phillies kept letting Taijuan Walker take the mound. He then did everything possible to make the Cy Yuk Selection Committee’s deliberations easy," Stark said.
"Before Walker did it, no 94-win team (or better) in the modern era had ever lost 10 straight starts by any pitcher. The former “record” was 91 wins, by the 1967 Tigers in games started by Mickey Lolich."
On the year, Walker has pitched to a 3-7 record with a 7.10 ERA in 83 2/3 innings. He has been worth -1.6 wins above replacement, according to Baseball Reference.
With two years remaining on that albatross contract, Walker is a candidate to be released this winter. Eating the money will be difficult, but the Phillies haven't seen any evidence that the 32-year-old can rebound to the form he once had.
Then, there's the question of the playoff roster. The Phillies have their four starters locked and loaded, but must decide whether Walker is one of the 13 pitchers best suited to throw a single inning for them in the most important month of the year.
Walker has been accountable through the whole ordeal, and one can't help but feel sympathy for a pitcher who simply can't find his footing. But the Phillies have to do what's best for the team, which means there's a chance Walker has already thrown his last pitch in a Philadelphia uniform.
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