Philadelphia Phillies Stuck With Struggling Starter At Trade Deadline

The Philadelphia Phillies have limited options on how to address their struggling starter at the MLB trade deadline.

[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] June 9, 2024; London, UNITED KINGDOM; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Taijuan Walker throws to the New York Mets during a London Series baseball game at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. / Matthew Childs/Reuters via USA TODAY

The Philadelphia Phillies pitching staff has been phenomenal for the most part, but one sore spot has stuck out this year.

As The Athletic's Jim Bowden examined the state of contending the MLB trade deadline, he gave Philadelphia fans some potentially bad news about the fate of struggling starter Taijuan Walker.

While some fans thought they may be able to flip Walker in a trade along with some prospects for one of the top deadline stars, but it does not look like the rest of the league hold him in high regards either.

"At this point, the right-hander doesn’t have much trade value even if the Phillies pay most of his remaining salary, especially for players the caliber of Robert, Happ, McCarthy and Chisholm," said Bowden. "If the Phillies are going to land those types of players, they’ll have to offer some of their best prospects, especially for Robert and Chisholm."

In 10 games this season, Walker has a 5.60 ERA and 1.491 WHIP. The Phillies are 4-6 in games in which he starts, including a five game losing streak. He hasn't had a quality start since May 11.

The 31-year-old is currently on the 15-day injured list dealing with a finger injury that he's had since June 21. He was a solid pitcher for a long time, but seems to have fallen off a cliff this past season in easily the worst year of his career.

He's hovered around a mid-3s to mid-4s ERA pitcher his entire career. Never elite, but a solid end of the rotation guy. He even earned an All-Star nod a few years ago with the New York Mets.

The Louisiana native has a six-pitch mix that he all utilizes at about the same rate. His most common pitch is a 91 MPH sinker that is getting hit more often than it ever has.

For the first time in his career, none of his pitches reach 92 MPH on average, which could be a large reason that he's not seeing as much success.

He's never been a high-strikeout pitcher, but batters just aren't being fooled by anything he's doing. They have a .284/.352/.510 slashing line against him.

Philadelphia signed Walker to a four-year, $72 million contract last year with no easy outs until it's done at the conclusion of the 2026 campaign. It has quickly turned into one the worst contracts in the league. They'll either need to ride it out or just cut their losses and move on to someone else, eating a lot of money in the process.