Trouble is brewing for former Mets starter Taijuan Walker in Philadelphia.
The Phillies’ $72 million offseason acquisition liked several tweets criticizing manager Rob Thomson for being passed over during the playoffs, despite making the roster.
“The disrespect is from your manager. He had no faith in you, which was a joke and his game decision the Phillies this series. REMEMBER THAT!” X user @TJE5909 said in a post liked by Walker.
“To me, you not pitching in the postseason was the true disrespect. Thank you for supporting your teammates,” @jmiller678 also said to Walker, who liked the post.
Those posts were in response to a cryptic tweet sent by Walker, who said, “Disrespect is at an all-time high #nextyear,” roughly three hours after the Phillies were upset by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Walker did not throw a single pitch in the postseason after going 15-6 with a 4.33 ERA in his first season in Philadelphia.
Aside from reliever Craig Kimbrel’s struggles, the Phillies pitching staff primarily pitched well in the postseason with a 2.20 team ERA, the best among the final four teams.
Walker came over from the Mets after one of the best seasons of his career in 2022, but saw his ERA jump up nearly a full run.
He also wasn’t pitching his best baseball going into the postseason, with a 5.91 ERA in September while posting his worst walks per nine innings ratio since 2014.
The team passed over him for a Game 4 start despite making Walker its prized offseason pitching acquisition with a four-year, $72 million deal during the 2022 Winter Meetings.
Walker has only pitched once in his postseason career, starting a 2017 NLDS game against the Dodgers.
He was chased early in that start, allowing four runs on four hits and two walks in one inning.
Read more
