Phillies release Taijuan Walker during eight-game losing skid

CHICAGO — The Phillies announced Thursday that they have released Taijuan Walker.

The 33-year-old struggled badly to begin the season, posting a 9.13 ERA over five appearances while allowing a league-leading 23 earned runs in 22 2/3 innings.

The move came a day after Walker allowed four runs on eight hits over four innings against the Cubs while working behind an opener. The new plan did not go as intended, and with the club in the middle of an eight-game losing streak — its longest since 2018 — the Phillies cut bait.

Entering this season, Walker had remained part of the club’s rotation picture largely because of Zack Wheeler’s recovery from thoracic outlet decompression surgery. But with Wheeler set to make his season debut Saturday in Atlanta, the Phillies chose to move on.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said the organization had exhausted just about every path to make it work with Walker.

“We tried everything you possibly can,” Dombrowski said. “It just has not been able to be effective for us this past year and over the last year.”

Walker signed with the Phillies before the 2023 season on a four-year, $72 million deal. In 89 appearances with the club, including 71 starts, the Louisiana native posted a 5.12 ERA and struck out just 299 batters over 402 2/3 innings.

A large share of Walker’s trouble came in the first inning of starts, especially this season. In 2026, he allowed 11 earned runs in opening frames alone, which worked out to a 24.75 ERA.

The Phillies, who sit at 8-16, had recently changed Walker’s pregame routine and then shifted to an opener in hopes of helping him avoid those early blowups. Neither fix stuck.

Dombrowski said the club also talked through keeping Walker in a relief role, but ultimately decided this was the right time to make the move.

“We discussed it, but we just think this is the best thing at this time,” Dombrowski said.

Manager Rob Thomson also made clear that the decision came down to results, not anything Walker lacked professionally.

“It’s just all performance-based,” Thomson said. “This guy’s a pro. I’m going to miss him, to tell you the truth.”

Thomson pointed to the value Walker brought the club beyond the numbers, especially during the past two seasons when the Phillies needed length.

“This guy always took the ball, never refused it, always answered the questions after the game … With the injuries we had last year — Wheeler, [Aaron] Nola, Ranger [Suárez] for a while — this guy took down 125 innings basically for us,” Thomson said. “He helped us get in the playoffs.”

Philadelphia, which owes Walker $18 million this season, will still be responsible for the remainder of that salary — a little more than $15 million. If Walker signs elsewhere on a Major League deal, the Phillies would only receive the standard offset of the prorated league minimum.

It is the second time in a matter of months that the Phillies have eaten a large contract to move on from a veteran. The club released outfielder Nick Castellanos in February and owes him $19.22 million this season.

Dombrowski did not frame the Walker decision through that financial lens, though.

“I don’t look at it necessarily that way,” he said. “Those are long-term contracts that have been in that situation. Unfortunately, this past year it hasn’t worked out.”

He added that Walker handled the decision professionally.

“He was very thankful for the opportunity to be here,” Dombrowski said. “He wishes it would have turned out differently. We know, and he knows, that he gave every effort that he possibly could.”

The Phillies do not have overwhelming organizational depth when it comes to starting pitching behind their big league rotation, but they believe they have enough to get by for now.

Alan Rangel, who made his season debut Wednesday night, remains one of the more reliable Triple-A starters in the system. He was optioned Thursday, and the Phillies brought up right-hander Nolan Hoffman, who has worked out of the bullpen at Lehigh Valley.

Dombrowski pointed to Rangel and several other upper-level arms as part of the reason the Phillies felt they could make the move now.

“We’ve got Rangel, we’ve got some other guys in our minor league system,” Dombrowski said. “We feel very good about some of our other bullpen people in Triple-A, and even at Double-A. So we feel that’s a real depth spot for us.”

For now, the Phillies will move forward with Cristopher Sánchez, Wheeler, Jesús Luzardo, Nola and Andrew Painter in the rotation as they try to dig out of a seven-games-under-.500 hole.