Philadelphia Phillies fans rejoiced with joy when the club shockingly cut Taijuan Walker loose. With a 9.13 ERA over just 22 2/3 innings, Walker had subtracted a whopping 0.6 fWAR from the Phillies in shockingly little time. It made it seem as if it would be impossible for the 33-year-old to find another job.
However, the right-hander would only be out of work for a month, with news breaking that he's agreed to a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Angels. While it's just a minor league deal, a club doesn't sign a veteran with Walker's experience without the intention of giving him a shot on the big league roster sooner rather than later.
The likely scenario is that the Angels give the all-time Phillies bust a few minor league starts to build his arm back up before calling upon him to serve on their major league pitching staff, opening themselves up to a world of pain in the process.
Angels will soon learn why the Phillies were so eager to eat Taijuan Walker's $18 million salary
The Angels are no strangers to Philadelphia's castoffs. Over the offseason, they gave former Phillies arsonist Jordan Romano a major league contract and made him their closer. A month into the season, they had seen enough and DFA'd the veteran reliever, kicking his 10.13 ERA to the curb.
Signing Walker is a major indictment of the state of their starting rotation. Through May 22, Angels starters have posted a 4.60 ERA, which ranks 24th in baseball. Even that is a little misleading, as Jose Soriano posted a historic 0.24 ERA over his first six starts, but owns a 5.24 mark over his last five outings.
Anaheim has used nine different starting pitchers already this season, not including relievers serving as openers. In addition to poor performance, they have struggled with injuries, with presumed key pieces like Yusei Kikuchi, Grayson Rodriguez, and Alek Manoah all spending time on the IL.
So while the Angels are searching for answers, they'll quickly learn that Walker provides none. This year, opposing hitters on average performed like inner-circle Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio during his historic 56-game hitting streak. That's a crazy-but-true visualization of just how bad Walker has been.
The Angels are one of the most dysfunctional organizations in baseball, so it's no surprise that they'd be the ones to roll the dice on Walker. They'll soon find that even they can't tolerate his ineptitude, however. Either that, or he might fit in perfectly?
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