The Mariners have a “standing offer” of a one-year deal to free-agent right-hander Taijuan Walker, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. Divish adds that the 27-year-old Walker has offers from a “handful” of clubs and is mulling which presents him with the best opportunity.
There’s a clear opening in the Seattle rotation behind Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi, Justus Sheffield and offseason signee Kendall Graveman, and Walker has plenty of familiarity with the Seattle organization. The Mariners selected him with the No. 43 pick of the 2010 draft, and Walker threw the first 357 innings of his big league career as a member of the Mariners before being sent to Arizona (alongside Ketel Marte) in a trade that sent both Mitch Haniger and Jean Segura to Seattle. Walker started 25 games for the Mariners in 2016 — the team’s first season under manager Scott Servais.
The Twins have also been linked to Walker, although they’ve since added righty Kenta Maeda in a trade with the Dodgers, and it’s not clear if that swap has curbed their interest. Notably, however, Minnesota does have an open spot on its 40-man roster (barring the inclusion of a second 40-man player from the Dodgers in that yet-unofficial trade). Walker also threw in front of nearly two dozen scouts recently; paired with Divish’s note on the righty sifting through a “handful” of offers, it’s clear that the Mariners still have some competition for his services regardless of where things stand with the Twins’ reported interest.
Walker has pitched just 14 innings in the past two seasons due to Tommy John surgery and a strained shoulder capsule, but he did make it back to a big league mound in the final game of the 2019 season, when he touched 94mph with his heater and tallied a strikeout in his lone (scoreless) inning of work. In his last full season, Walker tossed 157 1/3 innings with a 3.49 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 48.9 percent ground-ball rate.
Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has been open about his expectation of further additions to the team’s rotation mix. Since making those comments, he’s signed Wei-Yin Chen to a minor league deal and claimed left-hander Nick Margevicius off waivers from the Padres. Either could factor into a camp competition for the fifth spot in the rotation (along with Justin Dunn and perhaps Erik Swanson), but Dipoto has yet to acquire someone who’s a clear plug-in option for that fifth rotation spot. Walker would fit that bill as well as (if not better than) any remaining unsigned starting pitcher.
come to Philly! we have openings for any role he wants. heck, might as well close for us.
Can you throw a baseball? Come to Philly. You may start.
Do I have to throw it hard? I might confuse the hitters by throwing slow junk at therm after seeing 95mph* all day 🙂
Your “slow junk” might be an improvement over some of the faster junk I saw from our starting pitching last year.
Damn, slow junk sounds like a personal problem
I can throw a baseball, I throw three pitches that are very effective, 4 seamer, 2 seamer and circle change, the latter of which is my best pitch.
I thought the same thing.
I have been lobbying for months hoping Klentak would take a flier on Walker. We can’t rely on Arrieta being any good. Eflin and Pivetta are still question marks (Maybe less so with Eflin.).
Instead of signing a bunch of over-30 relief pitchers, go for the gold. Walker, though he might flop, could do just the opposite and prove to be the elixir our starting staff needs.
As an aside, I think Klentak is in way over his head and we are not gonna win anything until Cigar Guy sends him packing.
Eflin is not a question mark. He is a solid 4 or 5, but you’re right about everyone else.
I think Klentak made a lot of decent moves last year and none of them worked. The Robertson injury really hurt. So yeah. His track record is looking awful and if they don’t extend J.T. (still plenty of time) that will be the final nail in the coffin.
As a Yankee fan who lived in Delaware County (Philly area) from 81-98 (the Von Hayes years plus some), I was sad to see Robertson leave NY but stoked for the Phillies. I thought they were in for a treat. What a shame.
I would love to see the Twins take a smidge of that extra cash they got in the Maeda deal, and shovel some towards the Walker estate.
Despite his shoulder being mash potato-y over the last few years, I’d like to see the Twins ‘arm whisperers’ go all Pat Swayze on Walker’s lump of clay. If he could stay healthy, the Twins could most definitely help him manage the workload out of that 5th slot in their rotation.
Man, digging the Ghost reference. This is the content I come here to see.
I’m guessing he’s waiting on 2nd year option with a significant buyout. As this could be his last chance to make major money.never know what will happen in the future so make as much money as you can now
Nah, he’d be selling himself short. A decent year will get him a multi year contract for significantly more. Probably down to best chance for a rotation spot, and most money for that one year deal.
Unless he’s not confident he’ll have a good year?
Cubs could use a number 5 starter on f Theo can find some pennies in his sock drawer
He will get a minor league deal, expecting as much anyway. I’m sure he has another 700k he could risk. Although chatwood could be a surprise if he can find the strikeZone.
Come home to Seattle Walker. You’d be welcome with open arms and can rebuild you’re value with plenty of innings to get you back on track.
It’s just a one year offer, and I’d bet TW was hoping for 2 yrs, or at least a 1+1.
And a team that won’t be contending in 2020.
How did he go from hitting 94 in the last game of the year to topping out at like 86 in his showcase the other day? Something doesn’t quite add up here.
Hindsight is always a bear, but how bad does the Walker/Marte for Haniger/Segura trade look now ?
Not bad at all, why?
Gonzales, Kikuchi, Graveman, Sheffield, Walker with Chen, Cortes, and Margevicus as depth. I am good with that for a rebuilding rotation. All of those guys are young enough to possibly factor into the long term plans, except for Chen.
More importantly you can let the kids continue to develop in the minors.
if the Red Sox haven’t already promised his agent a major league deal with incentives, season ticket holder should burn their tickets in front of the park. They have one reliable starter and no 5th starter at all and just opened up 40 and 25 man roster spots plus got way under the tax threshold.
Provided he’s healthy, I wouldn’t be surprised if Boston’s signs him as soon as MLB approves the Mookie trade. I just hope he has his fastball back; I believe he lost 4-5mph off of it after his surgery so it only makes sense to sign him if he has most of his velocity back. If not, there’s always Matt Harvey 😉
Seattle may not be the worst place for Walker to try to reestablish some value. He would definitely get the ball every 5th day if he can stay healthy.
Angels could use another arm
Perfect fit in boston. Higher upside right hander. Shouldn’t cost a ton
I’m waiting to hear what Boston’s total CBT salary is now that this trade is completed. I’ve heard conflicting totals. Some say they are now $16-$18M below the first threshold while others say that they are only $1-$2M below the threshold. This will make a huge difference in offering a deal to Walker or any other veteran SP for that matter as Boston must reset this year after giving up a generational talent in Mookie.
I’m sure my calculation isnt completely correct but I came up with about 180-185 million going toward the cap as of right now which would give the sox about 23- 28 million to play with. With that said, the figures I found may not be completely correct but aren’t likely too far off. Your 16-18 million seems more correct than 2 million
I’m sure my calculation isnt completely correct but I came up with about 180-185 million going toward the cap as of right now which would give the sox about 23- 28 million to play with. With that said, the figures I found may not be completely correct but aren’t likely too far off. Your 16-18 million seems more correct than 2 million
Mariners + Taijuan Walker = Marijuaners
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Your older sister needs her laptop back to do her algebra homework