Taijuan Walker isn't the Phillies pitcher fans want to abandon in London

Philadelphia Phillies right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker has been a polarizing figure in the city of brotherly love since last postseason, when he was left out of the playoff rotation and was clearly unhappy with manager Rob Thomson about said incident.

The Phillies still owe Walker quite a bit of money, which made his slow start to the 2024 season all the tougher to deal with. Walker has been the worst starting pitcher in a dominant Phillies rotation, but Thomson vowed to stay patient with him. On Sunday, that paid off in a big way.

"Why not? Because I trust him," Thomson said. "He's got to command better. Hopefully, along the way, he gains some velo. We saw it tick up a couple of starts ago and now it's come back down. I'm sure he'll get there. But he's got to command the baseball, he's got to keep it down, he's got to get the split down."

Spencer Turnbull would be the ideal replacement for Walker should the Phillies opt to remove him from the rotation at any point this season. However, with his back against the wall, Walker pitched a lights-out game against his former team, the New York Mets.

Gregory Soto blows a golden opportunity for Taijuan Walker, Phillies

The Mets let Walker walk as a free agent just a few winters ago, only adding more fuel to this dumpster fire. Shortly after removing Walker from the game, however, the Phillies ran into some trouble thanks to Gregory Soto.

Soto allowed three runs to cross, and just like that the Phillies lead was gone. Two of those runs were charged to Walker. On the season, Soto has an ERA of 5.40, and has been anything but reliable in the back end of the Phillies bullpen.

If there is any area the Phils need to improve at the trade deadline, it is in Soto's place. The back end of the Philadelphia bullpen can be suspect at times. Thankfully, Dave Dombrowski has the prospect capital to make a trade happen before it's too late.