The Mets have opted against issuing a $19.65MM qualifying offer to right-hander Taijuan Walker, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Walker, who made the easy decision to decline a $7.5MM player option earlier this week, will now reach free agency with no restrictions and will not be subject to draft-pick compensation. Unsurprisingly, Heyman adds that the Mets plan to make a QO to all three of Jacob deGrom, Brandon Nimmo and Chris Bassitt.
Walker, who turned 30 in August, was a borderline candidate and might well have rejected his offer upon receiving one, though the Mets won’t find out and will instead accept the possibility of losing him for no compensation. As a luxury tax payor, they’ll “only” receive a pick between the fourth and fifth round for any free agent who rejects a qualifying offer, and apparently the notion of potentially tying up $19.65MM in salary to Walker right out of the offseason gate wasn’t worth that fairly modest bit of compensation for GM Billy Eppler and his staff.
It’s great news for Walker, who’ll now head into free agency search of a multi-year deal that could span three or perhaps even four years in length. The former top prospect has shaken off many of the injury concerns that stemmed from Tommy John surgery and shoulder surgery earlier in his career, making 69 of roughly 76 possible starts across the past three seasons. That includes 29 starts and more than 155 innings in each of the past two campaigns.
Since 2020, Walker has pitched to a 3.80 ERA with a 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and a 43.2% ground-ball rate. He’s averaged just about 5 1/3 innings per outing in that time, though that would seem to be more in an effort to monitor his workload than due to strong concerns about turning a lineup over for the third time. Since 2020, Walker has yielded a .232/.303/.391 batting line when facing opponents for the third time on a given day. While his numbers the first and second time through the order are better, it’s not the type of cringeworthy third-time split you’ll see with so many starting pitchers.
Walker’s fastball sat 93.8 mph in 2022, so he doesn’t have premium velocity. He doesn’t miss bats or generate grounders at an especially high level but also limits walks at a solid clip. He may not stand out in any one way, but he increasingly looks like a durable mid-rotation arm who could deepen nearly any starting staff in the Majors.
Future White Sox Walker!
I’d be ok with that
His QO is too high, so this makes sense IMO. Still doesn’t necessarily mean the Mets won’t try to resign him. A Blue Jays reunion makes some sense too.
There is no “his QO.” The QO is the same for all players.
I know. I mean the QO would be too high in his case.
Now watch the Mets drop 45 mil AAV for Verlander And it not work out for them lol
If they dropping 40+ mil, it is for deGrom.
Why pay him double what he was making..he won’t help them win…no one can
They won a bunch last year. Just not when it mattered, but the spending worked.
$40M would be for Jake, Verlander would probably command $30M~
Honestly, I would probably expect Verlander to perform better (because he will pitch more innings) over the next 2-3 years.
Makes sense for the Rangers or Angels. Shoot, he can help a lot of teams.
He seemed to struggle a bit towards the end of the season.
Giants sign him to a 2 – 3 year deal.
Meh.
Angels should have Walker’s agent’s phone number on speed dial and offer him 3 year deal at 12:01, lol!
That would be the Boras Corporation.
Kinda sucks that the Mets are offering Nimmo the QO. That will certainly put a dent in his market. Was hoping to see him in a SF jersey next season.
You still might. It does hurt though, with SF’s farm system ranked #18 by MLP Pipeline. That’s not terrible, and those rankings are iffy anyway, but Zaidi might be concerned about that. On the other hand, Judge got the QO and I doubt that’s going to stop them from bidding on him.
Anytime a player is expected to clear $100M, I doubt the QO pick really scares off many teams. The MLB draft is such a crapshoot most of the time anyway. So they could be giving away the next perennial All-Star, but more likely, they’re giving away a guy who gets a cup of coffee in the majors, then becomes a college coach or something. I wouldn’t worry about it.
I suspect it’s more of a problem when the team’s owner is overly concerned with the luxury tax, the way Hal Steinbrenner appears to be. Smarter owners of big-market teams recognize that the tax is a comparative pittance in the context of their entire payroll and the value of wins. The Phillies will pay a luxury tax of $2.6M and they made it to the World Series.
It won’t dent it at all. The pick the Mets will get will get from the signing team will be worth, on average $2.5 (two point five) million.
Research, then have the opinion.
Would you care to estimate how much your overbearing snark adds to your comment?
And, by the way, you’re wrong. The QO will certainly have some impact on Nimmo’s market, and that will vary depending on the interested team’s payroll situation, the size of the market they play in, and the condition of their farm system. Depending on those factors, the effect of the QO might be negligible, but to say it won’t be a factor at all is to oversimplify.
I thought Walker would get the QO. He’s been healthy the last two seasons and pitched relatively well (despite 2nd half struggles). I figured he would be more concerned with cashing in for multiple seasons rather than take the high AAV of the QO and risk an injury limiting his FA value going forward in that case.
Walker will probably get a multi year deal at ~$10-12 million per year. No need to offer him a QO because he may take it. I could see the Mets presenting him with a 2/$25 million deal or something and telling him it’s available if he wants it after he tests the waters.
I think 20 for 1 is too much for Walker, so I agree with not giving him the QO. You can perhaps do a little less AAV for more years.
Walker’s ERA for 2021-22 was not quite league average. That’s not close to a pitcher worth 1/19m. His ERA also leaned a bit lucky in 2022, and he wasn’t even the Mets’ #4 starter.
From a personal perspective, I hate to see him leave the Mets. From a baseball perspective, it makes sense for both sides to avoid the QO. From a fan perspective, I hope to not see him pitch after the All Star break again (in a Mets uniform). He’s a tough watch in August/September.
Walker’s production was nearly identical to Bassitt but anyone who watched the games particularly the 2nd half would give the QO to Bassitt and not to Walker, which is what the Mets did but they’re overall production was just about the same.
Taijuan was a good pitcher and at least appeared to be a good teammate. Seemed like a class guy who was active in the community. This is really about the $19M plus QO. He’s a good 4/5 maybe a 3 type starter somewhere. Teams could do a lot worse.