They've seen the pitcher's tweet and the reply he seemed to be co-signing with a "like," but Dave Dombrowski and Rob Thomson aren't worried about the Phillies' relationship with Taijuan Walker.
Walker went 15-6 with a 4.38 ERA in 31 starts this season, the first of a four-year, $72 million contract. He struggled early, was excellent in the middle of the summer, struggled late and did not appear in a single playoff game despite being on the Phillies' roster for the wild-card round, NLDS and NLCS.
Around 2 a.m. Wednesday, several hours after the Phillies were stunned in the NLCS by the Diamondbacks in a series they led 2-0 and 3-2, Walker tweeted "Disrespect is at an all time high," with the hashtag #nextyear.
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One of the first responses came from a Phillies fan who wrote, "The disrespect is from your manager. He had no faith in you, which was a joke and his game decision cost the Phillies this series. REMEMBER THAT!"
Walker liked that response and still hasn't removed his like.
"I heard about it," Thomson said Thursday afternoon at a year-end press conference neither he nor Dombrowski hoped they'd be having this early in the fall.
"I haven't (talked to him yet). I'll call him at some point."
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Thomson doesn't think the relationship has been fractured.
"Oh, not at all, not one bit," he said. "People get emotional. He's a competitive guy. I love Taijuan, I really do. This guy gave us 15 wins. Every time he goes out to the mound, he competes until we take him out and then he never wants to come out. I want a guy like that. That type of thing doesn't bother me. I love him, I love his demeanor, I love his toughness. I'm sure everything will be fine."
Walker and Cristopher Sanchez were on the Phillies' postseason roster in the first two rounds to provide length in case of an extra-inning emergency. The need for a No. 4 starter behind Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez did not come up until Game 4 of the NLCS in Arizona and that start went to Sanchez, who looked better than Walker during a simulated game earlier that week. Walker was wild in his. Neither had started a game in nearly a month.
"It was just one of those days where we threw them out there, they threw a couple of innings, Sanchez and he, and he was having a hard time that day throwing strikes," Dombrowski said. "With that, the feeling was we're going to start Sanchez. But I like Taijuan Walker, I think he did a nice job. I look for him to be a real solid part of our rotation. I look for him to pitch well for us next year."
Sanchez did not have command of his fastball or changeup and lasted only seven outs in his start at Chase Field in a game the Phillies lost in the bottom of the eighth inning. Walker spent the entire month of October on the top step of the Phillies' dugout cheering his teammates on, but never appeared in a game.
"I'm always careful with what's on social media and I don't have a social media account on purpose," Dombrowski said. "I'm aware of what took place. It happens when guys don't pitch or don't play at a particular time.
"He won 15 games, he pitched 175 innings for us in an era when not many people are doing that. I think he had a real solid season for us. He had a struggle for a while there near the end and he started a little slowly because coming out of the World Baseball Classic, I don't think he was really ready at that time, we didn't have the proper time to get us ready. And then what ended up happening was we had three starters who were our big three at the time. Ranger at that time was throwing great, so all of the sudden when you get to the postseason, you're only using three and when you need a fourth, they haven't pitched for a while.
"I never get upset when a guy would like to pitch, that's good. And the other thing, he's in a tough spot, it's different in the postseason, he's not a reliever, he takes a long time to warm up, but you need someone who can give you length if you run into extra innings. It's a tough position to be in, somebody's got to do it."
Walker factors prominently into the Phillies' near future. They will return four-fifths of their starting rotation in Wheeler, Suarez, Walker and Sanchez. Nola is a free agent and the Phillies' top priority this offseason will be either re-signing him or finding a top-end pitcher to replace him.