Likely Taijuan Walker Free Agency Price Tag Revealed

The New York Mets revealed earlier this week that nine of their players were hitting free agency this offseason. One of the more notable players of the bunch is none other than starting pitcher Taijuan Walker, leaving fans to wonder what his future looks like after declining his contract option.

Time will tell where the 30-year-old veteran ends up, but MLB insider Kiley McDaniel has the details about what Walker's next contract could entail.

Taijuan Walker Free Agency

McDaniel sees Walker landing a deal worth $60 million over four seasons, carrying an average annual value (AAV) of $15 million. For comparison, that would be a huge raise over his last contract, which was a three-year, $23 million deal signed with the Mets in February 2021.

McDaniel says that Walker's appeal is that the latter is a "durable starter and throws strikes" without blowing on-lookers away. The insider also compares the former All-Star to the likes of Chris Bassitt and Justin Verlander, saying that those names fall in the "$50-75 million range."

After Walker's 2022 campaign, he deserves the pay bump. The former 2010 first-rounder set a career-high with 12 wins over 29 appearances last season, pitching to a 3.49 ERA and 1.195 WHIP with 132 strikeouts over 157.1 innings.

With 163 starts over the last 10 seasons, Walker has established himself as someone who can improve any rotation he joins. Always the definition of a professional, any team that lands him will be better for it.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.