How long would you give Walker as a starter?

[phins]

What bet? I think they’ll try. Wetherholt’s deal is team friendly. I have no idea what Walker wants.

The bet that Walker is who he is right now. Without the glove and legs floor of Wetherholt, I think it's a real question should you invest in Walker yet. Maybe that's just me though.

The Cardinals aren't driving the bus here. He's getting close to free agency. I think there's a chance his asking price is beyond what they're willing to spend. Wetherholt was relatively cheap all things considered. This won't be. Walker is a one-of-a-kind case. I'm curious to see where it goes.

That's not the question. The question was, would you be willing to make the commitment it would take to extend him. I'm saying that's a risky bet, whereas Wetherholt wasn't because of the floor of other skills.

Walker would take serious money to extend, for sure.

[phins]

How many Cardinals' fans watching this season would say to themselves, "Andre Pallante is worth as much as Jordan Walker"

Because of how bad Jordan Walker is as a fielder, he was worth 2.7 fWAR, the exact same amount as Pallante.

Many of us are underwhelmed with Pallante, so it surprised me to see them end the year the same and I'm not sure if I'm praising Pallante or criticizing Walker.

[cardsfantx]

Walker was garbage down the stretch. Seemed to look like years past that last month.

[WAR God]

It’s really an incredible development. He has 99 sprint speed and 99 arm strength according to statcast.

And is still an awful awful defender.

[AdmiralKird]

Is there any chance Walker could move back to 3rd and be more league average? Or would his defense at there just be a net loss?

[jagtrader]

They shouldn’t sign him so they can save their money to not sign anyone else.

[ghostrunner]

I think Pallante was overall fine, just not somebody to count on. Between the two I’d bet on Walker being more productive long term, even with his fade in September. I think he’s improved in right and has to improve a bit more. Also not a decision they need to hurry on unless he continues doing poorly next year. I’m fine with that WAR in RF depending on the context. Not so fine with it being the best WAR in the rotation.

[TheoSqua]

They shouldn’t sign him so they can save their money to not sign anyone else.

I see no reason to extend Walker right now. He's had two really bad years, two really good months, then 4 OK months. He's not eligible to be a free agent until 2029.

So I think taking another year, or even two, to see if those two months are a flash in the pan or if he has found another gear to help him realize his potential is worth it.

I really want Walker to succeed - I have a signed ball by him that he gave my daughter, so i'll always be a big fan of his - but so far he's shown far more reasons to be hesitant on signing him to a big contract than he has reasons to justify the risk.

[ghostrunner]

Seeing him work out of slumps this year was encouraging to me, and suggests he's able to do it again. I don't anticipate he'll return to what he was in 2025. Doesn't mean he'll be what he was in May this year, but somewhere in between is probably good enough until a decision is forced.

As far as third base, I just don't think that's ever happening. We need a better option at third, a slot opened there and they didn't try him. Can't see why they'd suddenly change gears having invested the time they have in putting him in RF.


Fangraphs has a pretty nice tool for seeing ups and downs over a season under their "lab" section called "Hot Streak". These are 10-day rolling averages, (what their 10 day average looked like on each day). This shows Walker, Burly, Herrera,and Wetherholt - JJ ended up pretty much right at league average in these two stats, so he's a decent point of reference.

[Magneto2.0]

This is Walker's splits. 3 very good months, 1 pretty good month, 1 below average month and a disastrous September. And I attribute that mostly to him playing through significant hip pain/discomfort rather than a sign he's back to his old ways.