ST. LOUIS — Given the goals that the Cubs have for this season, combined with the current moment in baseball’s calendar, the team was at a difficult crossroads with veteran starter Jameson Taillon. The ballclub determined there was simply not enough leeway to allow the pitcher to sort through his persistent struggles.
Prior to Monday’s game against the Cardinals, the Cubs made the decision to designate Taillon for assignment, selecting the contract of righty Andrew Wantz from Triple-A Iowa to fill the spot on the roster. With the Trade Deadline looming and Taillon unlikely to make his next turn in the rotation, the North Siders parted ways with one of the team’s leaders.
“We just had to make a hard decision as to whether we thought Jameson was going to pitch again,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters at Busch Stadium. “We just didn’t feel like it was going to happen again. Those are hard decisions. It seems like everything is always just a baseball decision and just about production.
“Jamo’s not only produced as a Cub, he’s had a big impact on our culture and in our clubhouse. So, that makes those decisions harder. But, in the end, we just feel like we had to do better in that spot.”
Counsell said that righty Javier Assad would likely slide back into the rotation when Taillon’s spot came up again. The Cubs will also be on the hunt for rotation help ahead of the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline. Right-hander Edward Cabrera (15-day injured list) is also on the horizon. He threw live BP on Sunday and will likely have three Minor League rehab starts.
In the smaller picture, the 34-year-old Taillon was coming off a disastrous outing on Sunday in Pittsburgh, where he allowed seven runs in four innings in an 8-7 loss. The righty surrendered three home runs, giving him 25 on the season (tied for the most in the National League). Taillon had given up 14 homers within 40 hits in his last seven outings (30 1/3 innings).
Among 131 pitchers who have logged at least 70 innings this season in the Majors, Taillon had the highest Fielding Independent Pitching (6.74), along with the highest home run rate (2.96 per nine innings) and home run-to-fly ball ratio (21.4%). Overall, he logged a 5.92 ERA in 76 innings this season for the Cubs.
“I told Jamo last night, I’m a little confused,” Counsell said. “We’re trying to figure out how to make this better and why it’s kind of gone this direction. And it was a little bit hard to figure out, unfortunately. The hitters were obviously telling us something different.”
Zooming out, the Cubs brought Taillon — who crossed 10 years of Major League service time this year — into the fold via a four-year, $68 million deal prior to the 2023 season. The Cubs sought him not only for his ability to log quality innings, but due to his reputation as having an analytical mind and being a strong leader and clubhouse presence.
While Taillon’s tenure with the Cubs included plenty of ups and downs, he lived up to that reputation behind the scenes. And on the mound, Taillon was particularly solid across ‘24-25 (3.45 ERA in 51 starts) and one of Chicago’s top performers in last year’s postseason run.
“It’s obviously a tough day,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “Everyone in here knows what he’s meant to this team and to this organization. The innings he’s pitched, but really, more importantly, just the role he plays in this clubhouse, just the guy he is and the teammate he is. He’s definitely on my Mount Rushmore of teammates.”
“That was really the pinnacle of what I feel like his Cubs tenure was,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said of Taillon’s postseason performance. “And also just the steadying of who Jamo is. … No matter what he went through and situations he went through, he was the same guy. He was competing and always putting the work in.”
Hottovy also praised Taillon for his ability to be a great self-evaluator. That was evident again after Sunday’s outing, when the pitcher told reporters he was “not naive” to the situation he was in with the Cubs.
“I still think there’s a lot more in the tank for him,” Hottovy said. “I think time was probably the biggest issue right now. … [We were] just kind of running out of time right now with where we are in the season and what we’re trying to do.”
