Cubs Are Not Committing To Jameson Taillon

The Chicago Cubs have a serious pitcher problem on their hands. 

Although both Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga are starting to come into their own, the Cubs aren’t getting much contributions from the backend of their rotation. That’s in large part why they plan to be aggressive at this year’s trade deadline to acquire a premier starting pitcher. 

Colin Rea hasn’t exactly done his job in this Cubs rotation. Rea has a 4.85 ERA across 105 ⅔ innings pitched this season. He has a 5.06 ERA over his last eight starts and has allowed at least four runs in four of those eight outings. 

David Peterson has looked better in his past two starts (one run across 11 ⅔ innings), but there are still massive concerns about his consistency. He gave up 10 runs against the Cardinals back on July 3, and his 5.23 expected ERA, .279 expected batting average against, 21.5% whiff rate, and 43.3% hard-hit rate all rank in the bottom 20% of the league. 

Then, there’s Jameson Taillon. 

Taillon has struggled the entire year, even dating back to Spring Training. He allowed 26 runs across 13 ⅓ innings in the spring (17.55 ERA), and those struggles have continued into the regular season. The Cubs right-hander has a career-worst 5.92 ERA across 15 starts. He has a -0.9 WAR, a 1.355 WHIP, and has allowed 25 home runs across 76 innings pitched. 

Things have been even worse for Taillon since returning from the injured list, as he has gotten blown up in each of his last two starts. He allowed four earned runs across 4 ⅓ innings against the Tigers on July 20 and gave up seven runs across four innings against the Pirates on July 26. In those two outings, the 34-year-old allowed five home runs, which included giving up a grand slam to Ryan O’Hearn in Sunday’s loss. 

The Cubs can't just keep throwing Taillon out there and hope things improve. He hasn’t had it all year. His 5.84 expected ERA, 15.7% barrel rate, 34.1% groundball rate, 25.3% pull air rate, and 20.9% strikeout rate all rank extremely poorly.

Taillon needs to be replaced in the rotation immediately. And it appears the Cubs are internally deciding how to proceed with him. Manager Craig Counsell said after Sunday’s loss that the team is going to discuss whether the 10-year veteran will make his next start. 

“I think we’ve got to discuss it,” Counsell told reporters in Pittsburgh. “We’ve got days to figure that out, but we have to discuss what’s best for the staff in general.”

It remains to be seen what Counsell eventually decides to do with Taillon, whose next start is lined up to be on Friday against the New York Yankees. But there is a good chance the Cubs do make some sort of change to the rotation because the right-hander simply isn’t getting the job done. 

Javier Assad could be an option to replace Taillon in the short term. Assad would be a big upgrade in that rotation spot, as he has a 3.64 ERA across eight starts this season.