Struggles of Jameson Taillon
Courtesy of Chicago Sun Times
Jameson Taillon was the Chicago Cubs’ big pitching get this offseason and his results have been less than stellar, to put it lightly. He was signed in free agency for 4 years and $68 million following his season with the New York Yankees where he had a 14-5 record with a 3.91 ERA. Initially, it appeared to be a good signing for the Cubs, who needed the starting pitching, but in hindsight, it was one of their worst pickups this offseason.
So far, Jameson Taillon has a 2-6 record with a 6.90 ERA and only 1 quality start, which was barely a quality start against the Pittsburgh Pirates since he went 6 innings and gave up 3 earned runs. Opponents are batting .300 against him and he is looking nothing like the pitcher he has been in years past, where he has been fairly consistent throughout.
Left-handed batters have been hitting Taillon particularly hard, posting a .318 batting average, compared to right-handed batters hitting .280. Lefties also have a 1.081 OPS against him compared to a .671 against righties. His barrel rate is at a career high 11.8%. He has given up 12 home runs this season, out of his 13 total starts, and 10 of them were to left-handed batters. None of those numbers are great, but when watching his starts, it is clear that his current arsenal is basically batting practice for many left-handed batters.
There are glimmers of what Taillon could actually be, posting a strikeout rate over 20% and the lowest hard contact rate of his career at 28%. Taillon is usually able to show his quality stuff in an inning of two, but that is usually either sandwiched or followed up with a horrible inning, so the bad ends up outweighing the good.
If the Cubs truly want to contend and succeed with Taillon not only this season, but in the future, he needs to have better command. Because right now, when Taillon is trying to paint the corners, it is too far outside, so he ends up walking players. And when he tries to throw it in for a strike, he throws it right down the middle where hitters are squaring up to hit the barrel.
It is something that he needs to work on and since Taillon can’t get optioned to the minors without his permission, the best and most probable scenario would be a phantom injured list (IL) placement and then offer Taillon an extended rehab assignment. Again, it is something that he would have to agree to, but given his struggles, and without the acknowledged demotion that would occur with being optioned, he could just agree to do it.
Another option could be moving him to the bullpen, and have him come out in righties only situations. Then he could work on his command against lefties in lower leverage situations, allowing him to focus on his pitches rather than trying to win a game.
The lack of Taillon, even with his struggles, would pose a challenge for the Cubs, given the lack of options in the starting pitching department. There are options though, whether that be promoting someone from the bullpen, such as Hayden Wesneski, or promoting some of the starting pitchers from the minors and giving them a shot. Even with that, it may just be worth it to get Taillon back on his feet, so that each start isn’t almost always an automatic loss, something that the Cubs desperately need.
