Jameson Taillon took the mound Tuesday night for what could be the final time with the Chicago Cubs. The veteran 32-year-old right-hander has been the subject of major trade speculation in recent weeks with his improved performance. Tuesday’s outing continued in that trend with another masterpiece on the bump, going into the eighth inning maintaining a shoutout against the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
The outing will undoubtedly add value to Taillon ahead of the MLB trade deadline at the end of the month. Whether the Chicago Cubs decide to buy, sell, or some combination of the two at the MLB trade deadline, Taillon has emerged as one of the likelier candidates to be on his way out of the Windy City. After starting the season on the IL, it has been a much-improved 2024 for Taillon after a sub-par 2023. For a team that is in a similar predicament to last season, the Cubs may have a new chit to offer at this year’s MLB trade deadline.
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The Chicago Cubs fell to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night by a score of 1-0. The Brewers bullpen came in for the final four innings to complete the shutout, but the Chicago Cubs rode Jameson Taillon for 7 1/3 innings. Taillon left with a scoreless tie intact but with a runner on. Taillon would leave Tuesday with a loss after the runner came in to score, in what might be his final outing as a Chicago Cub.
As the Cubs sit five games under .500 in the NL Central with the MLB trade deadline approaching, their fate as a seller is becoming more clear. Whether or not they end up realizing that fate, the Cubs might end up trading Jameson Taillon anyway. The right-hander is never going to have higher trade value and in a disappointing year for the Cubs, a costly offseason is waiting in the wings.
Chicago is flirting with the CBT in 2024 and even with close to $70M scheduled to come off the books, to make the leap they want to to be a true contender, shedding payroll is going to be key and Jameson Taillon’s two-plus years remaining on his four-year, $68M deal is an obvious candidate.
Starting pitching is always a valuable commodity at the MLB trade deadline for contenders to shore up their rotation but Jameson Taillon’s performance is not as ensured. Especially after a lackluster 2023, Taillon is far from a sure thing to be a top-tier arm at future MLB trade deadlines. The Chicago Cubs are not where they want to be at this point in the season and Taillon’s excellence can help them down the stretch if they are still interested in competing. If they decide to go in another direction, however, there are many suitors out there for the services of Jameson Taillon.
Organizational Fork in the Road
Those directions are complicated by the state of the Chicago Cubs franchise. There is the financial aspect of the team, with the top-ten payroll and multiple long-term deals tying the team close to the CBT. Another aspect of whether or not the Chicago Cubs should sell or buy at the deadline is their prospect situation.
They have one of the best systems in baseball, but many of the major-league level prospects are underperforming and the new crop of prospects aren’t contributing at the level they were anticipated to, with Pete Crow-Armstrong hitting under .200, Miguel Amaya struggling to stay in the lineup and multiple injuries to the pitching staff with Ben Brown, Jordan Wicks and Caleb Kilian on the shelf.
The silver lining is that the prospect coffers are deep, with more players on the rise in the system. If the Chicago Cubs decide that shedding payroll in advance of the 2025 season is the proper course of action, there will be more than a few suitors within the farm system to replace Jameson Taillon, not counting the haul they could get back in exchange for Taillon. The benefit of making a deal from the place the Cubs sit is that they can look for specific needs to address the major league roster, which in the case of the Cubs is primarily bullpen help.
Tuesday’s loss was a stinger for the Chicago Cubs in the standings, but it could help garner them their next great player in a potential Jameson Taillon trade. In his best season in a while, the final two months for Jameson Taillon might be in Chicago or they might be elsewhere. If last night was his final outing in a Cubs uniform, it was a great ending to a disappointing stint for both Taillon and the Chicago Cubs.
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