The Chicago Cubs are battling for the lead in the NL Central Division, but the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers don’t ever seem to lose. As things sit right now, the Cubs are two games behind the first place slot as they work their way through the crucial month of August.
Many believe that the team will only go as far as its pitching takes it. And that’s a somewhat troubling thought given the insecurities the Cubs have within their pitching staff.
Their chief concern is with starting pitching as the rotation has already been hobbled by injury with the loss of ace Justin Steele and the extended IL stints of Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon.
Good news and bad news in Jameson Taillon’s first rehab assignment
On Sunday, the Cubs got some good news mixed with some bad as veteran right-hander, Taillon, made his first rehab start on Sunday for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
The good news, of course, was that Taillon was well enough to get to that rehab assignment after a calf injury sidelined him following his June 29 start with the major league Cubs.
The bad news was that the 33-year-old got absolutely lit up.
Taillon gave up 7 earned runs on 7 hits, with 2 home runs, over 3 innings pitched against the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. He also hit 2 batters in the 64-pitch outing.
Poor performance jars frustrated Chicago Cubs fandom
It was the kind of wild, rusty start to be expected from someone who hadn’t pitched in over a month and had no time to construct a game plan with advanced scouting info. But it was a jarring appearance nonetheless for Cubs fans still concerned about a strained starting rotation and still griping over the team’s inability to land a high-end starter at the trade deadline last Thursday.
After weeks of hearing about the front office’s aggressive mindset heading into the July 31 trade deadline and their “all-in” attitude about picking up the talent they need for a deep playoff run, the deadline haul was underwhelming. When the dust settled, the Cubs acquired back-of-rotation starter Michael Soroka, relievers Taylor Rogers and Andrew Kittredge, and infielder/outfielder Willi Castro.
Cubs post-deadline talking points have centered around the high price for available starters and the impending return of Taillon and Javier Assad, who would both be beginning rehab assignments in the minors.
That’s why a poor outing in Triple-A is sounding off so many alarms among fandom.
Taillon’s take
For Taillon, though, this first rehab outing was entirely about health and getting the feel for pitching to live hitters again.
“Obviously I would love to get results,” Taillon told the Des Moines Register. “The first one, I’m just glad to get it out of the way. You never want to get hit around, but first and foremost it’s health and then it’s getting back the routine…
“Being healthy and getting a pitch count in, going through the routine and getting the workload in, all that, I thought it was productive…I felt healthy. Now it’s just about getting back a routine, into the swing of things. But the calf is good…
“We’ll just see how the next one goes. Hopefully it’s better than this.”
The Cubs will start newcomer Michael Soroka on Monday night against the division rival Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. The oft-injured righty takes a spot in a rotation already filled with pitchers dealing with limitations (or potential limitations) due to past injuries.
Taillon’s previous role as the rotation inning-eater and workhorse take on an exaggerated level of importance in a 5-man staff consisting of starters where pitch count is a very real concern.
Taillon is expected to make at least one more rehab appearance before joining the big league team.
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