The Chicago Cubs have been attempting all offseason to find the necessary free agents and trade pieces to better upgrade the roster.
So far this offseason the Cubs have struck out on all their top free agents they were in on with the Los Angeles Dodgers snatching them all away.
In a recent interview Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon gave his honest assessment on the Dodgers and insight on his offseason so far.
Chicago Cubs starter Jameson Taillon talks his offseason
Cubs starter Jameson Taillon was recently interviewed on the YouTube Show Foul Territory and he gave a great interview where he gave some great insight on his offseason and his thoughts on the Dodgers.
The Cubs open their season in Japan against the Dodgers and when asked by host Erik Kratz on how different that makes Taillons offseason Taillon gave his honest take on how that all affects his arm and shoulder.
“It changed it a little bit.” Taillon said “So as I’ve gotten older I feel like the more time I take off from throwing in the offseason my shoulder takes a longer time to build back up.” Taillon added “I used to take two months off of throwing, then it moved to one month, then a couple of weeks, this year I took like a week off and kinda kept my arm moving.”
Taillon also revealed that he threw three bullpens so far and he hasn’t faced any live hitters to this point.
Taillon was solid for the Cubs last season with making 28 starts with a record of 12-8 with a 3.27 ERA, 125 strikeouts in 165.1 innings. When looking at Taillons Baseball Savant page he ranks in the 93rd and 98th percentile for his pitching and fastball value. Taillon also showed the ability to limit walking batters with ranking in the 93rd percentile for walk percentage at 4.9%. A solid season on all accounts the Cubs will need Taillon to replicate it this season if the Cubs are to be the Dodgers.
Taillons says the Dodgers are beatable
When asked by Foul Territory’s host A.J. Pierzynski
“Are you scared that nobody will beat the Dodgers this year? Do you think the Dodgers can go 162-0, so why are you guys wasting your time going to Japan to play against them?”
Taillon replied with a smile:
”I mean it’s a pretty sweet roster they got over there, there’s no doubt they have some serious star power.” Taillon said and added a quip of his own “You know how baseball is if you pitch well and play good defense anyone can get beat on any given day.”
This mindset is what is needed by all the Cubs on the roster if they are to beat the new “Evil Empire” in the Dodgers. The Dodgers are the reigning World Series Champions and to get a chance to go beat them on Opening Day in Japan should have the Cubs hungry.
The Cubs can beat the Dodgers
Taillons is absolutely right that anyone can get beat on any given day because anything can happen in baseball.
Just because the Dodgers have a great roster on paper doesn’t mean they aren’t beatable. Injuries will and can happen, so who knows what can happen from now to Opening Day.
The Cubs will also have extra motivation to beat the Dodgers with them stealing all their top tier free agent targets like Tanner Scott and Roki Sasaki to name a few.
The Cubs have a couple of opportunities to show that they’re able to play with the Dodgers with having a meeting against them on the coveted Sunday Night Baseball broadcast.
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