Cubs take nuclear option with Jameson Taillon roster move before trade deadline

It feels like eons have passed since Jameson Taillon emerged as the Chicago Cubs' most reliable starting pitcher down the stretch last year. Heck, he was so good in the postseason (2.25 ERA in two starts, both elimination games) that we gave him an "A" grade for his October performance.

Unfortunately, that version of the right-hander is all but gone. The kick-change savant who finally figured out lefties has given way to a homer-prone, battered-and-bruised starter who was only hanging onto a roster spot due to the injuries of everyone else around him. By fWAR (-1.1), Taillon has been the single-least valuable pitcher in baseball this season.

It's clear that he's just not someone the Cubs can trust anymore, especially when it comes to building out a playoff rotation. Most figured that, with the trade deadline looming, he was a goner anyway. It seems the Cubs agreed, opting not to draw out the process.

Cubs' decision to DFA Jameson Taillon puts pressure on front office to take care of business at the trade deadline

Because the deadline isn't until August 3, an immediate replacement probably isn't incoming. Jed Hoyer and the Ricketts family would surely love to offload his $18 million salary on some other team for the sake of more flexibility, but good luck convincing anyone else to pluck him off waivers.

After just getting mauled by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday (seven runs, three homers in four innings), his next scheduled was poetically set against the New York Yankees, his other former team. Craig Counsell had been noncommittal about him actually making that start after the Pirates game, which proved to be a prescient moment of hesitation.

Assuming the North Siders add at least one starter at the trade deadline, Taillon really didn't have a place in the starting five anyway. Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga are locked in as Counsell's top two starters, while David Peterson has been an impressive third wheel since arriving via a trade with the Mets (sans his 10-run blow-up against the Cardinals). Between a deadline acquisition, Ben Brown, Edward Cabrera, Colin Rea, Javier Assad, and Aaron Civale, you'd like to think the Cubs could find a way to fill the final two spots in the rotation without much headache.

Parting with Taillon could be its own form of addition by subtraction, since a pitcher with a 5.92 ERA and 6.74 FIP wasn't helping matters beyond eating innings as a sacrificial lamb. A pre-deadline DFA is a frustrating and limp end to a near-four-year tenure, but he pitched his way off this team.

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