A small but promising update on Chicago Cubs starter Jameson Taillon.
Given the amount of time he has been out with back tightness or will be out in the near future, it is highly unlikely that he will be able to make it in time for Opening Day.
The regular season begins in just over two weeks, but Taillon has yet to appear in a Cactus League game. The idea that he could pitch over 70 pitches in, say, three weeks seems fanciful to me (and probably not a good idea, considering how important he is to the rotation over a full season).
So if Taillon is in the process of being extended until, say, next week, he might be looking at staying IL for a minimal amount of time. As Megan Montemurro points out, that's three days back from Opening Day, so Taillon will be out for just 12 days. The Cubs will have the weapons and schedule to miss just one start if they want to, and if Taillon is ready.
So, while this isn't great news, it's also expected at this point. Right now, we're just rooting for him to be healthy from here, and he's only missed one or two starts to start the season. We understand that Taillon didn't perform as well as we expected him to throughout the full season last year, but once the mechanical issues were resolved, he was outstanding in the second half. The Cubs need that player.
In the meantime, the Cubs can expect to use two of Jordan Wicks, Drew Smyly, Hayden Wesneski, and Javier Assad to cover the back two spots of the rotation. If both of those guys – whoever it is – are in great shape by the time Taillon is ready to come back, that's a great problem the Cubs will be happy to solve when they absolutely have to. will solve it.
