By Mark Polishuk | at June 7, 2026 10:06pm CDT
Jameson Taillon‘s start tonight was cut short in the second inning, as the right-hander was removed due to what the Cubs later revealed as a left hamstring strain. Taillon allowed a run on a walk and two hits in his first inning against the Giants, but after walking Matt Chapman to lead off the second inning, Taillon requested a visit from the team trainer and then left the mound.
More will be known about Taillon’s status when manager Craig Counsell meets with the media postgame, but it isn’t a good sign that Taillon’s injury has already been termed as a strain. A trip to the 15-day injured list might be inevitable, though a lower-grade strain might see Taillon return in a fairly minimal amount of time.
Taillon has a 5.19 ERA over 67 2/3 innings, and a league-leading 20 home runs is the root cause of his struggles. While Taillon has never been great at keeping the ball in the park, this season’s spike in homer rate is eye-opening. Taillon’s hard-hit ball rate is actually around league average, yet his dismal 14.5% barrel rate indicates that opposing batters are maximizing the damage when squaring up against the righty’s offerings.
As much as the results haven’t been there for the 34-year-old, he has at least been able to take the ball for 13 starts, providing the Cubs with some innings in an injury-ravaged year for the team’s pitching staff. Now it seems like Taillon may be the latest Wrigleyville hurler bit by the injury bug, just after Edward Cabrera was activated from the 15-day IL on Friday and Matthew Boyd may be just days away from returning from left meniscus surgery.
Cade Horton was also lost to a Tommy John surgery and Justin Steele‘s return from a TJ surgery has been delayed until some time in the second half of the season. Despite all these rotation ailments, the bullpen has perhaps been hit even harder by a variety of major and minor injuries, leaving the Cubs scrambling for arms basically since Opening Day. The Cubs overcame their lack of healthy and effective pitching to go 27-12 in their first 39 games, but they’ve since lost 19 of their last 26 games heading into tonight’s matchup with San Francisco.
Monday’s off-day provides some chance for a rotation reset, and perhaps a chance for Taillon to undergo further evaluation on his hamstring strain. Chicago’s rotation currently consists of Shota Imanaga, Colin Rea, Ben Brown, Cabrera, and possibly Boyd taking Taillon’s place if Boyd doesn’t require a third rehab start. Javier Assad could be a candidate to be a stretched out for rotation work as well, should Boyd need more ramp-up time.
Maaaan. One guy after another. Gonna see ol’ Dick Mountain on the bump here in a minute….
Boyd is coming back he pitched Sat. So they trade places but the Cubs can bring up Hollowell or somebody for a couple of days until Boyd’s turn. I doubt they would bring Wicks back. Then Boyd comes up and Hollowell goes down unless something else happens.
Why do they hate Assad so much? He gets the job done whenever he’s been called upon, tonight being the lastest example. Wicks should be DFAed, let some other team try to unlock him. Every time Wicks tries throwing hard, he gets hurt. Move on. I think they’d bring up Vince Velasquez before they call upon Hollowell. He could be the Cubs’ version of Carlos Carrasco for Atlanta, if he’s serviceable and amenable to the arrangement.
Pads Fan ! I worked it out. Of course. The weird foppert3 banning fixation, multi acct specialist…. should have made it obvious before now.
You go girl !
I think they like Assad to be the long man because he doesn’t have an ego. He just wants to play somewhere. Everybody else has an agenda. I like Assad. I think he’d be a great starter if they just let him do it and left him alone and I’ve been saying so for quite awhile now.
Who cares, he stinks anyway. In the meantime, Bregman is the worst hitter in MLB.
I THOROUGHLY AGREE!!!!!
I’m not upset at the second sentence.
Bregman was a stupid signing that wasn’t necessary and I’ve been saying so all along. Cubs had better cheaper options in Shaw and Ramirez. Now he has an NMC and a 5 year contract. Most Cub fans just want Ricketts to spend money. They don’t care if it makes sense or not they just want to be the Dodgers because they’re jealous. I love Nico too but that was another dumb signing. The Brewers would have flipped him and got pitching which is what’s needed. Can’t you all see how bad The POBO is at his job? I’m the only one right?
Nico was not a dumb signing.
Hoyer has a bad roster of position players that is oddly locked in–in part because of NTCs, in part because Hoyer can’t bring himself to let any of his pets go. As you point out, Uncle, he will not trade from his major-league roster, as the Brewers do to such good effect.
If the Cubs had signed super-clutch Randall Grichuk a few weeks ago, for instance–he has been a great clutch hitter his whole career–they would have gone 4-2 instead of 2-4 on the homestand. Finally, Hoyer is just a bad judge of talent.
Their inability to convert scoring opportunities, including what should be virtually automatic ones, is unnatural. It is not what baseball teams do, even bad ones. The Cubs are like a football offense that never converts a third-and-one.
They desperately need some new blood from outside the organization to energize the offense. Sorry, Uncle, but they need some shiny new objects. All of their minor-league kids stink, and are not the answer.
It will be interesting to see if any roster moves are made by gametime Tuesday. I assume Alcantara will go down for Shaw; maybe there will be others.
And I think the fan anger at Bregman will finally make itself heard on sports radio tomorrow. To be a star, or even an acceptable first-stringer, you have to succeed SOMETIME. He never does. 19 RBI’s more than 40 percent into the season. Beyond belief.
Yes he was. When you lock in pretty-good, you lock out maybe-great.
Super-clutch Randall Grichuk! That says it all.
I’m happy that you have a whipping boy for the next five years, Alan.
And I’m happy you have a jock to sniff
I know Jamo has been bad this year, but it’s just another blow to the rotation…
Since Taillon is not a personal friend of mine, I call him Taillon, not “Jamo.” And his absence improves the Cubs’ rotation. And the Cubs’ problem is the hitters, not the pitchers. Outside of those things, I’m right with you, Acoss.
Giving up 16 runs on Friday (I’m not counting the two Carson Kelly surrendered) tells me pitching is a major issue too. Manager as well. Craig Counsell doesn’t seem to care and it’s rubbing off on the players. I was there Friday and no one seemed upset they were getting embarrassed.
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Jameson Taillon Leaves Game Due To Hamstring Strain – MLB Trade Rumors
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