On Monday night Jameson Taillon gave up 4 runs in the top of the first… the offense did start to fight back in the bottom of the inning but this is about how and if the Cubs will get to the playoffs. Before the game Jed Hoyer the Cubs President of Baseball Operations was on 670 The Score and said that Stroman is healthy again. If that is true then they need to get him back in the rotation by the end of next next week!
My regular readers might be saying, “But wait, in your last post you complemented Taillon for pitching better of late…. How does this relate when Stroman has not even started to throw yet?”
Well, here is how it relates. He’s been out the entire month of August. It should not take him too long to get stretched out again. Also while Javier Assad has the best ERA in all of baseball in the league since late June according to my favorite reporter, and die hard Cubs fan, David Kaplan.
So, here is what I am thinking the solution would be to solve the Taillon struggles which appear to be back after a 6-2 loss last night which saw Jameson give up 5 runs, 4 of which were earned. Have Assad start the next three or four times through the rotation using Jameson in long relief during that time. Then sometime in mid-September shelf Taillon and his 5+ ERA this season for the remainder of the season and bring Stroman back into the rotation.
This would then open the door for the Cubs to go to Stroman after their playoff run ends and discuss extension after the Shohei Ohtani injury, which my fellow writer Steve Leblang, wrote about a few days ago. Some might be asking how does that relate when the Cubs were never going to get Shohei to come to Chicago.
Here’s the thing folks: Seiya Suzui is known by many to be best friends with Ohtani so that gave the Cubs a higher likelihood of landing Ohtani before his injury which will have him not pitching until at least the second half of 2025. That said, the Cubs were always expected to make him an offer.
Due to the injury that offer will likely be for two years $65-$70 million, so $30-$35 million per year, to come here and be the starting Designated Hitter while he recovers from his second Tommy John Surgery. Then talk about using him as a late-inning reliever, possibly even the closer, once the rehab period has ended.
This makes the biggest question on the table: What are the chances the Cubs remove Jameson from the rotation for the rest of the season and get him out of town this winter?
With that… it is almost time for first pitch of the second game during the biggest week of the 2023 baseball season!
If you cannot play with them, root for them!