When the Cubs signed righty Jameson Taillon to a four-year, $68MM deal in December 2022, that contract included a 10-team no-trade clause. In line with Taillon final evening (hyperlink through Patrick Mooney of The Athletic), “I haven’t needed to say sure or no to something.”
Taillon, who professed his love for Chicago, coughed up six runs in 4 and a 3rd innings to the Reds in Cincinnati final evening. He’ll flip 33 in November. Taillon’s common fastball velocity is down a full tick this 12 months, along with his strikeout price falling to 19.1%. Although his ERA was 4.84 final 12 months and at present sits at 3.35, there hasn’t been a talent change in these 18 begins.
On condition that Taillon is owed $18MM in every of the 2025 and ’26 seasons, it’s attainable the Cubs may look to get out of that dedication. In the perfect case situation, they may additionally extract some helpful gamers from a market that noticed the Astros present a robust return for lefty Yusei Kikuchi. Although the Cubs’ acquisition of Isaac Paredes from the Rays signaled an intention to retool and compete subsequent 12 months, buying and selling Taillon earlier than at this time’s 5pm central deadline may nonetheless make sense.
As Mooney notes, the Astros have been one of many groups that had been linked to Taillon. The Padres, Orioles, Yankees, and Pink Sox have additionally been linked, although Baltimore picked up Zach Eflin. We’ve additionally seen the Brewers, Cardinals, Royals, and Pink Sox add beginning pitching this month. If he’s to commerce Taillon at this time, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has to deal with a number of higher choices being obtainable available on the market like Jack Flaherty, Garrett Crochet, and Blake Snell, plus related ones in Nestor Cortes and Tyler Anderson.
