SAN FRANCISCO — Hours before Wednesday night’s first pitch, Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell walked out to Oracle Park’s visiting bullpen to watch Jameson Taillon’s throwing session. Normally, observing a pitcher’s bullpen routine is not part of the manager’s pregame schedule, but Counsell and the Cubs are trying to be proactive.
In evaluating Taillon, the Cubs looked beyond his next start and considered the postseason implications. His last outing ended after only 62 pitches due to left groin tightness, and he already missed almost two months of the season while recovering from a strained right calf. As expected, the club will err on the side of caution.
Taillon will go on the 15-day injured list, Counsell confirmed, and Javier Assad will be recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take his spot in the rotation.
“We all agreed the smart play here is to just make sure we don’t mess something up,” Taillon said before a 12-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants. “I’ve had two elbow surgeries. I’ve had some things over the years. You would hate to compensate for something and compromise something.
“If this were the playoffs, and I had to take something and wrap it, we’re going right at it.”
“I think (Jameson Taillon) could go out there and pitch,” Craig Counsell said. “I just don’t think it’s the smart thing to do. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Approaching Labor Day weekend, the public projection systems put Chicago’s chances of qualifying for the playoffs in the 99th percentile. With their organizational pitching depth, the Cubs can afford to be patient. The Milwaukee Brewers’ 6 1/2-game lead in the National League Central also forces the Cubs to be realistic.
No matter how thoughtful and articulate Taillon may be, it sounded as if the odds were stacked against him talking Cubs officials out of this decision. As much as Counsell tries to keep the focus on today, the scope of his responsibilities is far wider. This process showed a team that is thinking about October.
“In my mind, being a good teammate means taking the ball,” Taillon said. “That’s really important to me. I hate going on the IL. But that being said, the way I had this presented to me was: ‘We’re playing for the long haul here. You’d be a bad teammate if you really pound the table and push through this and screw the team for what’s really important here.’
“If I made something worse, and I missed the last couple weeks of September or the playoffs, that’s not the right thing to do. Trying to have that longer-term view and that big-picture view is important.”
The Cubs have one of the best records in baseball (76-57) while getting only four starts out of All-Star lefty Justin Steele, who’s recovering from season-ending elbow surgery. Ben Brown also did not capitalize on the opportunity when he won a spot in the season-opening rotation.
Shota Imanaga, another All-Star pitcher, was sidelined for almost two months while dealing with a strained left hamstring. Even Assad, whose initial oblique issue began around the start of spring training, did not join the major-league rotation until Aug. 12. Yet so far this year, the Cubs have not experienced a losing streak longer than three games.
That consistency, in large part, is the result of a rotation that was anchored by veteran pitcher Matthew Boyd in the first half and has seen rookie pitcher Cade Horton dominate since the All-Star break. In Chicago’s previous 38 games heading into Wednesday’s ugly loss, the rotation had posted a 2.87 ERA that ranked first in the majors during that stretch.
Boyd, though, is trying to complete his first full major-league season since 2019 and make up for lost time due to injuries. Horton, who entered this year with 122 2/3 career professional innings on his resume, has already thrown 122 2/3 innings this season between his combined workload with the Cubs and at Triple A.
Colin Rea has turned out to be a very good insurance policy after signing a one-year $5 million contract last winter. But Rea did not make Milwaukee’s playoff roster last year, and he did not finish the fifth inning in Wednesday’s defeat, giving up seven runs (six earned) to the Giants. The game got so out of hand that Counsell used backup catcher Reese McGuire to pitch the eighth inning and move on to the next one.
“Continue to go game to game, pitch to pitch and series to series,” Cubs catcher Carson Kelly said. “We’re really good at evaluating how we did, and not making the bad ‘so bad,’ not making it such a big problem. It’s really just emphasizing what we do well, our strengths, and coming back every single day with a new mindset: Win that game tonight.”
By playing it safe with Taillon, Counsell demonstrated the conservative approach that has earned him respect from pitchers for prioritizing their health and livelihoods. Viewing the season as a marathon — and staying disciplined with that mindset — also helps explain why Counsell’s old teams were strong second-half performers in Milwaukee.
“I think (Taillon) could go out there and pitch,” Counsell said. “I just don’t think it’s the smart thing to do. We — the medical staff and (pitching coaches) — all agree on that. In a different situation, maybe we push this. I don’t think this is the right time to push that.”
Ready or not, that time is coming.
“We have bigger goals in mind than the next two weeks,” Taillon said. “Every game’s extremely important, which is why I have a hard time just accepting it. But hopefully we’re playing deep into October, and hopefully I’m a really big part of that. It’s important to get this right.”
(Top photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)