The Chicago Cubs have been dealt a tough hand in terms of pitching injuries, the latest being Jameson Taillon.
Taillon was having a great season up mid-June. He allowed 15 earned runs over 12.2 innings in his last three starts.
Manager Craig Counsell announced Taillon would miss “a pretty significant amount of time” with a right calf strain.
The 33-year-old is 7-6 with a 4.44 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in 17 starts this season.
Taillon is the third Cubs starting pitcher on the injured list, joining Justin Steele and Javier Assad. With this in mind, the Cubs need to act quickly to fill Taillon’s void.
Chicago is rumored to target starting pitching aggressively at the trade deadline, but in the meantime, Taillon’s possible replacement is already on the team.
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FanSided’s Christopher Kline thinks the Cubs should stretch out long-reliever Chris Flexen, especially considering the pitching market is an uncertainty.
“Before stints with Colorado and Chicago (x2), Flexen put a couple of strong seasons together with the Seattle Mariners in 2021 and ’22 (3.66 ERA, 317.1 IP, 220 K in 64 games),” wrote Kline. “Now we are seeing Flexen get back to his winning ways. He is 5-0 through 16 appearances and 29.0 innings out of the bullpen this season, with a 0.62 ERA and 0.83 WHIP. Pound for pound, very few relievers have operated at Flexen’s level this season. It’s not the largest sample size for the most high-leverage of roles, but the 31-year-old is generating tons of soft contact.”
After pitching the bulk of a bullpen game on Saturday, Flexen now has a 0.83 ERA after allowing one run in 3.2 innings.
Instead of just doing bullpen games, which Flexen pitches the bulk of anyway, it makes a lot of sense to let the 31-year-old start.
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