The Cubs are placing starting pitcher Jameson Taillon on the 15-day injured list with a strained right calf. The team revealed the news to reporters (including Patrick Mooney of The Athletic) this morning and confirmed the transaction shortly thereafter. Jordan Wicks is coming up from the Triple-A Iowa Cubs to take Taillon’s spot on the active roster. However, manager Craig Counsell said that Chris Flexen, not Wicks, is the most likely candidate to temporarily join the rotation (per Bruce Levine of 670 The Score). Flexen has been working as a long reliever this season, but he made 30 starts for the White Sox just last year.
Taillon, 33, suffered the injury while running in a training session and is expected to miss more than a month (per Vinnie Duber of the Chicago Sun-Times). While he hasn’t been as effective for Chicago as he was last year, there is no doubt the Cubs will miss his reliable presence on the mound every five days. His 95 1/3 innings rank 20th among NL starting pitchers, while his 4.44 ERA (85 ERA+) and 4.24 xERA (32nd percentile) suggest he has been more than serviceable as an inning-eating back-end starter. He hasn’t looked his best recently, with a 10.66 ERA over 12 2/3 innings in his last three starts, so if there is any silver lining to this injury, it is that he will have some time to rest and reset. The Cubs will hope he returns looking more like the guy who pitched to a 3.48 ERA over his first 14 starts.
Wicks, the Cubs’ first-round pick in 2021, has never quite looked comfortable at the MLB level, with a career 5.23 ERA and 4.68 SIERA over 82 2/3 innings from 2023-25. With that said, he has looked sharp over his last handful of outings at Triple-A (16 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 20 K, 3 BB). The 25-year-old will presumably take over Flexen’s low-leverage long-relief gig. Flexen, meanwhile, shouldn’t have too much trouble transitioning back to the rotation. He started five games at Triple-A in April before he was called up to the big league club, pitching to a 3-0 record with a 1.16 ERA and 2.89 FIP. While he has not started in the majors since 2024, he tossed four scoreless innings of relief against the Astros last week, so stretching out shouldn’t be too difficult. Although Flexen was not very effective as a starter in either of the last two seasons, he has more than earned another opportunity with his excellent performance so far in 2025. In 29 innings spread out over 16 appearances, he has given up just two earned runs on 16 hits.
The Cubs have been without Javier Assad (oblique injury) all season, and Justin Steele required season-ending elbow surgery after just four starts. Shota Imanaga also missed significant time earlier this year, but the Cubs were grateful to see him back on the mound last week. Imanaga and the surprisingly dominant Matthew Boyd give Chicago a strong one-two punch atop the rotation, but the back end could be a weak spot until Taillon returns.
The phantom IL to reset?
Or he actually strained his calf and will be out more than a month, which doesn’t sound anything like a phantom IL placement.
Both possible. He’s been really bad lately. Not totally uncommon for teams to sit a pitcher on the IL for a bit to reset.
Makes sense if they already made a trade for another starter they wanted to fit into the mix without losing someone else, but I don’t think this is fake since the cubs are hungry to make a trade and might lose some leverage with the other team seeing their desperation increase with another injury to the rotation. I’d expect the cubs urgency to increase now and maybe include a piece they were originally reluctant to trade just to get a deal done sooner.
@Cmurphy: No, this is real. He had the same injury a couple of years ago and missed a couple of months.
The Cubs cannot afford to create phantom injuries for starting pitchers. They are very thin in their rotation.
If you look at their preseason depth chart, a majority of their top 9 starters have had at least one IL stint, and they have had two to four starters on the IL on any particular day for a majority of the season.
They say its a significant injury
Or he’s been dealing with the injury which can explain why he hasn’t been at least serviceable lately.
No doubt he’s been toughing it out .
I saw him take a liner off the head which sounded like a mallet beating a gavel.
He wanted to stay in the game and threw a few pitches.
But he only had to give up 1 more home run to tie for the League lead. Oh well.
The Cubs might need to engineer a trade for a starter before the deadline.
Like immediately….
No offense to Chris Flexen, but if he’s next man up the rotation, that’s not a good sign. Definitely need another starter. Hoyer seriously needs to see what the Pirates would want for Keller…
I’m not reading too much into Flexen actually joining the rotation as a long term thing…even though he has been scored upon once this season.
He pitched last night so I expect to see he and Wicks split the first five or six innings tomorrow and then they can do it again on Minnesota Thursday or regular starter rest ot against the Yankees on Friday.
Then the all star break….so I don’t think it’s something last deep into August because you can assure that one or multiple arms are coming via trade and you can always bring Brown back.
Heaney is available.
Kellers price tag will hurt.
Cubs already dealt a player who’s looking like the next big thing.
They’re very likely not re-signing Tucker. I can’t see the Ricketts family going from a sub $200 million contract to a +$600 million contract. That might be enough to stroke out daddy Joe.
So they may as well trade away the farm for this year.
I herd someone had steered him wrong.
Leo, Ive got news for you – the rotation is a weak spot with or without Taillon. Yes, Boyd jas been great but he’s still Boyd. And Shota gives up the longball in warm weather. I doubt the Dodgers fear facing Shota, Boyd & Taillon in a.playoff series. Cubs need an ace, and there just isn’t one available on the market. I was hoping for Sale, but then he got hurt, and I doubt the Braves were going to trade him anyway.
Mr . Ricketts and Mr. Hoyer might be time to pry away Mr.Skenes from Pittsburgh. Or at least try. Buckle up Cubs nation gonna be a fun summer and October.
I have no idea what that would probably cost. It’s bound to hurt, though.
Lol.
Zero chance
Andrew Heaney is available.
Never a zero chance although highly unlikely. If the Cubs offered a package that blew their doors off, it would be hard not to at least consider it.
Ballesteros
Alcantara
ONKC
Mule
Bateman
Would be hard for them to resist that haul.
The more BC says no chance, the more mock trades are out there.
I’m not saying Flexen is Nolan Ryan, but the dude has been solid this season in both low-leverage and high-leverage spots. He looks like a different pitcher from years past. It remains to be seen if he can maintain that success, but he deserves a little bit of credit. He was a big part of their win last night in extra innings.
Strictly speaking, Flexen was not as bad as his record with the White Sox last season. They got him very few runs, and made a lot of errors behind him. He kept them in games and pitched respectably.
That said, he is surely not in the Cubs’ rotation plans. Wicks (who tends to get hurt when he tries to throw hard) and Brown are plans A and B, for now.
Survival mode for the cubbies as Athene sellers get ready to fleece then with their outrageous trade proposals.
That’s it, it’s over, it’s all over (please read that in a 1970’s Howard Cosell voice/accent) Time for the Cubs to pee on the fire, call in the dogs and head for the bunkhouse. That fat lady done sung, 2025 is Ovah! (Hawk Harrelson voice here please).
But wait….my gawd!!! Is that Mitch Keller’s music I hear??? (insert WWE classic Jim Ross voice here please). It is!!
Ok, for real…it’s a part of baseball; players get injured and under/over perform. I don’t plan on slitting my wrists, or cracking champagne over ever bit of breaking news. The last game of the season is all that really matters.
He’s been healthier longer than expected.
I hope this moves Hoyer to trade for a starter sooner rather than later. I think his strategy should be to trade for an OK starter very soon, and a more consequential one in the last day or two before the deadline. The Cubs surely need two.
Yes, it will cost some prospect capital. But I don’t think it has to cost their very best minor-league prospects. I agree with Uncle Mike and others that Hoyer’s judgment in this area has often been bad in the past.
Howdy Alan!
Hope and glad you are well. Have been a little concerned about you or I just missed your weekly installment of “this is the week” the Cubs encounter that Marlins/White Sox stretch and collapse or whomever it may be.
Guessing since you are 0 for 12 maybe you are looking for a reset at the all star break.
Yep, you got me there, Steelers. Haha, I’m totally garbage I guess…You can stop playing your broken record now, though I think you won’t.
People who use this forum to ridicule other people, rather than to express their own ideas, are strange people. Is it OK if I say that, Steelers? Am I allowed to say what I think?
I care about the Cubs, and I worry about them, and I know they have flaws, and sometimes I fear the worst, snd sometimes I’m wrong. That is part of what being a fan is. It’s not all just rah-rah.
Alan, I think he’s probably just mocking you.
I’m a little bit older myself so I would take it as “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” You say something every week, he says something every week right back at you.
—-and with some sarcasm—-maybe he was concerned about you since you may not have thrown that doom and gloom prediction out there this past week.
@mike127: I saw what happened in ’69. I also saw what happened in ’73 and ’77, among others. I doubt Steeler or most people here even know what happened in ’73 and ’77, or even ’69. They are kids and they are frontrunners, and they are uninformed, so they should not mock people like you and me, but rather learn from us.
And, as per the specific topic: Who could deny that the Cubs need starting pitching?
I would. Play the kids first. Playing them in an MLB pennant race is the way forward, Not trading them away for rentals or worse. I kind of figured something had to be wrong with Tallion because you could see him in pain if you looked close. He was lights out and all the sudden he’s horrible? Toughing it out isn’t always the way to go. Like Costner said in Bull Durham, Don’t think, You’ll just hurt the ball club. Just glad it wasn’t his arm so he should be back in due time. Cubs rotation in Iowa soon. Brown, Sanders, Birdsell, Noland and Maeda. I’ll take that. Take out Maeda and add Wiggins and I’m sold.
@Uncle: Indeed. When I wrote the Cubs need starting pitching, I didn’t mean necessarily external additions. Minor-league call-ups could be part of, or most of, the solution too.
It would be interesting to see what Wiggins, especially could do if they called him up.
My choices would be Keller and Gore (Washington)…
I don’t think Keller would take an insane amount…
Maybe … Johnathan Long and Christian Hernandez and a lower level prospect.
Gore would take a lot…
Bellestaros
Caissie
Rojas.
Or go for broke and empty the farm and see if you can nab Gore and Skenes. Probably (if at all possible) would be saying goodbye to…
Gore:
Bellestaros
Rojas
Alcantara
Long
Skenes:
Triantos
Caissie
Birdsell
Wiggins
McCullough
We’d have the worst farm in MLB. But what we’d need to do in order to try and land Skenes and Gore.
Wicks is coming up and he’s been very good since he came off the IL and was built up to 80 pitches. Please feel free to hit the panic button. The players that were available are all coming back. Birdsell just made his first rehab start for High A South Bend and looked good for 4 innings. Sanders and Noland re both built up. The depth at Iowa has taken a bad turn with Fulmer, Bickford and Woolford all opting out and Cosgrove and Hollowell taking a nose dive. Wiggins is dealing and could be promoted soon but I don’t know what is wrong with you people that you are scared to death to let a prospect come up and play in a pennant race like you think it will damage their brains or something. I only have one problem with Horton so far and that’s that he has this annoying habit of grooving 0-2 pitches that get hit hard. Plus there’s always Brown don’t forget about him either. Long should be here, Caissie is on a power run and Alcantara is on a heater also. But by all means panic and trade everybody away for players on the Winningest team in sports- The Pirates.
Who cares what the Pirates record is? They also play poor defense which tells you that Keller would be even better with a decent defensive team. I don’t see trading the farm away for two top starters or some of the farm for a top starter. That would be because people believe in the team and think it’s a smart idea to trade from the farm since you have a very good team without the need for prospects to come up and fill.in much.
I’m so tired of Hoyer trading prospects away before they even get a chance. It’s stupid and foolish. The Candelerio trade should be enough of a reason to give you pause about trading for crap from a losing team but go ahead and go for it. I personally have been advocating for our own prospects for years to no avail I have ZERO idea why Ricketts wants to be a Tax team and employs a guy like Hoyer who wants to be the Dodgers. You would think he’d wake up too and hire a guy from Tampa or Cleveland( And not that idiot Hawkins) You know teams that know how to do it. A guy from there would feel like they hit the lottery if they could at LEAST spend to the Tax.
The trade for Candelerio was fine. We gave up Made and Herz. Both are fine prospects, but neither of them is setting the world on fire.
You’re tired of Hoyer trading away prospects? Like who? I am so confused by this post.
Are you sad that we traded for Busch?
Are you sad that we traded for Tucker? Having Tucker now and winning with him is a great way to be able to keep him around as he builds relationships within the clubhouse. I’d rather have him than who we traded away.
Many of the prospects we have right now were traded FOR. Use the capital we have to improve the team. Trading for Gore and/or Skenes makes us better short and long term.
Trading 10 years of Cam Smith( Plus Parades I might add) For 1 year of Tucker was strictly a panic move for a guy who is in the last year of his contract and was completely stupid and I’ve said so. They’re not re signing Tucker. And if they somehow do, I’ll take it back but I doubt I have to. Herz and Wesneski had to have TJ which was bad luck but they will be back. Busch is a nice piece but he was about out of places to go for the Dodgers and shouldn’t have cost Jackson Ferris and Hope to get him, Hoyer should have said no. If Smith was playing 3rd and Suzuki was playing right and Caissie was the 4th OF and the LH bat they need off the bench would they really miss him that much? I wonder? Anyway it’s the stuff that makes good discussions.
I wonder if the next POBO might be someone from the Rays’ front office.
For nothing more than confidence, the Cubs need just a few (maybe 4-5) good innings out of Wicks tomorrow. Had a collection of Wicks, Pearson, Roberts, Little that have been horrendous in their calls this season—so need some good tomorrow (and as I type hope that Rea can get even into the 8th today to rest the leverage guys another day).
You’re right, Horton’s previous start, a lot of the damage came on 0-2 or after being ahead 0-2. But—other than the first batter of the game he was really good and efficient last night.
They will continue to lose players to DFA and opt outs—but as you elude to–there are, at the very least, strong numbers and quantities of pitchers ready to possibly contribute.
Kind of rough knowing that Reese McGuire will be in some other organization by the end of the month. He really has filled in very nicely in Amaya’s absence, but will probably have to be DFA when Miggy comes back.
Perez is raking in his place at Iowa and could take McGuire’s place if needed he has like 20 HR’s already although McGuire has been outstanding so far. Little has been great at Iowa this year and has like a 1.25 ERA or something.. If Pomeranz or Thielbar start to falter or get hurt I have full confidence in him, He’s been throwing strikes just like Palencia. Should have bought him up instead of Pearson in the first place. I mean Perez makes Gorilla Glue look fast but otherwise can catch and throw. Shuffling is the way of life until they up the roster limits, Which they should think about BTW IMO.
Curious, Uncle what should they think about on roster limits?
I think they should be 28. 14 pitchers and every team should have 3 C’s especially in the dog days of summer. I saw the Cubs pulled Kelly and put in McGuire and emptied the bench. If McGuire got run over who was gonna C? And Berti ended up pitching. Enough said there.
@uncle: Agree, except re/Birdsell; surely he is not ready for a call-up.
The Pirates would not trade Skenes, for anyone, if only because he puts the butts in the seats at PNC. I doubt that other GMs are even asking Cherington about him, because they know that.
Question: Re/third base–why is no one even mentioning Maikel Franco?
Birdsell just started his rehab of course he’s not ready. But he’s on the way barring the dreaded setbacks. Or he gets Woodruffed( I’m enjoying that). Noland is 8-3. Sanders is 4-0. Even Maeda has lowered his ERA from 23. something to 7.20. What makes anybody think Keller, Who’s never been on a winning team in his life, Will be any better in a pennant race? He’s never even been close to sniffing one.
The cubs pitching staff is haunted! Who’s next?
Hey you guys don’t be so negative and doom and gloom. As long as the offense provides like 8 homers a game from here on out, they’ll be just fine.