Jameson Taillon

Cubs Notes: Taillon, Steele, Wisdom

By Nick Deeds | April 14, 2024 at 7:58am CDT

Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon opened the season on the injured list after missing all of Spring Training due to calf and back issues, but club manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including the Chicago Sun Times’ Maddie Lee) that Taillon’s next start will come with the big league club in Chicago after a strong rehab start from the 32-year-old Friday night during which he struck out 4 in 3 2/3 scoreless innings while building up to 68 pitches.

Taillon is in the second year of the four-year, $68MM deal he signed with Chicago and enters 2024 hoping to get off to a better start after a brutal first half sank his 2023 campaign. The right-hander pitched to solid results in his first 3 starts with the Cubs last year but struggled badly following a groin injury he sustained in mid-April, posting a 7.61 ERA and 6.07 FIP in his next eleven starts. From there, however, the right-hander appeared to turn a corner and performed more like the mid-rotation arm he was signed to be, with a 3.38 ERA and 4.24 FIP over his final 90 2/3 innings of work.

If the veteran righty can maintain that form he showed in the second half of the season last year, it would provide a major boost to the Cubs’ rotation. The club has been forced to lean heavily on youngsters Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks, and Ben Brown to this point in the young 2024 campaign due to injuries sustained by Taillon and ace lefty Justin Steele in addition to the struggles of veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who has posted a 12.08 ERA across the first three starts of his 2024 campaign. Taillon’s return to the rotation could allow one of those young pitchers to move to the bullpen, where the club has seen closer Adbert Alzolay and veteran free agent signing Hector Neris scuffle somewhat to open the season.

Looking beyond Taillon, it seems as though more reinforcements for the club’s pitching staff could be on the way in the coming weeks, as Counsell indicated to reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune) that Steele was also making progress in his bid to return from the hamstring strain he sustained during his Opening Day start against the Rangers. Per Counsell, Steele was scheduled to throw a 25-pitch bullpen session yesterday. It’s a notable step forward for the lefty, which MLB.com adds comes on the heels of a 75-pitch simulated game pitched off flat ground in San Diego earlier this week.

The news appears to leave Steele on track to return sometime next month. That Steele appears to be on track to return fairly quickly is surely a relief for Chicago, as the lefty has broken out as one of the game’s best starters in recent years. Dating back to June of the 2022 season, Steele has pitched to a sterling 2.73 ERA with a 3.05 FIP across 45 starts. In that time, only Justin Verlander, Shohei Ohtani, and Blake Snell have posted a lower ERA in at least 250 innings of work, while only Verlander, Spencer Strider, Kevin Gausman, and Sonny Gray boast a lower FIP.

Also on the mend from injury is slugger Patrick Wisdom, who began the season on the injured list due to back strain. The 32-year-old is six games into a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa, however, and could be rapidly nearing a return. Counsell told reporters recently (including those at MLB.com) that Wisdom could rejoin the club at some point during their current road trip. The Cubs will finish a series in Seattle this afternoon before wrapping their road trip with a three-game set in Arizona.

Should Wisdom end up joining the club in Arizona, that could be the end of veteran first baseman Garrett Cooper’s time with Chicago. Cooper has impressed in part-time duty with five hits including a double, a triple, and a home run in his first 15 plate appearances with the club. Even so, it’s hard to imagine the Cubs having room for both the 2022 All Star and Wisdom on the roster when Michael Busch and Christopher Morel appear to have locked down the infield corners for the foreseeable future. Cooper cannot be optioned to the minor leagues after signing a minor league deal with the club in free agency, though each of Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, and Miles Mastrobuoni have options remaining should the Cubs wish to retain Cooper on the big league roster.

NL Central Notes: Candelario, Donovan, Taillon

By Leo Morgenstern | April 4, 2024 at 12:08am CDT

Reds third baseman Jeimer Candelario took an early exit from Wednesday night’s contest with the Phillies. He appeared to hurt himself on a swing in his final at-bat, and while he smacked a double on the very next pitch, he continued to grimace from second base. After the game, manager David Bell said that “hopefully” it was nothing more than “hyperextension of the elbow” (per Bally Sports Cincinnati). He said the team does not believe the injury is serious, but they will reevaluate Candelario on Friday before their series opener against the Mets.

Not so long ago, the Reds appeared to have a playing time crunch in the infield. However, Noelvi Marte’s 80-game suspension and Matt McLain’s shoulder surgery cleared up the logjam. If Candelario requires an IL stint, Cincinnati’s infield depth will suddenly be tested. Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand can play third base, but they’re already playing regular roles in left field and at first base, respectively. Santiago Espinal, acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays late this spring, is another option to fill in at the hot corner.

In other injury news from around the NL Central…

Brendan Donovan was also removed mid-game on Wednesday. Leading off for the Cardinals, he was hit by a pitch in the very first plate appearance of the game. Several innings later, he was hit again, and this time, he did not return to left field in the bottom half of the frame. The second pitch hit him on his throwing elbow (per John Denton of MLB.com). Donovan, a versatile utility player, has played six of his seven games in left field this season. The Cardinals already have three outfielders on the IL – Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, and Dylan Carlson – and can hardly afford to lose another.
In more positive injury news, Jameson Taillon is progressing well as he recovers from a stiff lower back. According to Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times, the righty’s live batting practice session went well on Tuesday. He is set to make a rehab start on Sunday. If all goes well in his rehab appearance, he could still be on track to rejoin the Cubs in mid-April; two weeks ago, manager Craig Counsell suggested mid-April was the earliest Taillon could return (per Lee).

Cubs To Begin Season With Wicks, Assad In Rotation; Smyly In Bullpen

By Darragh McDonald | March 21, 2024 at 1:09pm CDT

With Opening Day now one week away, the Cubs made some decisions on their starting pitching plan to begin the year. Manager Craig Counsell told members of the club’s beat, including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, that left-hander Jordan Wicks and Javier Assad will have rotation jobs to open the campaign. Veteran lefty Drew Smyly, meanwhile, will head to the bullpen. In a separate tweet, Montemurro confirms that righty Jameson Taillon will start the season on the injured list. In terms of the catching group, Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times relays that both Jorge Alfaro and Joe Hudson have been told they won’t make the team but are staying in big league camp for now.

The Cubs came into camp with a front four of Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Shota Imanaga and Taillon, with one spot available for guys like Wicks, Assad, Smyly, Hayden Wesneski or Caleb Kilian. In early March, Kilian was diagnosed with a teres major strain and will be out for several months, taking him out of the competition.

Taillon was dealt much smaller issues but they nonetheless slowed his progression. He initially had some soreness is his calves and that was followed by some lower back tightness. He still has not appeared in an official Spring Training game and will begin the season on the IL. He told Bruce Levine of WSCR on the weekend that he was planning to throw off a mound this week, which shows some progress, but he’s likely still a few weeks away from readiness.

With Taillon out of action, there were two open spots at the back of the rotation, which will go to Wicks and Assad. Wicks is one of the club’s top pitching prospects and he made his major league debut last year with a 4.41 earned run average in seven starts. In 91 1/3 innings of minor league work, he had a 3.55 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate.

He only struck out 16.3% of hitters in his first taste of the majors, but in a fairly small sample of 34 2/3 innings. For what it’s worth, he’s posted a 2.60 ERA this spring, though with a modest 16.9% strikeout rate. But he has also limited his walks to 2.8% and it’s a small sample of 17 1/3 innings. He’ll get a chance to take a step forward at the major league level to start the season. He still has a full slate of options, so the Cubs could easily send him back to the minors when Taillon is healthy if they so choose.

Assad has a bit more experience, having served in a swing role for the Cubs over the past two years. He has a 3.06 ERA in 147 innings over 41 appearances, including 18 starts. His 20.2% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate are both slightly worse than league average but he’s kept 44.7% of balls in play on the ground and was in the 78th percentile of qualified pitchers last year in terms of average exit velocity. He has allowed seven earned runs in nine innings this spring. He has a couple of options and could wind up in the minors later but the Cubs have used him as a long reliever out of the bullpen in the past.

That long relief role could perhaps be taken by Smyly, who was also in that role for a time last year. The Cubs signed him to a two-year, $19MM deal last offseason but he struggled in 2023 and wound up moving to the bullpen on multiple occasions. He finished last year with an even ERA of 5.00, but it was 5.62 as a starter and 2.51 out of the ’pen. That latter number was in a small sample of 28 2/3 innings but the Cubs will be hoping his stuff will play up in shorter stints. Spring results are to be taken with a grain of salt but he hasn’t done much to win back a rotation job lately, with a 7.71 ERA, 15.1% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate in 11 2/3 innings.

His past experience as a starter could have him working multi-innings stints as a reliever, but he could also be utilized as a situational lefty. The only other southpaw reliever currently on the roster is Luke Little, who has just 6 2/3 innings of major league experience and notable control issues in the minors.

As for the catchers, it’s not too surprising they won’t make the club. The Cubs have Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya set to be their primary catching tandem. Gomes is a 12-year veteran coming off a solid season while Amaya has been a notable prospect for a while and made his major league debut last year. It’s unclear if either Alfaro or Hudson have opt-outs in their minor league deals, but it seems they will be staying in camp for the time being.

Jameson Taillon Likely To Begin Season On Injured List

By Darragh McDonald | March 13, 2024 at 5:40pm CDT

Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon hasn’t yet appeared in an official Spring Training contest this year and manager Craig Counsell admitted that the righty may not have enough time to get ready for Opening Day. The skipper tells Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune that Jameson is trending towards beginning the season on the injured list.

Jameson was initially slowed at the start of this month with some soreness in his calves but then that was followed by some lower back tightness. With Opening Day now just over two weeks away, he’s running out of time to get himself into game shape.

When a player is placed on the injured list at the start of a season, the transaction can be backdated by three days. The Cubs also have two off days in the first couple of weeks of the schedule and those two facts could limit Jameson to only missing the first 10 games of the schedule.

But that would be contingent on him returning to health and getting back on track so that he can build up between now and then. The righty has generally been fairly durable apart from the Tommy John surgery that wiped out most of his 2019 and all of his 2020. He made 25 starts in 2017 and 32 in 2018 prior to the surgery, more recently making at least 29 starts in the three most recent campaigns.

Last year, he missed a couple of weeks due to a groin strain but otherwise was on the mound, logging 154 1/3 innings. The problem was that his earned run average jumped to 4.84, almost a full run better than his 3.91 from the year before. His 21.4% strikeout rate was actually a bit better than in 2022 but most other metrics moved in the wrong direction. His walk rate, ground ball rate, barrel rate and hard hit rate were a few ticks worse than the prior campaign.

Taillon signed a four-year, $68MM deal prior to last year and is still a key piece of the club’s rotation. He’ll be looking for a bounceback here in 2024 but will have to do so after a less than ideal start with the injury setbacks.

In the meantime, the Cubs have three rotation spots set for Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga and Kyle Hendricks. There was going to be a competition for a fifth spot behind those three and Taillon, but it appears there will now be two spots up for grabs for Jordan Wicks, Drew Smyly, Hayden Wesneski or Javier Assad, at least to start the year. That group would have also included Caleb Kilian but he’s been shut down with a teres major strain.

Wicks is one of the club’s best prospects and he debuted with seven starts last year. Neither his 4.41 ERA nor his 16.3% strikeout rate were especially impressive but he punched out 26.5% of hitters in the minors last year and could be set for a step forward in 2024.

Smyly is a veteran with over a decade in the big leagues but he’s coming off a rough season, as he got bumped to the bullpen and finished the year with an ERA of 5.00. Wesneski was also bumped to the bullpen, and often optioned to Triple-A, finishing last year with a 4.63 ERA. Assad was also in a swing role and had a solid 3.05 ERA on the year, though he may have been lucky to wind up there. His .268 batting average on balls in play and 83.3% strand rate were both on the fortunate side of average, which is why his 4.29 FIP and 4.41 SIERA were a bit less exciting.

Of those four, Wicks is the only one with a Spring Training ERA lower than 6.14 right now, for what that’s worth. Smyly can’t be optioned and the Cubs still owe him $11MM, as he’s making a salary of $8.5MM this year and has a $2.5MM buyout on a 2025 mutual option. That makes him likely to have a roster spot, whether he’s in the rotation or working as a long reliever in the bullpen.

Free agency still features a number of interesting names even though the regular season is getting near, though the Cubs may not have much interest in spending more money on the roster. At this point, there’s nothing to suggest Taillon is slated for a lengthy absence, just that he’s behind schedule by a few weeks right now. The Cubs are also hovering on the competitive balance tax line, with RosterResource calculating their CBT number as just $55K over the $237MM threshold.

They probably don’t want to add to that in order to address what is likely a temporary situation with Taillon. But as Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Michael Lorenzen and others linger in free agency into the middle of March, each pitching injury will lead to speculation about how it affects the markets for those guys. Lucas Giolito, Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, Sonny Gray and many other notable pitchers around the league are dealing with spring injuries of varying degrees.

Assuming the Cubs stay in house, they will likely need innings this year from each of Wicks, Smyly, Wesneski and Assad. Each club battles injuries over a long season and the Cubs are also reportedly planning to manage Imanaga’s workload as he transitions from the weekly pitching rotation of Japanese baseball to the five-day turns in North American ball.

NL Central Notes: Taillon, Cardinals, Grandal

By Nick Deeds | March 9, 2024 at 7:42pm CDT

Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon has yet to make an in-game appearance this spring due to soreness in his calves. That was set to change today as he was poised to make his first start since camp began, though those plans were scuttled when the club scratched Taillon from his start earlier today.

As noted by Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, manager Craig Counsell indicated to reporters that Taillon was dealing with lower back tightness and that the right-hander’s back “locked up” while throwing warm up pitches prior to his scheduled start, though there hasn’t been imaging scheduled for the right-hander and Counsell indicated the club hopes to know more about Taillon’s status tomorrow. Sharma goes on to note that the Cubs are hopeful the issue was just a spasm and that Taillon has dealt with a similar issue previously in his career and that it often subsides after just a few days. Though Chicago is remaining optimistic that the 32-year-old will be able to avoid a trip to the shelf to open the season, the right-hander missing time to open the season would be a blow to the club’s chances in a crowded NL Central division.

Taillon figures to occupy the middle of the club’s rotation this season alongside fellow veteran righty Kyle Hendricks, behind southpaws Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga. The fifth spot in the Cubs’ rotation has not yet been determined but appears likely to go to one of Jordan Wicks, Drew Smyly, Javier Assad, and Hayden Wesneski as things stand. Taillon’s four-year deal with the Cubs got off to a rough start last season as he struggled to a 6.90 ERA in his first 13 starts with the club, though he settled in to provide mid-rotation results late in the season with a 3.57 ERA and 4.23 ERA across the season’s final three months. [UPDATE: Counsell told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and other reporters Sunday that Taillon “came in today pretty much the same as he left yesterday. Probably not the improvement we were hoping for.” While the manager admitted to “a level of concern for Opening Day,” Counsell doesn’t “think it’s a long-term absence for Jameson, so don’t think it’s one of those concerns.”]

Cubs Notes: Tauchman, Imanaga, Taillon

By Darragh McDonald | March 4, 2024 at 5:20pm CDT

Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman has had plenty of uncertainty in his career. He’s bounced around from the Rockies to the Yankees and Giants, spent 2022 with the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO League and settled for a minor league deal with the Cubs going into 2023. But in 2024, he seems to have a bit more clarity on the path ahead of him. He tells Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times that manager Craig Counsell told him at the start of Spring Training that he has already made the team.

‘‘From a personal standpoint, [it’s] given me a little freedom to trial-and-error a couple of things, rather than really focusing on the results, focusing on ‘making the team,’ ’’ Tauchman said. ‘‘Because now it’s about getting ready for March 28 and the subsequent games that we have.’’

Tauchman, now 33, got added to the Cubs’ roster last year when Cody Bellinger was injured but played well enough to stick around even when Bellinger returned. He got into 108 games, drawing a walk in 14% of his 401 plate appearances. His home run total of eight was fairly modest but he was on-base enough to be above average at the plate overall. His .252/.363/.377 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 107. He also stole seven bases and got strong grades for his time on the grass, most of which was in center field. In 584 innings in center, he produced three Defensive Runs Saved and got a +1 from Outs Above Average.

That solid showing was enough for the Cubs to tender him an arbitration contract, with the two sides eventually agreeing to a $1.95MM salary. For part of this offseason, Tauchman may have been seen as the on-paper center fielder between Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ. Prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong would have been another option but he’s considered a glove-first player, is still shy of his 22nd birthday and has just 47 games played above Double-A.

The Cubs recently re-signed Bellinger and he figures to take the center field job. He also plays first base but it seems like the Cubs will give Michael Busch a chance to take that spot. That will likely leave Tauchman in a fourth outfielder role while Crow-Armstrong gets regular reps in Triple-A. An injury could always change things, with Happ currently dealing with a mild hamstring strain, but Tauchman seems to have a refreshingly secure gig for the time being.

Elsewhere in Cubs’ tidbits, the rotation figures to be an area of focus this year as the club looks to take a step forward after just missing the playoffs last year. Collectively, Cub starters had a 4.26 ERA last year which put them 14th in the majors. Since the club is going into 2024 with a fairly similar roster, improvement in the rotation could be a difference maker.

Marcus Stroman departed via free agency and the club signed Shota Imanaga to take his spot. Imanaga will be looking to make the transition from Japan, where pitchers often throw once a week, to the five-day cycle in North America.

Bruce Levine of 670 The Score relays that the club plans on using off-days and spot starters to help him with the adjustment, which could perhaps lead to some extra starts for optionable depth arms. The club figures to have Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Jameson Taillon and Imanaga in four rotation spots, with one more spot available to Jordan Wicks, Javier Assad, Hayden Wesneski, Caleb Kilian or Ben Brown.

Everyone in that latter group has options and may start the season in the minors but it sounds like there will be opportunities to make big league appearances as the season rolls along. The occasional spot start will be used to give Imanaga and the other guys a breather and injuries are fairly inevitable for pitchers, which will open other chances.

Taillon will be looking for a bounceback season, as his first campaign with the Cubs wasn’t strong, finishing with a 4.84 ERA. That potential bounceback season is off to a bumpy start, however, as Lee reports that Taillon is dealing with some soreness in both of his calves. That issue doesn’t seem debilitating and he still appears to be on track for Opening Day if he doesn’t experience any setbacks, but it’s a situation worth monitoring over the weeks to come since a return to form for Taillon will be important for the Cubs this year.

Cubs Select Ryan Borucki

By Nick Deeds | April 30, 2023 at 10:41am CDT

The Cubs have selected the contract of left-hander Ryan Borucki, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro. In a corresponding move, right-hander Caleb Kilian has been optioned to Triple-A. The club had an open spot on the 40-man roster following their decision to designate catcher Luis Torrens for assignment, so no 40-man roster move was needed to add Borucki.

Borucki, 29, made his major league debut as a starter with the Blue Jays back in 2018. He pitched to a solid 3.87 ERA in 97 2/3 innings of work across 18 starts. Unfortunately, injuries limited Borucki to just 6 2/3 innings in 2019, leaving him to convert to relief ahead of the 2020 season. Since his move to the bullpen, Borucki has struggled, posting a 4.66 ERA and 5.30 FIP over 65 2/3 innings across the past three seasons. He joined the Cubs on a minor league deal this past offseason, and gives the club a left-handed option out of the bullpen while Brandon Hughes is on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation.

Kilian, 26 in June, heads back to Triple-A after a brutal spot start yesterday where he surrendered seven runs on 10 hits, two walks and two hit batsmen in just 3 1/3 innings against the Marlins. Acquired from the Giants alongside Alexander Canario in the deal that sent Kris Bryant to San Francisco, Kilian was considered one of Chicago’s top prospects headed into last season. Things started to unravel for Kilian when he made his big league debut last summer. The right-hander posted a 10.32 ERA across three starts in the majors before heading back to the Triple-A, where he posted a 6.54 ERA in 63 1/3 innings for the remainder of the 2022 campaign.

Things haven’t gone much better for Kilian in 2023, as he had posted a 7.15 ERA in three starts at Triple-A prior to yesterday’s disastrous call up. Kilian was needed yesterday as both Jameson Taillon and Kyle Hendricks are on the shelf, though Taillon threw a bullpen yesterday per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times and Hendricks is currently rehabbing at Triple-A, leaving room to return Kilian to Triple-A in hopes he can return to his 2021 form.

Cubs Place Jameson Taillon On IL With Groin Strain

By Darragh McDonald | April 20, 2023 at 4:00pm CDT

The Cubs announced to reporters, including Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, that right-hander Jameson Taillon has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a “mild to moderate” left groin strain. Taillon had been the scheduled starter for tonight’s game against the Dodgers but righty Javier Assad has been recalled and will take the ball instead.

Taillon, 31, joined the Cubs over the offseason on a four-year, $68MM deal. That came on the heels of a strong two-year run with the Yankees, where he made 61 starts over 2021 and 2022, tossing 321 2/3 innings. He posted a 4.08 ERA in that time along with a 21.9% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 37.1% ground ball rate. That solid stretch did much to undo an injury-prone label that previously surrounded Taillon. He underwent Tommy John surgery as a prospect in 2014 and underwent the procedure a second time in 2019. But in both instances, he returned and posted good results, leading to his current career ERA of 3.85 over 801 2/3 innings.

This groin strain has popped up seemingly out of nowhere as Taillon, as mentioned up top, was scheduled to start tonight’s game until this news broke. Just this past weekend, he tossed five scoreless innings against the same Dodgers club he was set to face tonight. It’s unclear if he felt the injury that night or perhaps during a bullpen session in between then and now.

Regardless of how or when it happened, the Cubs will now have to play without Taillon for however long he’s out, which will be at least two weeks with this IL placement. The rotation has been a strength for the club in the early going this year, as their collective 2.66 ERA ranks third among all major league clubs, helping them jump out to an 11-6 start. Marcus Stroman and Justin Steele have excellent ERA figures of 0.75 and 1.44, respectively, while Drew Smyly and Hayden Wesneski have decent marks of 4.70 and 4.15.

Those four will now be joined by Assad for the time being. He posted a strong 2.66 ERA in the minors last year between Double-A and Triple-A, helping him make his major league debut. Between last year and this year, he has a 4.07 ERA in 42 major league innings thus far. He’ll look to bring some of that minor league success to the bigs and keep the Chicago rotation in good shape, at least until one of Taillon or Kyle Hendricks is able to return.

Chicago Notes: Suzuki, Taillon, Crochet

By Mark Polishuk | February 25, 2023 at 10:47pm CDT

Seiya Suzuki was a late scratch from the Cubs lineup, as the team announced to reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times) that the outfielder was dealing with left oblique tightness. More will be known about Suzuki once he completes some tests, though for now, there is certainly concern over his status given the rather wide range of recovery timelines associated with oblique injuries. Even if Suzuki’s issue is relatively minor, it might create an immediate problem with his planned participation on Team Japan at the World Baseball Classic.

A finger sprain cost Suzuki about six weeks of his first MLB season, but he still hit a solid .262/.336/.433 with 14 homers over 446 plate appearances with the Cubs in 2022. More will be expected from Suzuki in his sophomore year (especially for a Cubs team that plans to be more competitive) but the first order of business is to make sure that he’s healthy and that his oblique injury doesn’t lead to much missed time.

Some more notes on both Windy City teams…

The Mets and Phillies were the other finalists for Jameson Taillon, as the New York Post’s Jon Heyman writes that Philadelphia offered Taillon slightly more than the four years and $68MM he received from the Cubs. Since Taijuan Walker signed with the Phils for four years and $72MM, it could be that the Phillies offered similar deals to both pitchers and either Walker accepted first, or perhaps Taillon opted for Chicago’s offer instead. However, Taillon said that “I thought I was going to be a Met for a while,” indicating that New York was also strongly in the running. The mutual interest between both Taillon and the Cubs may have been the deciding factor, as “the Cubs made a really strong first impression” on the first day of free agency, and the team “made it clear from day one I was a top priority. If you can nerd-out and talk pitching with me, that really works for me. They showed me a good plan. It’s been exciting.”
The White Sox are tentatively aiming for May as Garrett Crochet’s return date from Tommy John rehab, as per MLB.com’s Sox-specific injuries and transactions page. Crochet underwent the TJ surgery last April, so the 13-month layoff would fit within the procedure’s usual recovery timeline. The Sox have already said that Crochet will work as a reliever when he returns, so he’ll need to build less arm strength than a pitcher who was returning to a starting role. Crochet is slated to move from two bullpen sessions per week to one high-intensity bullpen session per week, with an eye towards pitching in game action during extended Spring Training and then a minor league rehab assignment.

NL Notes: Marte, Stephenson, Dodgers, Taillon

By Mark Polishuk | February 20, 2023 at 11:05am CDT

Starling Marte underwent core surgery in November, and the outfielder talked with reporters (including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo) today about the somewhat unexpected nature of that procedure. Marte ended up requiring surgery on both sides of his groin, providing an unwelcome answer to he’d been bothered by leg and lower-body problems for a big portion of the 2022 season. Marte played through quad and groin soreness but didn’t go on the injured list until he suffered a fractured finger in September, sidelining him until the playoffs.

Despite all the injuries, Marte’s first Mets season was a success, as he hit .292/.347/.468 with 16 homers over 505 plate appearances. Both Marte and manager Buck Showalter indicated that the veteran outfielder will be ramped up somewhat slowly in the early days of Spring Training, yet Marte is expected to be ready to roll for the Opening Day lineup.

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