By The Athletic MLB Staff
3h ago
By Chandler Rome, Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney
With an undermanned rotation in a winnable division, the Houston Astros are among the teams that have expressed interest in Chicago Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, according to league sources.
Taillon would fill a need both this season and next for the Astros, who won’t have José Urquidy, Cristian Javier or J.P. France for most of 2025 after all of them underwent season-ending surgeries. Justin Verlander won’t pitch the 140 innings needed to trigger his vesting player option, either, meaning he’ll enter free agency after this season.
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Verlander is one of six Astros starters currently on the injured list and he’s yet to resume facing hitters while rehabbing from a neck injury. Setbacks for both Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia in their comebacks from Tommy John surgery only heightened Houston’s need for rotation help.
Taillon has thrown at least 140 innings in each of the past three seasons and typifies the sort of pitcher Houston is seeking at the deadline. Both Hunter Brown and Ronel Blanco are on pace to shatter their career highs in innings pitched while rookies Jake Bloss and Spencer Arrighetti are being asked to contribute before they’re major-league-ready. Finding a veteran to remove one of the rookies and expand the Astros’ rotation to six is the goal.
Taillon signed a four-year, $68 million contract before last season that doesn’t expire until 2026. Taking on his prorated $18 million salary this season would push the Astros over the second luxury-tax threshold, though Houston is trying to find a team to take on reliever Rafael Montero’s disastrous three-year, $34.5 million deal as part of a trade package, people with knowledge of their discussions said.
Finding any club to absorb Montero’s contract will be difficult. The Astros could make it more enticing by including a better group of prospects — but their depleted farm system has so few of those to begin with. Absent Montero, it is a legitimate question whether the Astros have the prospect capital to compete with other contenders in search of controllable starting pitchers like Taillon.
Jameson Taillon, Wicked Breaking Balls. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/McXdQlNTnk
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 24, 2024
The Baltimore Orioles, for example, are among the teams with a more fertile farm system and a need for controllable starting pitching. The San Diego Padres also have Taillon on their radar as they sort through various options.
The Cubs have fielded interest in Taillon mostly through the process of elimination. On a roster with too many underperforming or injured players, he has posted a 2.96 ERA in 17 starts and accounted for 100-plus innings. His durability, experience and reputation as a positive clubhouse influence make him one of the best starters available at this moment.
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The Cubs want to use this trade deadline to salvage what’s looking like a lost season. Taillon wasn’t surprised this week when Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer confirmed the front office would be focusing on 2025 and beyond. There are no untouchable players on a last-place team.
“We just haven’t played the way we should,” Taillon said. “It’s not like that caught me or probably anyone off guard. It stinks, but it is what it is. We’ve done it to ourselves.”
Taillon, 32, developed into the No. 2 pick in the 2010 draft out of The Woodlands High School in suburban Houston. He has a 10-team no-trade list as part of the contract he signed with the Cubs.
“Free agency is a two-way street,” Taillon said. “The team commits to you, and they pay you handsomely. And then you do your homework as a player. You grind to make it to free agency and it’s a big honor to even get there and have teams interested in you. You get to vet teams and think about cities and where you want to live and maybe buy a house. There’s a lot that goes into it. It’s a two-way commitment. It’s kind of like a little mini-marriage.
“I’ve had a great time here. I love showing up here every day. It’s a great group of guys. We’ve said it a lot: I feel like we should be better than we are. But to this point, we just haven’t gotten it done, and results speak louder than any words we can say here. I would love to stay here, obviously. I chose coming to Chicago and being a Cub.”
(Top photo of Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)
