The Chicago Cubs may finally be nearing a little breathing room on the pitching front.
This has been a brutal season for their arms. Cade Horton went down only weeks into the year, Justin Steele hit a snag in his recovery soon after, and the injury pile kept growing as Matthew Boyd, Edward Cabrera, and Jameson Taillon all joined a long list of relievers on the injured list.
Now, with the All-Star break close enough to see, the Cubs are at least getting some encouraging signs back. Boyd has already returned and turned in two solid starts. Taillon and Cabrera are still waiting to rejoin the mix, but both got useful updates to start the week.
Taillon finally got back on a mound Sunday night for his rehab assignment after a hamstring injury. He worked 3.1 innings, gave up four hits and one earned run, and struck out two. He threw 45 pitches, with 32 of them going for strikes.
That line wasn’t dazzling, but that wasn’t the assignment. The Cubs don’t need Taillon to light up a rehab outing; they need him to get into a rhythm and come out clean. He did that, and now the question is whether he’ll make another rehab appearance before the Cubs bring him back to the North Side.
Given how thin the staff is, the feeling is that Chicago wants Taillon back in the rotation as soon as possible. The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney suggested Saturday that this outing could line him up to pitch against the Reds right before the break.
When Taillon does return, the Cubs will need a much sharper version of him. He’s carrying a 5.19 ERA across 13 starts, and the command has slipped.
His walk rate has climbed to 8.0 percent after sitting at 5.2 percent or lower in the last couple of seasons. The bigger problem has been the long ball: he’s given up 20 home runs, which still has him tied for the fourth-most in the league even with the missed time.
Taillon is not the kind of pitcher who overwhelms hitters, but he has been a steady presence for Chicago in recent years thanks to a deep mix and quality off-speed stuff. If the control comes back, he could give the Cubs a real lift in the second half.
Cabrera’s update was encouraging in a different way. Bruce Levine of 104.3 The Score reported that he began a throwing program this week, and Counsell was pleased with the progress.
That comes less than two weeks after Cabrera left a start with a hamstring injury and adductor strain. It’s also his second trip to the IL this season.
There still isn’t a firm timeline for Cabrera, but this at least puts him in a better spot heading into the break. By mid-July, the Cubs should have a clearer idea of when his first rehab assignment might begin.
Like Taillon, Cabrera is the kind of arm that could matter a lot in the second half. Chicago brought him in this offseason to be a major part of the rotation, and the raw stuff has flashed at times. Still, the results have lagged, and his 5.10 ERA tells that story.
The issue has been swing-and-miss. His whiff rate has dropped noticeably, the change-up has been getting hit more often, and the curveball hasn’t had the same effect on hitters. The Cubs are hoping the time off gives him a chance to reset and find that edge again.
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The list of sidelined pitchers is long enough to shape how the Cubs think about July, from Justin Steele and Cade Horton to Hoby Milner and Daniel Palencia. Jameson Taillon is at least moving in the right direction after a rehab outing in which he worked 3 1/3 innings and 45 pitches, and he is expected to make one more rehab start before rejoining the rotation after the All-Star break. Even then, Chicago may have to manage him carefully early on, which only underscores why the deadline pressure around pitching keeps building. [Read more 🡒]