Jameson Taillon recently reflected on the end of his tenure with the Chicago Cubs, offering a straightforward account of why the partnership concluded after years of mixed results.
The veteran right-hander, designated for assignment in late July following a difficult campaign, made clear that the organization and player had exhausted their options.
“We were trying everything with the Cubs, and we hit a point where it was the end of the road,” Taillon told reporters. “Nothing was really changing.”
The comments came after a season in which he posted a 5.92 ERA across 15 starts, a sharp decline from the solid performances that had defined much of his time in Chicago.
His overall ERA this year sits near 5.96, the highest mark of his decade-long major league career, while his fastball velocity has dipped below 92 mph for the first time.
Taillon was careful not to assign blame. “I don’t want this to be a shot at anybody, but I just hadn’t really felt right for a while,” he said. A hamstring strain earlier in the season limited his availability, and he has not reached 30 starts in a year since his final season with the New York Yankees in 2022.
The Cubs had signed him to a four-year, $68 million contract before the 2023 season. After an uneven first year, he rebounded with consecutive sub-4.00 ERA campaigns, only for injuries and inconsistency to return this season.
Once the Cubs designated him, Taillon used the brief window before joining the Toronto Blue Jays to seek fresh input. He traveled to Tread Athletics, the facility where he trains in the offseason, determined to make adjustments. “I’m gonna go take action and see if a different voice will help,” he explained.
Work focused on boosting the velocity of his cutter and incorporating a gyro slider into his repertoire. In his first outing with Toronto against the Houston Astros, the cutter averaged 88.2 mph—an increase of roughly two miles per hour—and he generated a swinging-strike rate of 17.5 percent, even though the final line showed three earned runs in four innings.
The financial details of the move underscored the Cubs’ willingness to move on. Chicago absorbed nearly $5 million of the remaining salary on Taillon’s $18 million deal for 2026, leaving Toronto responsible for only about $750,000.
With enough service time to reject an outright assignment, Taillon would likely have reached free agency had a trade not materialized.
At 34, Taillon enters a new chapter still searching for the version of himself that once consistently delivered quality starts.
His candid remarks reveal a pitcher who recognized when efforts had stalled and chose to pursue change rather than linger in a situation that no longer served either side.
