Home News Jameson Taillon near deal with Cubs (source)

Jameson Taillon near deal with Cubs (source)

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The Cubs stayed busy on the second day of Winter Meetings, agreeing to a four-year, $68 million deal with right-hander Jameson Taillon, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed the move. Earlier on Tuesday, Chicago brought former NL MVP Cody Bellinger into the fold on a one-year deal.

Over the past two seasons with the Yankees, Taillon re-established himself as a solid Major League starter after his second Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2019 campaign and kept him out of action through ‘20.

The Pirates then traded Taillon to the Yankees in January 2021. With New York, Taillon went a combined 22-11 with a 4.08 ERA over 61 starts, while posting an exactly league-average ERA+ of 100 in both seasons. He was somewhat homer prone, allowing a combined total of 50, but kept extra runners off the bases by ranking in the 94th percentile in walk rate in 2022.

The Pirates made the 6-foot-5 Taillon — coming out of a Texas high school — the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 Draft, going right between Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. He was a highly touted prospect coming up through the Pirates’ system and debuted with Pittsburgh in June 2016. From then until his elbow injury, he made 82 starts with a 3.67 ERA (112 ERA+).

Now 31 years old, Taillon no longer has overpowering stuff but goes after hitters with an assortment of six pitches: four-seam fastball, slider, curveball, sinker, cutter and changeup. He threw each at least 8.5% of the time in 2022. The curve was his best bat-missing weapon, as batters hit .168 with 43 strikeouts against it and whiffed on 32% of their swings.

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