Cubs trade Taillon to Blue Jays for PTBNL or cash after DFA move

CHICAGO – In the midst of Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Yankees, the Cubs made one of their first moves of what is expected to be an active Trade Deadline.

With Monday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline looming, the Cubs traded RHP Jameson Taillon to the Blue Jays for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Taillon was designated for assignment on July 27 after a disappointing and injury-hampered season thus far. A strained left hamstring kept Taillon on the injured list from June 9 to July 20, but even when healthy, he struggled to be as productive as he had been for the Cubs in previous seasons.

TRADE DETAILS
Chicago gets: Player to be named later or cash considerations
Toronto gets: RHP Jameson Taillon, cash considerations

In 15 starts this year, Taillon has a 5.92 ERA, and in his two starts since being activated from the injured list on July 20, Taillon gave up 11 runs in 8 1/3 innings pitched.

One of the primary issues that has plagued Taillon this season is the home run ball. Taillon has always been a fly ball-heavy pitcher, but his home runs per fly ball rate has jumped almost eight percent from where it was in 2025. This happening at the same time as a spike in Taillon’s walk rate has contributed to the increase in runs allowed.

In a Cubs tenure that goes back to 2023, Taillon was a reliable innings-eater when healthy, and he helped anchor the starting staff during their 2025 postseason run. But as the Cubs look ahead to the Trade Deadline and are on a trajectory toward another playoff appearance this October, they needed to move on from Taillon.

This move comes at a Trade Deadline where starting pitching has already been the hot commodity, with Tarik Skubal going from the Tigers to the Dodgers and Freddy Peralta from the Mets to the Rays. The Cubs are expected to be active on the pitching market, both for starting pitching and bullpen help. Their starting staff has been hit heavily by injury this season.

Despite the injuries to their starting rotation, the Cubs head into the Trade Deadline 14 games above .500, and the starting pitchers who they’ve had to rely on as substitutes are holding their own. Cubs starters have a 4.23 ERA, good for 14th in baseball. That’s a big jump from where they were on June 1, when they ranked 25th in baseball with a 4.71 ERA as a group.

Guys like Colin Rea, Sunday’s starter against the Yankees, are a big part of why that has happened in the past two months. He tossed six-plus innings, striking out seven and allowing just two runs on a José Caballero homer in the third inning. Rea faced seven Yankees lefties and limited them to two hits and one walk, and he started the game by striking out the first five batters he faced.

“It was incredible how he started the game,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Not generally how he goes about it, but he had them kind of off balance, and it looked like they were looking for something he wasn’t throwing. And he was locating the ball really well.”

Whether Rea remains in the Cubs’ rotation after Monday’s Trade Deadline passes will remain to be seen. He has a 3.76 ERA in his past seven starts, but depending on how aggressively the Cubs’ front office handles the Trade Deadline, Rea might get moved to the bullpen. He has experience pitching in both roles, but at the moment, Rea said he hasn’t been overly preoccupied with how the Trade Deadline might affect him or the team.

“I haven’t spent too much time thinking about it,” he said. “We’re so focused on the day to day and trying to win each game. It’s not like we have a day off to think about it. It’s, you know, even tonight, it’s thinking about the Dodgers coming in here tomorrow.”

The Dodgers, who have already landed the biggest name on the market in Tarik Skubal, come to Wrigley for a three-game set Monday through Wednesday. They were already a formidable opponent, and adding Skubal, who is slated to start at Wrigley Field on Tuesday, only increases that reality.

In the Cubs’ clubhouse, they’re aware of that fact, but ready to accept the challenge.

“It’ll be fun to face him,” Pete Crow-Armstrong said of Skubal. “I haven’t gotten to face him since last year. Big fan of his as a person and as a competitor as well. So, I mean, cool.”

Before that Tuesday matchup with Skubal and the Dodgers comes, the Cubs will almost certainly have some new faces in their locker room. Moving Taillon was likely one of a few the Cubs will make before Monday’s Deadline, but whatever does happen, Counsell is confident the group he already has can continue to compete in the National League, joking that he rolled over and went back to sleep after he heard about the Skubal news on Saturday night.

“I’ve seen everything in that respect,” Counsell said of how a big move at the Deadline can impact a team. “In the end, I think we’re really proud of how we go out and compete every day, and I don’t think anything’s going to change that.”