Jameson Taillon's Injury Nukes Cubs' Trade Leverage. Does It Matter?

Prior to a July 4 drubbing of the St. Louis Cardinals where they set a franchise record for home runs, the Chicago Cubs were dealt devastating injury news: right-handed stater Jameson Taillon will miss the next month or more with a calf strain. In his stead, Jordan Wicks will take at least a few turns through the rotation, with his first scheduled to come today against the Cardinals.

Obviously, the immediate aftermath of this injury is the stress it puts on the Cubs' already-perilous starting pitcher depth. Shota Imanaga's return from injury did ease some of the burden, but with Ben Brown needing plenty of seasoning in Triple-A Iowa after pronounced struggles in the big leagues, Chicago isn't exactly overflowing with options to handle innings if Wicks falters.

Veteran swingman Chris Flexen, who has been a revelation out of the bullpen this year, does have a long and somewhat successful history of starting, but it feels like malpractice to displace him from the role in which he's thrived this season. Kenta Maeda is toiling down in Triple-A, but he's been a disaster all season and isn't on the 40-man roster. Connor Noland has been Iowa's most reliable starter, but his stuff isn't very impressive and he'd also have to take someone's spot on the 40-man roster. And then there's Brown, but at this point, he'll be relegated to "break glass in case of emergency" duty for the remainder of the season.

Thus, the Cubs, who have already been mentioned incessantly in rumors for starting pitchers over the last few weeks, pretty much no longer have a choice on the trade market. They're going to have bring in one, if not multiple, surefire starters over the next few weeks. Ideally, they'd nab at least one "ace", or at least someone who profiles as a frontline counterpart to their southpaw duo of Imanaga and Matthew Boyd. With Taillon's availability now threatened for the foreseeable future, they'd also do well to bring in another quality innings eater, à la Dan Haren back in 2015.

There's a number of quality options on the market, including Seth Lugo, Mitch Keller, Merrill Kelly, Zac Gallen, Sandy Alcantara, Tyler Mahle, Zach Eflin, and more. Those pitchers all come with varying levels of team control (and recent success), though the Cubs can't be scared off by the potential acquisition cost for any of them. Prospects will be lost and — oh the horror — salary will be added to the team's bottom line, but Taillon's injury necessitates a need for reliable starters now more than ever. At 53-35, the Cubs have opened a sizable lead in the NL Central, and they could nab a bye in the first round of the playoffs if they can bypass the NL East winner in the final standings.

Of course, in what's going to be a very favorable seller's market, the Cubs aren't going to have a ton of negotiating leverage. There's a lot more buyers (and neutral teams) than sellers in the three Wild Card format, and the injuries to Taillon, Justin Steele, and Javier Assad will prevent Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins from deploying any effective smokescreens. They need a starter, and you better believe every other team knows it.

Alas, this is just the nature of baseball. The front office did well to build out the pitching depth over the offseason, as Boyd and Colin Rea have done amicable jobs filling in for Steele and Assad. They made things work when Imanaga went down for more than a month of action. Now, the chance to fortify the team and build out the championship version of this roster has arrived. Taillon's injury doesn't change anything other than making the Cubs more desperate.

That's only a bad thing if it makes them too cautious.