It’s Tuesday night at BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and join us. We’re waiving the cover charge. The dress code is casual. We still have a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone
else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last night I asked you if you thought Ben Brown should spend more time (or more innings) as a starter or a reliever in 2026. By a vote of 59 percent to 41 percent, you thought that Brown should stick to the bullpen, at least this year.
On Tuesday nights I don’t generally write about movies. But I always have time for jazz, so let’s get to that now. You can skip ahead if you want.
We’re getting closer to International Jazz Day (April 30) and this is a performance from the 2018 International Jazz Day by pianist Robert Glasper. He’s got quite the elite side players with Ben Williamson on bass and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums.
This is “Stella By Starlight.”
Welcome back to everyone who skipped the music and movies.
The Cubs are counting on Jameson Taillon to be a rock at the back of the Cubs rotation this year. Taillon is in the final season of a four-year free agent contact that he signed before the 2023 season. So far, he’s been solid. Not great. Not bad. Solid. Everything you could hope for in a back-end starter. Taillon’s ERA last year was 3.68. Pretty good! His underlying numbers weren’t quite that good, but that was probably more because of the Cubs strong defense than luck. I was hoping for something similar out of Taillon in 2026.
But this spring, Taillon has not been good. He had a decent start in for Canada in the World Baseball Classic, allowing one run on two hits and two walks over 3.2 innings against Panama. That’s not bad! It was also against a second-rate Panamanian team.
Back in Mesa with the Cubs, Taillon has struggled. He’s made four starts and has gone 0-3 with a 22.18 ERA. Taillon’s made three starts before leaving for Team Canada. In the first one against the White Sox, he allowed four runs over 1.2 innings. In the second one against the Rockies, Taillon allowed three runs over two innings. Then against Cincinnati, Taillon got knocked around for six runs over 2.1 innings.
In his first game back from the World Baseball Classic, Taillon got shelled. He was rocked for ten runs on eight hits and four walks over just 3.1 innings. Like every other non-WBC game that Taillon has pitched this spring, he gave up two home runs.
So are we concerned about this? On the one hand, in the one game that Taillon pitched that counted, he was fine, albeit against a mediocre Panama team. It’s also just Spring Training, and the list of pitchers who had poor Spring Trainings and ended up having perfectly fine seasons is long. Most studies I’ve seen have said that except for some very specific exceptions (such as a power increase for hitters), Spring Training results don’t correlate at all to regular season results.
On the other hand, Taillon has look bad. Like really bad. And it’s not like Taillon is such an ace that we can just trust that he’ll bounce back once the starter’s gun sounds on the regular season. He’s not a pitcher with a ton of room for error. The home runs are especially concerning. Counting the WBC game, he’s allowed nine over four starts. That’s over just 15 innings.
So how concerned are you about Jameson Taillon heading into the season? I don’t think there’s any way that he doesn’t start the regular season as a member of the rotation, but how much leash should he have? Should the Cubs be sure that Colin Rea or Ben Brown’s April workload is such that they can make Taillon’s next start?
Thanks for stopping by tonight. We enjoyed having you stop in. Please get home safely. Don’t forget anything at your table or if you checked anything. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.
