Taillon (groin) hits IL again as Cubs play it safe with October in sight

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Cubs starter Jameson Taillon considers what it means to be a good teammate, his mind goes to taking the ball and chewing up as many innings as possible. On Wednesday at Oracle Park, Taillon was asked to think about his current situation in a different manner.

Taillon is currently dealing with a left groin strain -- an injury that flared in his start Sunday in Anaheim and has included some lingering soreness. Even after Taillon completed a brief bullpen session without incident on Wednesday, the Cubs opted to take a cautious approach by placing him on the 15-day injured list ahead of a 12-3 loss to the Giants.

The Cubs are hoping to have a deep run in October, so being proactive now with that in mind is how the ballclub is approaching its decision-making.

“The way I had this presented to me was like, ‘We’re playing for the long haul here,’” Taillon said. “And, ‘You’d be a bad teammate if you really pound the table and push through this and screw the team for what’s really important here.’ If I make something worse and I miss the last couple weeks of September or the playoffs and all that, that’s not the right thing to do.

“Just trying to have that longer-term view, that big-picture view is important here.”

Taillon’s IL stint will be retroactive to Monday, which is the day after his outing against the Angels was shortened to five innings and 62 pitches due to the setback. With the veteran right-hander landing on the shelf, the Cubs recalled righty Javier Assad from Triple-A Iowa and he will slot into Taillon’s rotation spot Saturday against the Rockies.

Both Cubs manager Craig Counsell and Taillon expressed optimism that this particular injury would only require a minimum stay on the shelf. That means the 33-year-old righty would be eligible for activation at the earliest on Sept. 9, when the Cubs are in Atlanta. Taillon plans to keep throwing in the coming days and said he might have a rehab outing at Triple-A to keep on a relatively normal routine.

“I think sending him out there Saturday puts something at risk,” Counsell said. “I think he could go out there and pitch. I just don’t think it’s the smart thing to do. … We all agree. In a different situation, maybe we push this. I don’t think this is the right time to push it.”

In 19 starts this season, Taillon has posted a 4.15 ERA with 81 strikeouts and 21 walks in 106 1/3 innings. He missed all of July and the beginning of August due to a right calf strain, and was two starts into his return from the IL when the groin injury struck.

Taillon said it helps knowing that Assad -- an experienced, consistent starting option for the Cubs over the past few seasons -- was ready to step up. Also making things a bit easier for Taillon’s mindset is the fact that Chicago’s rotation has collectively been one of the best units in baseball over the past two-plus months.

Righty Colin Rea, who has been a key piece to holding the rotation intact amid injuries throughout the season, headed into his start Wednesday with a 2.53 ERA in August and a 3.33 ERA over his last 10 turns. Against the Giants, the righty labored over 4 2/3 frames, allowing seven runs (six earned) en route to a loss.

“Just not a good night,” Counsell said of the loss. “And Colin just wasn’t sharp.”

“I felt like I had some good stuff out there – I just made some mistakes out over the plate,” Rea said. “I just felt like I was falling behind there a little bit and had to come over the plate and throw competitive pitches. It was kind of just a poor effort on my part overall.

Chalk it up to a rough night from a Cubs rotation that has been on a nice run for weeks.

Dating back to June 25, the Cubs boasted the Majors’ best rotation ERA at 3.00, entering Wednesday. The Red Sox (3.25) and Brewers (3.36) were next in the rankings for that time period. Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Cade Horton and Rea handled the bulk of the innings in that stretch.

“It’s a really good group,” Taillon said. “That’s the thing. We’ve had guys go through ups and downs this year, and we’ve had some injuries and it just seems like guys always step up and do their jobs. It’s a really steady group. We all care for each other a lot. Hopefully, they all take pride in trying to pick me up here. It’s frustrating for me to not be a part of it.”

After two weeks or so, Taillon hopes to get back involved in a big way.

“We have bigger goals in mind than the next two weeks,” Taillon said. “And I know every game is extremely important, which is why I have a hard time just accepting it. But, hopefully we’re playing deep into October and hopefully I’m a really big part of that. So yeah, it’s important to get this right.”