OFFICIAL: We’ve acquired RHP Jameson Taillon 🇨🇦 and cash considerations from the Cubs in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Welcome to Canada’s Team 🍁
Blue Jays acquire Jameson Taillon from Cubs
Photo credit: © Matt Marton-Imagn Images
Aug 2, 2026, 15:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 2, 2026, 15:34 EDT
The Toronto Blue Jays have made their first trade ahead of the deadline.
It isn’t a big one by any means, acquiring the recently DFA’d Jameson Taillon from the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named larger or cash considerations. This is the first trade they’ve made since shipping Tommy Nance to the Minnesota Twins, but certainly won’t be the last before August 3rd’s trade deadline.
Taillon, 34 has spent parts of his last four seasons with the Cubs. He was solid in 2024 and 2025, including finishing last season with a 3.68 ERA over 129.2 innings, but has struggled in 2026. Over 15 starts, Taillon finished Cubs tenure in 2026 with a 5.92 ERA and 6.73 FIP in 76 innings of work, leading to his DFA.
Born in Lakeland, Florida, Taillon represented Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic in March thanks to two Canadian parents. While he hasn’t had a particularly good 2026, Taillon has a track record of eating some innings with solid results, something they’ll need in the coming weeks.
With the Blue Jays presumably selling at the trade deadline, this trade all but guarantees that at least one of their starting pitchers on an expiring deal, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, or Max Scherzer, are for sure getting moved.
If they wish to trade more than one of those starters, they’ll have to look for other rotation options, while that be external through a trade or waivers, or internally like Chad Dallas, CJ Van Eyk, or Lázaro Estrada. Another option that could be available later this season is Jake Bloss, though he is on the 7-day injured list in Triple-A.
It’ll be interesting to see the moves that the Blue Jays make the next 26 hours or so, because this recent hot streak has put them in striking distance of a wild card spot, even as improbable as that seems.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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