The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that Jameson Taillon has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder fatigue. Steven Brault will be recalled from Indianapolis to take his spot in the rotation. While no details have come out about the disabled list trip, this move sounds like the Pirates are using the All-Star break to give Taillon an extended rest to limit his innings this year. He has already pitched 89.2 innings this season at the halfway point and with the timing of this DL trip, he would only be missing 1-2 starts, though he can pitch in rehab in Indianapolis during that time. As I said, no details have been announced, but this sounds like the type of breaks to limit him that we heard about in the early part of the year.

UPDATE: Just heard through a source that the Pirates planned a couple weeks ago to give Taillon a break in the near future. It’s possible that something could have happened in the meantime, but the timing of this disabled list trip, as well as Gerrit Cole pitching on the same night, making him available for the Sunday start in Pittsburgh, has me thinking that the Taillon DL trip was all just planned in advance to limit his innings.

UPDATE: Tuesday 4:15 PM: To make room on the 40-man roster for Brault, the Pittsburgh Pirates designated Jacob Stallings for assignment. That was a slightly unexpected move with the lack of healthy depth they currently have on the 40-man roster. Stallings  should clear waivers, but he’s now out of action until that happens and leaves the team without a third catcher option on the 40-man. It also leaves Indianapolis with Jin-De Jhang as their starting catcher unless another move is in the works.

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127 COMMENTS

  2. In the show to DFA in a few days span… Not always awesome sometimes Tough to be a ballplayer.

    • Yes but he gets health care for life. That is a big number. H e will be back and he is a perfect candidate to start coaching in a few years. I was surprised by the dfa.

  3. I would imagine he would not be on the DL if we didn’t want to give him a midseason break. Reality is probably that he has a very slight fatigue that basically every pitcher has right now mid season- so it’s putting him on the DL for something that no other pitcher would be down for, taking into account innings and his arm health. I’m interested to see what Brault does and hope to see Glasnow, Taillon, Kuhl, and Cole on the mound before the end of the season in the same rotation

  4. Do you really think they would’ve planned it to have Steven Brault make his 1st MLB start in St. Louis? At a crucial point in the season? C’mon

  5. I don’t believe this was planned. If so, Taillon would gave gone on DL after his last start. No reason to not have an extra hitter up if he wasn’t pitching anyway. Then, that hitter goes back when Brault comes up. The plan may have been discussed, but I don’t think the plan was for Brault to come up, it’s just that he’s the only one ready. If the FO had planned this out, an extra hitter would have been up 4 days ago, Brault would not be the guy coming up (with his limited pitch count), and you also have to lose someone off the 40 man. I think the injury is real and hopefully 2 weeks of rest is all that is needed.

  6. If they wanted to rest JT, why not use the “quad tightness” that Caminero had? I’m afraid that with his injury history this may be more serious and we won’t see him again until Sept.

  7. Kind of got to think that Brault is pitching tomorrow because the Cardinals don’t do well with “soft tossing” left handers. That’s what Niese is, and you saw how they hit him. Trying to do the same with Brault.

  9. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the serious injury bug has not bit him again. It’s the last thing this franchise needs is another injury to a top young arm.

  11. The level of “freak out” never ceases to amaze me. smh.

    All is well – nothing to see here. Take about a week and a half off kid, we’ll need you down the stretch.

    GO BUCS.

    • Also, I’m as pro-Glasnow as they come and wanted him up here weeks and weeks ago… but 2-3 days rest seems a bit of a stretch even to me.

      Will be nice to see what Brault can do.

      GO BUCS.

  12. So, is Jameson Taillon even hurt? Having read this article and the update, I’m under the impression that this move was pre-calculated so that Cole would be able to start this coming Sunday against the Cubs before the All-Star break.

    • What I was told is that it was planned two weeks ago to revolve around the All-Star break, limiting the missed games and taking advantage of the four days off. If he actually did come down with arm fatigue at the same time, it would be a coincidence. We knew about Brault coming up before today if that helps ease your mind

      • Do you expect them to re-order the rotation after the ASG to align a spot for Glasnow to replace someone (maybe Niese or Kuhl) when ready?

        • I think the rotation will be set based on their opponent after the break. They can always push Glasnow back a day if he doesn’t line up

        • He was lined up with Frankie until the Pirates had an off day. If Uncle Ray helps Frankie pack his bags for Miami he could still be used on an extra days rest.

      • If you already knew about it, then why wasn’t there an article posted? That’s what we’re paying for, right?

          • You gotta give us more credit than that! Just for me, I put out 105 articles in the last month (since June 5th) and that doesn’t include all the draft information/player pages I did. That’s less than 3 cents per article just from me! 🙂

        • I was told about Taillon after the DL trip was announced which is why it’s an update in the article. If you mean know about Brault, well it didn’t match up to a day that made sense (since we didn’t know about Taillon) and we learned from the past that you wait until you’re 100% sure. We had Brian Peloza look for Brault when he got there today and when he was still there, that left some doubt. If Brault wasn’t there in uniform, there would have been an article.

          • I’ll add that I tend to wait until I’m more than 100% sure. With the Polanco news a few years ago, I heard that he was told and was ready to leave Indianapolis. And that was from two sources who would know this info. Then they changed the plans for whatever reason. That’s why there were others who had the same news (Rosenthal had it a few minutes after I did), because it was a plan, but they changed their plan before he came up.

            In this case, it didn’t make sense until the Taillon DL trip was announced, which is when Brault was announced as well.

      • Then why not set up Glasnow for the starts in his absence. Do you think Glasnow is going to pitch this year in the Burgh (I don’t anymore).

        • Yes I think he will because they want him in the rotation next year. He will only do that with experience this year, otherwise they would have to wait until next June to call him up. While he has definitely had things to work on this time, I don’t think they are considering not bringing him up for almost a full year from now.

        • One thing about Glasnow, that has been frequently mentioned here is his nerves tend to get the best of him. If it were me, I’d want him to make his debut with a little less pressure. Maybe a start against the braves or someone like that.

  14. I have to admit, Niese pitched a good game today, although still not able to get deep enough to give the bullpen a break. It was a big win, and he held the Cards at bay.
    If he was a young guy, today would be encouraging – but he, like Locke, are not kids and their inconsistency from start to start has been their trademarks most of their careers. So, I won’t get excited and expect this kind of performance from Niese going forward – he’s a typical #5 starter type.

    • Niese was a little lucky too. A lot of line drives at people. I am rooting for all to go right with JT, Glasnow, Cole, and Brault and for Niese to be gone next season. He knows how to pitch but he looks like a #5 for a middle of the road team to me.

    • The advantage is that he isn’t going to pitch, so you’re not leaving Indy short-handed as well with him taking a roster spot. There is no reason other than to save a couple weeks pay in sending him down. He might make a rehab start with Indy five days before his next planned start, or he may not, but that wouldn’t be until the 14th or so, giving him about 15 days off total

        • Cole is starting tomorrow for Indy, which puts him in line to start Sunday for Pirates. Assuming they were both on the team, who do you think is making that Sunday start?

          • For some reason I thought they were resting Cole until after the break. But given the timing of his rehab, there you go. So who goes down when Taillon comes back? Kuhl?

            • I read 3ip/45 pitches, don’t know if that is true. Even if he starts Sunday for the Pirates on a slightly higher pitch count, you can empty out the bullpen, all of them have the next four days off so no need to save anyone

                • That’s if Cole switches places with Brault, who isn’t even fully stretched out himself. I wouldn’t expect more than 5-6 innings from him tomorrow

                • So let’s do a bullpen game, Nicasio goes two, so does Caminero, two from Schugel, follow by Hughes, Watson and either Melonson or Feliz

  17. Well, I hope the author is right – and that there really isn’t an injury situation for Taillon – after all he’s been through over the past 2 seasons.
    On the positive side, I look forward to seeing what Brault can do…at least they didn’t bring up Boscan or Lobstein to make this start – which is hat they’ve done in the past….

    • I feel it is a pretty risky move; but I trust this FO to do what is right by the player, and the team. They must feel he is the most logical choice to pitch well Tues night

  18. I don’t understand the article, why DL if that was the case v demotion and Brault just barely came back. I hope the article is right, Tallion hurt again will be just too sad for him.

    • Let’s assume that my source is correct and he’s being rested. If you demote him, you’re also cutting his pay while resting him while he feels fine.

      • With the timing of the ASG, the fact they have already said he would have innings limited. I would say it’s a pretty safe bet he’s getting a rest. Just wish it wasn’t during a 5 game win streak especially with being our best pitcher over the past month.

      • John, by putting JT on the DL, do they have to drop anyone from the 40 to put Beauty on it?

      • If they new they were going to do this why not hold Glasnow back then? even if he had shoulder fatigue wouldn’t they have had a good idea well ahead of this start?

    • Potato-Potata??

      Lack of pitching has made time a little fatigued. Why risk his arm, put him on the DL to save innings

  20. Will Brault hit 8th or 9th in the order?
    –
    Who will be dropped from the 40 man roster.
    This seems to be a good question.
    –

  21. This move pretty much tells me we will not see Glasnow this year no matter what he does. They can tell us he needs to have better control, better change up better make up blah blah blah but this is purely financial. If you are trying to win than Glasnow at least gets a spot start. If I am on the team I say WTF. I like what management does with the limitations we have but this stinks to high heaven.

    • I think Brault was chosen largely because he’s a lefty. The Cards have always had trouble against lefties. I think Glasnow is in the rotation to stay by the end of July.

    • Glasnow wasn’t available to pitch tomorrow – I think he just pitched a couple of days ago…

      • Did you hear, Doug, that Glasnow just pitched on Sunday? I think that means he couldn’t have pitched tomorrow (Tues) night

      • He isn’t coming up this year thats how it would makes sense. Maybe I am wrong maybe he will actually come up after the all star break but I have no reason to believe it

      • Not concerned about Tallion earning Major league time you completely missed the point of the post. If Glasnow never pitches this year in the majors then the clock doesn’t start on him until next year. We can all agree he needs some polishing of his tools however there are 5 other pitchers in the major league rotation right now that need the same polish without the talent. I hope everyone here is right and they just found out that Tallion had a shoulder problem today and that they had no other choice (because Glasnow pitched Saturday). I will believe that this revelation didn’t just come about today. They had a choice and they made it. If Glasnow comes up in two weeks then I am certainly wrong. if he never comes up this year then you can decide why the pitcher with the best ERA in AAA can’t make the staff of one of the worst starting rotations in the league.

  22. It would actually cost him two starts since he’d be scheduled for Sunday too. I wonder if this means they plan on Cole starting Sunday. Hmmm…

  23. I assume this is only to limit his innings. He skips a start and gets all the rest from the ASG

  24. Hits keep on coming. Should be able to take his turn in the rotation after ASG if this is retroactive.

  25. Hmmm…poor JT….he was here to stay…hoping that’s all it is…Keep in mind he hadn’t pitched in a few years…Obviously people are going to flip over this spot not including Glasnow but he just pitched…Should be interesting to see Brault against the St.Louis lefties tomorrow night.

  26. Well $#&%. I guess now we know why Coles rehab start is lined up with Jamo’s spot in the rotation.

    • I had two small children in front of me or I would’ve said exactly that. But I did think it.

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