ST. LOUIS — Twenty-four hours earlier, Jameson Taillon’s self-assessment of another poor start came with a dose of reality of life in the big leagues.

Taillon knew his 2026 performance — a 5.92 ERA through 15 starts with 25 home runs allowed in 76 innings — wasn’t cutting it for a Chicago Cubs team looking to secure their playoff position and make a deep run in October.

“The results speak for themselves,” Taillon said after giving up seven runs on three home runs in a loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. “I’m confident I can figure it out, but when you’re going out there and hurting the team, it’s obviously not a good place to be.

“I feel pressure to do better, for myself especially, but I’ve been around long enough to know that I’m hurting the team and have been for a little while now, so I’m not naive to that at all.”

Nothing is guaranteed in Major League Baseball. It’s still a business, even for well-respected team leaders like Taillon.

The Cubs ultimately decided they could not continue to deploy Taillon in the rotation and designated him for assignment before Monday’s series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals. Right-hander Andrew Wantz was called up from Triple-A Iowa.

Taillon, 34, finishes his Cubs career with a 4.21 ERA in 96 games (95 starts).

“We had to make a hard decision as to whether we thought Jameson was going to pitch again, and with where we’re at in the season and with what’s going on in his season, we just didn’t feel like it was going to happen again,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Those are hard decisions, and it seems like everything is always just a baseball decision and just about production. (Taillon’s) not only produced as a Cub. He’s had a big impact on our culture and on our clubhouse and so that makes those decisions harder.

“But, in the end, we just feel like we had to do better in that spot.”

Taillon’s -1.1 fWAR and 6.74 FIP are the worst among MLB pitchers this season (minimum 60 innings). The Cubs hoped that while Taillon was sidelined by his hamstring strain for seven weeks, he could make some adjustments to help lock in his command and better limit home runs. But neither happened in his two starts after coming off the injured list.

“I told (Taillon) last night that I’m a little confused, I’m trying to figure out how to make this better and why it’s kind of gone this direction, and it was a little bit hard to figure out,” Counsell said. “Unfortunately, the hitters were obviously telling us something different, but, in the end, it’s more production.”

Right-hander Javier Assad’s presence on the pitching staff and his big-league success helps solve the immediate question of who slots into Taillon’s spot. Assad is expected to take Taillon’s starting turn, which is currently lined up for Friday at Wrigley Field against the New York Yankees. Monday’s trade deadline should also bring rotation help, too, and right-hander Edward Cabrera is on track for a mid-August return. Cabrera, who has been sidelined by a hamstring strain, will begin his rehab assignment Friday at Triple-A Iowa and likely needs three rehab starts before rejoining the Cubs rotation.

The ineffectiveness had reached a point of being undeniable, but Taillon’s departure was felt deeply in the Cubs’ clubhouse Monday.

Counsell commended Taillon for being a great teacher of how to act as a major-league player, explaining that a lot of players need help in that area, but that Taillon was humble about it and always willing to provide guidance. Dansby Swanson, who signed with the Cubs in the same offseason as Taillon, called it a tough day for the organization following the departure of one of his closest friends in the game.

“Definitely on my Mount Rushmore of teammates,” Swanson said. “Just always wanting to help everybody. Always willing to make sure everyone was in a good position to be able to succeed on and off the field. … It probably hurts more in the end because when situations like this come up, it can really hurt your heart. It hurt this morning for sure. But at the end of the day, it’s worth it in the way (Taillon) was one of my closest friends, and he’s a lifelong friend.”

Left-hander Matthew Boyd spoke with Taillon after his fellow starter learned the news. Typically at this time of the season, days away from the trade deadline, the focus for contending teams is on who the front office will add to the roster. But, Boyd said, that also means players losing their big-league roster spots.

For as much as he struggled, Taillon remained the same person behind the scenes.

“There’s something to be said about someone who shows up to the field the same way every single day, regardless of how they’re performing, and that was Jameson,” Boyd said. “That takes a lot of strength, takes a lot of knowing who you are, and he epitomized that.

“You just can’t replace him, and he will be missed in here.”

Ian Happ, the Cubs’ longest-tenured player, added: “When you have someone who has 10 years of big-league experience and that you’ve been with for that long, these are the ones that are really challenging because of the friendship, because of the off-the-field stuff that you build together and because of how much you care about the person. And that’s what makes it so, so tough.”

Taillon had previously shown, including in his first Cubs season in 2023, that he could make the necessary in-season adjustments to get on track. He became pivotal late in the 2025 season, posting a 1.85 ERA in his last seven regular-season starts and stepped up to deliver stellar performances in the Cubs’ win-or-go-home Game 3 victories against the San Diego Padres in the National League wild card and the Milwaukee Brewers in the Division Series.

“This year there was just less of those moments where I think he had gotten it going and so you’re finding less reasons to kind of give the next opportunity,” Counsell said. “Where we’re at in the season factors into this, absolutely.”

This isn’t the way either side envisioned the final year of Taillon’s four-year deal ending. Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy and others in the clubhouse believe Taillon, who reached 10 years of service time on May 25, still has something left in him, that while his Cubs chapter has closed, his big-league career isn’t over yet. It will take Taillon sorting out the underlying issues within his delivery and execution, something he couldn’t overcome this season with the Cubs.

“It comes down to performance and we’re all held to that same measure,” Boyd said. “We get it, but that doesn’t make it easier.”

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