TORONTO — Reinvigorated by his brief stint with the Toronto Blue Jays, Jameson Taillon will undergo elbow surgery next week with an eye toward resuming his career once back to health.
The 34-year-old Canadian righty, who has already undergone two Tommy John surgeries, is scheduled for a flexor repair Monday and he said via text message Thursday that “there’s a good chance” Dr. Keith Meister “also does an internal brace of the ligament while in there.”
Acquired from the Chicago Cubs ahead of the trade deadline, Taillon left an Aug. 10 outing, his second with the Blue Jays, after four shutout innings versus Boston with elbow discomfort. He returned Sept. 4 but made it through just two innings at Kansas City before the pain resurfaced.
He’d been in limbo since trying to decide how to proceed.
“I could’ve tried some alternative methods and rest. But those are not close to guarantees, and it’s already been four weeks and it’s bothering me still,” said Taillon. “So I figured it’s worth just biting the bullet and getting fixed the right way not just putting a Band-Aid on it.”
A driving force in his decision was that after a difficult season that led the Cubs to designate him for assignment, he had started to find his way with the Blue Jays and was excited by the changes he had begun to implement.
As he weighed his options, “having it taken away from me there at the end made me realize how badly I want to come back and keep going. Made my priorities and goals crystal clear.”
With the Cubs, Taillon uncharacteristically allowed 25 home runs in 76 innings while posting a 5.96 ERA. But he looked more like his dependable self in his three outings with the Blue Jays, allowing four runs over 10 innings with eight strikeouts while tweaking his delivery and upping the usage on his cutter and curveball, among other adjustments.
His injuries, around those to Trey Yesavage and Shane Bieber, depleted the Blue Jays’ rotation during the club’s unsuccessful late run at winning a wild-card spot.
Born in Florida and raised in Texas by Canadian parents, Taillon “loved every minute of being in Toronto,” reconnecting with his roots having spent his childhood summers in the city. He’s also twice played for the national team at the World Baseball Classic, in part to honour his late grandmother.
All of which made the pending free agent grateful for his two months with the club.
“Going to the Blue Jays was so refreshing and the pitching department had such exciting plans for my pitch usage and mechanical adjustments. I wish I could’ve been healthy and rewarded them for taking a shot on me,” said Taillon. “Really hurts me I couldn’t help more down the stretch.
“I plan on completely cleaning up and revamping my mechanics and movement patterns while rehabbing. I think it’s a great opportunity to bet on myself, go all in on myself, do the hard work and see what happens. I know I have good years ahead if health co-operates. I’ve proven in the past that I can successfully rehab injuries and find ways to improve and come back as good or better.”
Over 10 seasons in the majors Taillon, the second-overall pick in the 2010 draft, has a 3.99 ERA in 1,323 innings over 242 games, 241 of them starts.
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