Pittaburgh (93.7 The Fan) - Even if Major League Baseball were to end up playing games into late November and possibly December, Jameson Taillon won't be taking the mound for the Pirates. Taillon underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow last August, and the possibility of the season extending into late fall prompted speculation that he might return to pitch in 2020. On Monday, Taillon put such thinking to rest.
"I've thought about it, but I get shut down every time I bring it up," Taillon said, adding a chuckle. "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it, but they shut me down pretty quickly. I think the big thing isn't so much about the extension of the season. For me, I probably could be ready, but I think the big thing is that coming off this surgery and coming off (a second Tommy John) in particular, if the season gets pushed back into October, November, whatever it is, that would then give me a shortened off-season going into next year. Th thinking here long term is that we don't want to risk shortening my off-season and cutting into my off-season rehab."
Taillon's rehab has been impacted by the Pirates training site in Bradenton being closed to organized workouts, but it doesn't mean he isn't getting in valuable work.
"I'm having to definitely compromise my program a little bit," Taillon said on a conference call from Florida. "I"m extremely lucky with the Pirates. They realize the importance of my rehab, and they're making it a priority."
Taillon said he has his temperature taken when he enters the facility and is allowed to work out a few hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
"I'he Pirates are doing everything they can in their power to make this work," Taillon said. " My throwing's going well. I've been right on schedule there. The only place I'm taking a hit a little bit is my weight room time. I'm having to get in and out of there a little quicker than normal. As far as getting rehab and working with therapists and getting my proper throwing sessions in, I'm right where I need to be."
Taillon is also the Pirates player representative and privy to the discussions between MLB and the MLBPA. He touched on recent developments:
- (What a season might look like) "Players seem to be open to just about anything. We've talked about everything and been told 'there are no bad ideas' right now. The players seem pretty willing to do whatever it's going to take to get as many games in as possible."
- (Playoffs) "If we're going to do a playoff, the players want as realistic of a playoff field as they can get. They want as big of sample size as they can get."
- (Games without fans) "That's another thing we've discussed. It seems like both sides are willing to do it. I don't think the goal would be to do that for an entire year. At some point we would love to have fans in the stands."
- (Restarting spring training) "The longer we're shut down the longer the build up is going to have to be for everyone involved."
- (Players receiving credit for service time) "Going into the negotiations (with MLB), service time for us was just not really negotiable. As players, service time was something we thought could set us back for the foreseeable future. We weren't willing to come off of our stance there."
- (Getting an agreement with MLB) "I'm happy that everyone was able to come together and get something done."
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