Position: RP, slightly cocked to the left 2016 Stats: 41.1 IP, 32.1 K%, 8.0 BB%, 2.85 ERA, 2.39 DRA, 1.4 WARP Year in Review: The above numbers are… good. Strop had, statistically, his best season as a major leaguer in 2016, with career bests in strikeout and walk percentage. His 2.39 DRA was good for […]
Tag: Pedro Strop
In Strop and Rondon, Cubs Have One Of Their Best Ever Duos
Other than maybe the Kansas City Royals of the last few years, every fan thinks that the bullpen of their favorite team is bad and could use improvements at the trade deadline. So with all the fanfare regarding the Cubs trading for Aroldis Chapman, their brand-new, shiny closer, you’d think they’ve had problems at the […]
Grace in the Mess: Hector Rondon
It shouldn’t be lost in the moral quagmire of the Aroldis Chapman trade that now-ousted closer Hector Rondon has shown admirable grace in light of his changed role in the Cubs bullpen. The questions raised about what bringing Chapman to Chicago means beyond just on the field performance have been addressed across the internet, by […]
The Bullpen: Not the Achilles Heel You’re Looking For
The irony of the legend of Achilles is that his name, far from being a symbol of strength, is now largely associated with the notion of a single critical vulnerability. And, more to the point, whenever we’re confronted with something that strikes us as without weakness, our minds immediately flit to the young demigod, dipped by […]
Pedro Strop, Satchel Paige, and Being on Baseball’s Bleeding Edge
Pedro Strop is a really fun player. He’s the only relief pitcher in baseball who runs out walk-off home runs like the third member of The Bushwackers. He reacts to putting a cheeseburger in Jorge Soler’s Chinese food container like it was Chris Rock’s closer from Bring the Pain. And he celebrates a strikeout like […]
Mike Trout vs. the Chicago Cubs: How Four Men Conquered one Los Angeles Slugger
Mike Trout vs. the Chicago Cubs. It’s perhaps something that was only in the periphery of our minds amid the excitement of Opening Day. It didn’t quite dawn upon me, in fact, until just before first pitch: we were about to witness Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester wage their first battles of the season against Mike Trout, […]
What’s PECOTA’s Beef with the Cubs’ bullpen?
Soon, we won’t have to do this. Soon, there will be actual baseball, and actual results to look at instead of (or more likely, in addition to) the projections. It’s still March, though, so I’m still spending a lot of time over at the Depth Charts, trying to get a feel for how this season […]
Embrace the Target: The Cubs’ Bullpen Options Are Good in 2016, Pt. I
Last week, I wrote about the wealth of bench options the Cubs have available to them in 2016. Happily, the team finds itself in exactly the same circumstances with respect to its bullpen, which is loaded with dozens of pitchers competing for just a few spots. Sure, the final composition of the ‘pen isn’t locked in […]
Cubs Player Profile: Pedro Strop
Position: Relief Pitcher 2015 Stats: 68 IP, 2.67 DRA, 2.91 ERA, 30.0 K%, 10.7 BB%, 1.6 WARP Year In Review: Nobody seems to take it too seriously, but the Cubs actually had an excellent bullpen in 2015—their 3.38 ‘pen ERA was fourth in the National League, behind the Cardinals, Pirates, and Giants—and Strop was a major contributor to […]
That’s So Cub: A Look at the Top August Contributors and Moments
It’s the beginning of September, which not only means that kids head back to school and beer gardens become a lot less fun, but also that I, as I have since the beginning of time the beginning of the season, will sit down and write about the top Cubs’ contributors and moments from the previous month. If you want […]