Archive for Pedro Strop

Tuesday night’s game in Cleveland was rained out, but the visiting Rangers generated one of the bigger stories regarding closers. Chris Woodward told Levi Weaver of The Athletic that José Leclerc would continue to be the team’s closer, even after Shawn Kelley’s (biceps) activation from the IL. Kelley was officially activated on Wednesday morning, and he will join the Rangers’ cadre of setup relievers, which also includes Jesse Chavez, Rafael Montero and the recently-promoted Emmanuel Clase.

Aside from a pair of subpar performances last week, Leclerc has been generally solid over the past month, as he did not allow a run in any of his 10 other appearances. In those outings, he struck out 10 batters over 8.2 innings with no walks and two hits allowed. However, Leclerc also compiled a 35.3 percent Zone% and a 29.3 percent O-Swing% over the entire one-month stretch, so walks could still be an issue going forward.
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First and foremost, Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads. Like many of our fathers, high leverage never seem to take a break, hence the existence of this column. Starting in New York, once again, Edwin Diaz struggled with traffic, but held on for his 15th save against St. Louis. It started with a one out single Paul DeJong. Diaz bounced back to strikeout Marcell Ozuna and DeJong moved to second uncontested with two outs. Savvy veteran Yadier Molina singled to score DeJong moving the Cardinals within one and departed for pinch runner Jack Flaherty. Kolten Wong then laced a double with the game ending with Flaherty getting thrown out at home. Diaz yielded three hits but only one earned run and he’s allowed runs in back-to-back appearances. His struggled run deeper though giving up eight earned runs over his last 6.2 innings and a 5.06 ERA since May first. Read the rest of this entry »

The Cubs activated Pedro Strop on Tuesday, and we quickly found out there would be no easing-in period for him. Kyle Hendricks gave the Cubs seven strong innings against the Rockies, and when he left with a 5-3 lead, erstwhile closer Steve Cishek came in to pitch the eighth inning. Newcomer Carlos Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning that extended the lead to three runs, and then Joe Maddon called on Strop for the save in the ninth.

Though only one of his 17 pitches resulted in a swinging strike, Strop’s return was drama-free, as he induced three ground ball outs. His average fastball velocity of 93.8 mph was only slightly below his prior average of 94.3 mph. Strop is starting to find some new owners now that he has been activated, but he is still widely available in 12-team mixed leagues. He is clearly an upgrade over Blake Parker, both in terms of likely usage and skill set, yet Parker is more widely owned in both CBS and ESPN leagues.
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Pedro Strop is close to returning for the Cubs, but will he also return to the ninth inning? Because nothing is ever easy in fantasy baseball, the answer is not clear.

Joe Maddon has stated previously that he does not have to go with a single closer, yet he has leaned heavily on Steve Cishek in Strop’s absence. Still, that should raise some doubt about whether Strop will have save opportunities all to himself when he comes back from his IL stint for a strained left hamstring. His return could happen in a matter of days, as he is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Saturday and then may rejoin the team without having to go on a rehab assignment.
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The mystery of the Cubs’ bullpen usage from Tuesday night was solved on Wednesday. The team placed closer Pedro Strop on the IL with a strained left hamstring, which helps to explain why Joe Maddon went with Steve Cishek in the top of the ninth inning in a 2-2 game with the Marlins.

Maddon turned to Cishek for an actual save situation on Wednesday, but only after Kyle Ryan started off the top of the ninth to face switch-hitter Neil Walker, whose 14 plate appearances against lefties had produced one single this season. Ryan departed after allowing Walker’s second single against southpaws this season, so Cishek came in and still needed three outs to preserve a 2-1 lead. A Starlin Castro single, a wild pitch and a Miguel Rojas RBI groundout later, Cishek was tagged with his first blown save of 2019. The Cubs ultimately prevailed in 11 innings with Carl Edwards Jr. getting the win.
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Apparently if you get the save against the Blue Jays, they name the building after you. So probably because the portion of the Jays’ lineup that was due up against the Twins called for a lefty reliever, rather than a righty, their home park is not called Parker Centre.

With the Twins up 3-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, Rocco Baldelli summoned Taylor Rogers to handle Justin Smoak (.216 Avg, .135 ISO versus lefties), the right-handed Randal Grichuk (.317 Avg, but a .122 ISO vs. LHP) and Rowdy Tellez. The choice nearly backfired, as Grichuk singled and then Rogers stayed in to face Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after retiring Tellez. Guerrero singled, putting runners on the corners, but Rogers induced a Billy McKinney grounder to end the game.
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Fantasy owners expect a blown save on occasion, it’s an occupational hazard. However, Pedro Strop did not record an out on Monday night handing out three walks and a hit leading to three earned runs and his second loss. Strop walked more batters in this outing than his previous 10.2 innings this year. Of course, Strop did not benefit from Kyle Ryan freezing during a rundown letting in a precious insurance run for the Marlins. Chalking this up to one of those nights. Strop’s ERA jumped to 5.06 as a result but his 3.88 xFIP and 1.13 WHIP do not suggest a collapse. Especially with Brandon Morrow still sidelined. Brad Brach and Carl Edwards Jr. each recorded their first hold leading up to Strop for the Cubs. Read the rest of this entry »

Edwin Diaz and Blake Treinen have stepped up as the elite relievers in 2018. We can’t know how Pedro Strop would have stacked up with The Big Two over a full season, because he was a setup reliever for most of the first half. However, after taking over for Brandon Morrow (biceps) after the All-Star break, Strop has been close to automatic as the Cubs’ closer. Only Diaz, Treinen and Jose Leclerc have had more Roto value among full-time closers in the second half (per CBS rankings).

Though he was not in a save situation, Strop was typically solid on Thursday, keeping the Cubs tied with the Nationals through 1.2 innings. With the Cubs taking the lead in the top of the 10th inning, Joe Maddon elected to have Strop bat in order to bring him back for a third inning. He pulled up with a hamstring injury while running out a grounder, and Randy Rosario had to come in to get the save.
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Las Vegas seems to think that 2016 might just be the year when Cubs fans finally celebrate a World Series win in the streets of Wrigleyville. Stacked with a potent lineup from top to bottom and arguably the best starting five in baseball, Theo Epstein’s deity status could extend westward some 850 miles come October. But while there’s no position battle in the rotation to speak of, injury concerns, like curses, are real something to write about.

John Lackey joins Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, and Jason Hammel in a formidable rotation that ZiPs projects for nearly 17 WAR. But they also enter 2016 having pitched a combined 6,674.1 career innings. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at who stands to step in should any of the Cubs’, let’s go with, seasoned starters miss some time.

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You have seen some Tout and LABR reviews for the past few weeks here on the site. We all can’t be so lucky to participate in such glorious leagues. On the other hand, we can all take part in NFBC leagues.

NFBC’s $150 NFBC Draft Champions leagues are a perfect format for me:

a) I have impending time constraints including my first child in June!

b) I didn’t have to ask my wife for permission to use our mutual bank account.

c) I was able to dwell on each pick if/when needed (8 hours to make a pick) and

d) There are no trades or free agent pick-ups once the draft is complete. This feature is my wife’s favorite, and I appreciate the preventative collusion measures. I am also much more interested in draft strategy and player projections/rankings/draft position than I am jumping on small sample sizes in-season.

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