Reds have signed RHRP Pedro Strop (pending physical)

[Griffey012]

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[RedTeamGo!]

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Haha my literal thoughts exactly

[JFLegal]

yep i dislike Strop but I loathe Kela....i'm gonna invite Strop over for a dinner before the season and see if we can settle our differences since they already signed him without consulting me

i'll bring a side dish.

[Ron Madden]

Pedro Strop has been in town since last night.

They'll probably officially announce the signing today.

[Ron Madden]

C. トレント・ローズクランズ
@ctrent
#Reds announce they have signed RHP Pedro Strop to a 1-year deal. RHP Sal Romano designated for assignment

[WrongVerb]

Fun fact: Romano made his major league debut one day before my wedding to my wife.

[JaxRed]

Was just looking at that. The tea leaves have a pretty good track record of predicting these. We have a glut of outfielders and pitchers. I don't think they'll cut an outfielder. I say they cut a pitcher.

I'd think it's certainly between Smith, Romano and Shafer. I say they bite the bullet and cut Romano. Shafer and Smith look like they have options.

Since there doesn't appear to be room in the bullpen and he'd have to clear waivers to go to minors, I say they do it now.

Romano. (My confidence level is not real high however)

The tea leaves are correct again.

[BCubb2003]

Pedro Strop is an anagram for Sport Doper, but I’m sure it’s a coincidence.

[GADawg]

Fun fact: Romano made his major league debut one day before my wedding to my wife.

Which is more memorable? Had to be asked

[Ron Madden]

Although one of the more consistent veteran relievers in recent years, Strop will be working to bounce back from the worst season of his career. In 2019, he was 2-5 with a 4.97 ERA over 50 appearances (41 2/3 innings) with the Cubs.

Strop’s strikeout rate remained at a healthy 27.5 percent, but his walk rate spiked to 11.2 percent -- his highest mark since ’12. He also spent time on the injured list with hamstring and neck ailments.

“It’s not a secret I wasn’t healthy. I was trying to pitch through something,” Strop said. “This year, I feel completely healed. I know what I’m capable of doing when I’m healthy. I want to prove that whatever happened last year, happened last year. It’s a new chapter. I’m going to prove that I’m good to go.”

While Strop’s 2019 season was not his best, his primary pitch was still largely effective. Opponents hit .123 with one home run across 65 at-bats against Strop’s slider, per Statcast, and opponents swung and missed on nearly 45 percent of their swings against that offering. Strop induced ground balls 53.8 percent of the time.

Strop bolsters a Reds bullpen that has locked down five of its eight spots. He joins Raisel Iglesias, Michael Lorenzen, Amir Garrett and Robert Stephenson. Also competing for spots will be non-roster invites Tyler Thornburg, Jesse Biddle and Nate Jones, and holdovers such as Lucas Sims and Cody Reed.

“We really like the competition and what we can do in Spring Training,” Krall said. “It’s going to be good to see these guys battle it out.”

https://www.mlb.com/reds/news/pedro-strop-reds

[Revering4Blue]

Literally every bullpen is full of question marks, it’s the nature of the beast.

Exactly.

And relievers are always available at the deadline, and usually at a non-prohibitive cost.

Bats/offense? Unless you're paying through the teeth (in most cases), not so much.

[corkedbat]

The more I look at the Strop signing, the more I like it. There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that at least some of his 2019 struggles were driven by nagging injuries. I see this signing as potentially a pretty low risk/high reward deal.

Personally, I would love to see the Reds have to pay him $3.5M this year, because the more bonuses he hits, the better his performance. If the Reds get a Strop that is close to his pre-2019 performance levels, they got an absolute steal and just what this bullpen needed. Bad Pedro? Well, a pro-rated $1.8M deal is not too big to eat at any point of the season (including Spring Training).

Besides, the way the relief market is today, if his results are just fair-to-middlin' you can probably deal him for the ever-popular Pierre Toutant Beauregard Nathan Lee.

[tripleaaaron]

The more I look at the Strop signing, the more I like it. There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that at least some of his 2019 struggles were driven by nagging injuries. I see this signing as potentially a pretty low risk/high reward deal.

Personally, I would love to see the Reds have to pay him $3.5M this year, because the more bonuses he hits, the better his performance. If the Reds get a Strop that is close to his pre-2019 performance levels, they got an absolute steal and just what this bullpen needed. Bad Pedro? Well, a pro-rated $1.8M deal is not too big to eat at any point of the season (including Spring Training).

Besides, the way the relief market is today, if his results are just fair-to-middlin' you can probably deal him for the ever-popular Pierre Toutant Beauregard Nathan Lee.

I agree with your thought but if he hits 3.5 million then Iglesias struggled mightily and him turning it around is more important than a Strop bounce back.

[JaxRed]

If Romano was DFA'd on the 5th, and you have 7 days to trade him or waive him, then we are getting awfully close. If both the 5th and 11th count, that's 7 days. I would have thought if they could trade him it would have happened by now, so I'm guessing a waive is happening soon and then we'll see if he gets claimed.

I'd still like to see him in AAA, but I'm sure he'd rather be on Baltimore or Seattle's 40.....

[Griffey012]

If Romano was DFA'd on the 5th, and you have 7 days to trade him or waive him, then we are getting awfully close. If both the 5th and 11th count, that's 7 days. I would have thought if they could trade him it would have happened by now, so I'm guessing a waive is happening soon and then we'll see if he gets claimed.

I'd still like to see him in AAA, but I'm sure he'd rather be on Baltimore or Seattle's 40.....

I'd like to see him go to a team with a big park. I think he could carve out a solid back end rotation career in Miami or Oakland or somewhere similar.

Of course, him ending up in AAA ranks ahead of going elsewhere.