St. Louis Cardinals: Cards Should Worry About Extended Pedro Strop

While not news directly related to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs announced an extension to pen arm, Pedro Strop, today. The Cardinals have faced and will face him plenty in 2017.

The St. Louis Cardinals will be chasing the Chicago Cubs in 2017. This statement is true of all teams in the NL-Central (and likely all teams in MLB). That said, there are glimmers of hope when it comes to the Cards v. Cubs matchups. Pedro Strop, extension announcement made today, is not one of them.

Strop joined the Chicago Cubs in July of 2013 as part of the Jake Arrieta deal. His new extension, announced today, will carry him through the 2018 season with an option year of 2019. The extension is valued at a reported $5.5MM in ’17 and $5.85MM in ’18 with the option valued at $6.25MM. In addition to these figures, Strop’s new deal includes a buy-out valued at $500K (these figure details are courtesy of MLBTR).

So how does this extension affect the St. Louis Cardinals and the rest of the NL-Central? Not well; I can tell you that. As was stated in the MLBTR article linked above, Strop often goes without praise, eclipsed by other pitchers like Arrieta. This is unjustified since he is a great pen arm.

In 2016, Strop faced the St. Louis Cardinals in five games, twelve at-bats, and appeared in 4.1 total innings. In these appearances, he held the Birds on the Bat to zero hits, three walks, and six strike outs. This accounts for an incredible 0.692 WHIP when facing the cross-central opponents. Be worried.

How about the other teams in the NL-Central? In 2016, Strop faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in eight games, twenty-six at-bats, and appeared in 7.2 innings. In these appearances, he held the Pirates to five hits, one walk, and eight strike outs. This accounts for an equally-impressive WHIP (against the Pirates) of 0.783. Strop did surrender one earned run against the Pirates, so good for the Pirates.

When facing the Cincinnati Reds, Strop appeared in 6.2 innings in six games and in twenty-two at-bats. In these appearances, he held the Red Legs to two hits, two earned runs, and one home run. In addition, Strop surrendered two walks while recording four strike outs. Against the Reds in 2016, Strop owned a 0.600 WHIP.

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Lastly, in the NL-Central, when facing the Milwaukee Brewers, Strop appeared in five innings in five games and across seventeen at-bats. In these games, he surrendered two hits, two earned runs, and four walks all while collecting seven strike outs. His WHIP against the Brewers was 1.200. Maybe the Brewers are his kryptonite?

To his credit, Strop is a career 6.5 WAR pitcher who has appeared in 376 games (a 15-20 record). In these career appearance, Strop owns 377 strike outs in 339.7 innings pitched. This impressive 1.172 WHIP, accompanied by his career 3.23 ERA, makes his extension an absolute steal for the Cubs.

As he directly relates to the St. Louis Cardinals, I would love to give you a by-player comparison and prediction chart for 2017 to predict how the Cardinals will fare when facing Strop during this extension but if 2016 is any indication it would go something like this:

• Dexter Fowler– unknown (no data to support)
• Aledmys Diaz– zero hits
• Matt Carpenter– zero hits

Need I go on? In short, then, I think the St. Louis Cardinals should hit the video room and learn a thing or two about Strop before the season begins. Let us hope that our birds can learn how the Brewers approached Strop so they too can benefit and reverse their past trends.

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What do you think? Do you worry about the extended Strop? Should Mike Matheny worry? Follow me on Twitter and let me know your thoughts.