Milwaukee Brewers: Pedro Strop Could Add Needed Bullpen Depth

Per a report the Milwaukee Brewers are interested in free agent relief pitcher Pedro Strop, who could provide some needed depth to the bullpen.

The Milwaukee Brewers have been active this offseason as they let go of a number of key players from recent seasons and had to find ways to replace them whether that was via a trade or in free agency. But oddly enough, one area that hasn’t really been addressed has been their bullpen which they have relied heavily on.

Of course we all know how dominant Josh Hader can be and we hope that Brent Suter can build upon his performance from the end of the year. There is also Alex Claudio who eats a lot of innings and the eventual return of Corey Knebel, although he won’t be available at the beginning of the season.

However, a number of question marks still remain. For one, Bobby Wahl is coming off an ACL tear and what do they really have in him? Maybe Freddy Peralta and Corbin Burnes will be back in the bullpen, but can they bounce-back? And there are the likes of Taylor Williams, Deolis Guerra, Ray Black and others, but what can we expect from them?

As we’ve seen, Craig Counsell does not like to have his starting pitchers go through the batting lineup that third time, meaning the bullpen ends up pitching quite a few innings. In fact, in 2019 the Brewers bullpen totaled 670.2 innings, the fifth most in baseball.

Having a strong bullpen is always crucial but that perhaps rings especially true for the Milwaukee Brewers who could use some more depth before the season begins.

Enter free agent and former Chicago Cub, Pedro Strop who has been very solid since joining them for his first full season in 2014. And it appears that the Milwaukee Brewers are one of the teams interested in signing him per a recent report.

During that span from 2014 through last season, Strop has covered 338 innings holding a 2.90 ERA, a 1.059 WHIP, and a FIP of 3.28. Not to mention that his career walk rate of 11.2 percent and his groundball rate of 53.9 percent have been excellent.

For a relief pitcher, Strop has a very nice pitch mix that he relies on and keeps hitters off-balance well. Over the last two seasons he’s thrown a slider 35 percent of the time, his four-seam fastball 19 percent, a sinker 20 percent, a cutter 23 percent and even an occasional split-finger mixed in according to Brooks Baseball. This has certainly contributed to his success over the years.

With that said, I also have to point out that 2019 was a down season for Strop. He was injured at times and only pitched in 41.2 total innings while posting a 4.97 ERA and a FIP of 4.53. Both well above his career averages. We also saw his HR/9 jump to 1.3 from 0.6 and his fastball rate drop, which contributed to his issues as well.

At 35-years-old, was it just a down season because of injuries or the start of Strop’s decline? I tend to believe the latter and that is what makes this a very David Stearns-esque addition if the Milwaukee Brewers are banking on a bounce-back season from Pedro Strop.