Get Strop off of this roster

[wildcard]

Patton has a 3.08 career ERA. Strop's career ERA is 3.86. Where are you going to find that in a replacement? I'm not ready to replace either player. Decrease their roles while the coaches help them solve their problems. We know they both have talent. We have seen it.

I think it will probably be mid June before the O's activate Wada. That is probably the next time to revisit who should go and who should stay on the pitching staff barring injuries.

[schmed77]

While Strop has been awful, his BA .197 and BAPIP .216 which is great. Now his BB is awful. If he can get his control back he would be big for the O's keep him. Not sold on Patton, but again his BA is .266 and BAPIP is below .300 just get the BBs down for both.

[Dipper9]

Strop's ERA last August was 4.09. Last September it was 5.87. This April it was 7.88. So far this May it is 4.66. Enough is enough. We aren't talking about Bruce Sutter here. Let him go find himself with another team. Look at our bullpen. We got O'Day for nothing. Strop for nothing. McFarland for 25K, Hunter and Matusz are failed starters. Give Arrieta, Johnson, or someone else an opportunity instead of waiting for 4 months of Strop's mediocrity and awfulness to reverse itself. We aren't talking about a future HOF. We are talking about a setup guy who's gone bad. Give someone else a chance to be competent.

:agree: This is it in a nutshell. If you can't depend on the guy, we have plenty of other options. No sense carrying him all season like we did Gregg last year. There is a chance Strop can turn things around, but for a bullpen guy who's every outing is important, I don't want him figuring his stuff out for us.

[The Wedge]

The definition of head case is someone who's not playing well and has something unorthodox or demonstrative about their manner.

Examples:

- Brad Pennington, clean shaven, head down and walks off field after two walks then a strikeout. Dude who just sucks, but gets some rope.

- Brad Pennington, with neatly trimmed goatee, mild fistpump after two walks then a strikeout. Should be monitored, possibly put on meds.

- Brad Pennington, shaggy goatee with sideburns, yells out "yea baby" with double fistpump after two walks and a strikeout. Headcase, possibly a communist, DFA or demoted immediately.

Come on, man. How many times has it got to be happen (even if its still cliche) for people to figure out its the quiet ones you gotta watch?

(stupid catch-22)

[wildcard]

Strop's ERA last August was 4.09. Last September it was 5.87. This April it was 7.88. So far this May it is 4.66. Enough is enough. We aren't talking about Bruce Sutter here. Let him go find himself with another team. Look at our bullpen. We got O'Day for nothing. Strop for nothing. McFarland for 25K, Hunter and Matusz are failed starters. Give Arrieta, Johnson, or someone else an opportunity instead of waiting for 4 months of Strop's mediocrity and awfulness to reverse itself. We aren't talking about a future HOF. We are talking about a setup guy who's gone bad. Give someone else a chance to be competent.

No one is ready to be promoted and trusted. The O's just had the opportunity to keep Arrieta and get rid of Strop or Patton. They didn't do it. They sent Arrieta down. In fact they didn't even pitch Arrieta while he was with the O's this time. Why? He is not ready to face Major League hitters. Which is true of any one you can name in the minors right now. Maybe in 10 days or two weeks someone will step forward but right now they are no better than what the O's have. The O's just proved that they believe that by sending Arrieta down.

[wildcard]

Yes, at this point, they aren't ready to pull the plug on Strop. Strop doesn't have options. That's the reason he's still here.

There is the point. And its the point I am making. There is no one in the minors, at the moment, that the O's believe in enough to DFA Strop.

[boller4president]

Why would you guys want the O's to give up on an arm like Strop whose under control until 2018 and not arb eligible until next year?

The ideal solution would be to decrease his role to mop up duty while the coaching staff tries to get him back on track.

You want to blame someone for Strop costing you this season (beside Strop) blame Buck. Why does he continue to put him in these high leverage situations while he is clearly struggling?

[PaulFolk]

Put him on the dl, bring arrieta back up as either a right handed reliever or a long man.

Wait, what? Since when is Strop injured?

[webbrick2010]

Okay Let's take a poll

How many of you guys were calling for the release of Tommy Hunter a month ago??

Believe it or not guys who can throw a baseball 98+ mph don't grow on trees. And Strop can throw a devastating breaking ball also.

He'll get back on track. He will be valuable, for years to come

The Orioles need starters who can go 7 innings consistently and decrease the high leverage bullpen innings. Until they fix the starting rotation (big trade deadline signing?) they will continue to sink in the standings.

[PaulFolk]

You want to blame someone for Strop costing you this season (beside Strop) blame Buck. Why does he continue to put him in these high leverage situations while he is clearly struggling?

This just isn't accurate. For the last few weeks Buck has been avoiding high leverage situations with Strop as much as he possibly can. But you can't hide a guy forever -- sooner or later you're going to have a bunch of close games in a row and you need to use him in big situations to avoid burning out your other relievers. Last night was just such an example.

If you trust a guy so little that you think it's a terrible decision to bring him into any close game ever, then that guy shouldn't be on your team.

[ExileAngelos]

Wait, what? Since when is Strop injured?

It's called the Disgraceful List

[webbrick2010]

I wasn't calling for Hunter's release. Hunter was converted to the bullpen last summer. He did very well. He had a few bad games this April and is doing well again. Strop hasn't been good since last July. Big difference. Jake Arrieta can throw 96-97 as well with a plus breaking pitch. Steve Johnson can spot his 89-91 mph fastball and be effective out of the pen. Forget the radar readings. The bottom line is, can you get the job done. Pedro Strop has proven over an extended period, that he cannot get the job done, when it counts.

From May 1st to May 19th covering 9 appearances:

IP : 8.2

H : 2

R : 1

ER : 1

ERA : 1.04

BAA : .074

BB : 5

K : 9

WHIP : 0.80

He has for example way better than Jim Johnson or Troy Patton

[boller4president]

Back on track? He hasn't been a true asset in the bullpen since last July. He either costs you games in high leverage situations or you just can't use him then. That's a wasted spot in the bullpen. His role was decreased. The O's have tried to baby him back into an increased role. It hasn't worked. He worked on his mechanics. He knows he flies open. Then he gets in a tight spot and he flies open. The 3-2 pitch to Bautista wasn't even close. When he has to throw a strike his ball straightens out. You guys act like we are trying to straighten out Mariano Rivera or something. He was a very good setup guy for 4 months last year but even then, was flawed. Now he's been bad for 4 months, consecutive. You want to go for 5,6, 7?

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that arms like Strops grows on trees. They don't.

You also seem to be under the mistaken impression that everyone has to be firing on all cylinders in order to have a successful bullpen. They don't. Take a look at the top bullpens right now most of them (if not all) have guys with 5.00-ish ERA's.

What they don't have is those guys in high-leverage situations. A perfect example is the guy the O's saw last night Lincoln. Has he performed markedly worse then Strop this season?

[webbrick2010]

Stats can be misleading. Low leverage situations for the most part. How did he looks in Oakland when he imploded two days in a row. I don't think he was charged with a run either time. How did he look against the Yankees the other night with the game on the line? How did he look last night with the game on the line?

Johnson has a track record. There's no comparison. Strop hasn't had a good month. A completely good month since last July. You can pick 8 games, 10 games, whatever. Bottom line is he's been bad and implodes way too much. He's costing us more games than he's helping us win.

Apparently everything is misleading that doesn't fit your agenda.

Strop isn't an allstar.

He is a useful member of a bullpen. He is cheap and will be with the O's for quite a while... and people will once again laude his greatness and that too will be reactionary

[Aristotelian]

Okay Let's take a poll

How many of you guys were calling for the release of Tommy Hunter a month ago??

Believe it or not guys who can throw a baseball 98+ mph don't grow on trees. And Strop can throw a devastating breaking ball also.

He'll get back on track. He will be valuable, for years to come

I agree with this to a point. But what bothers me about Strop is the body language. When he walked Lawrie on four pitches, it just looked like he not only didn't know where the ball was going, but that he didn't care. I do not want that kind of negativity on the team.

He obviously has the arm and the stuff to be a great pitcher, but his mental weakness is just so frustrating to watch. People say he bounced back after he got tired in August, but in this case the problem is not physical, it is mental.

That said, he has good enough stuff that we probably need to keep him as well as Patton. I do think TJ has done well enough that he and Tommy are now above Pedro, and Pedro is a couple more bad ones away from being DFA.