Texas Rangers have interest in Pedro Strop

MLB Rumors: Pedro Strop is linked to the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and Miami Marlins in a tweet from Ben Nicholson-Smith, who says those four teams are “believed to be” teams interested in the free agent relief pitcher. Strop, per Nicholson-Smith, is expected to make a decision in the next week or so.

Strop, 34, was signed by the Rangers in November, 2008, as a minor league free agent. He was originally signed by the Colorado Rockies as an amateur as an outfielder, but moved to the moun in 2006, and made it to the majors after moving to the Rangers’ organization, making his debut in the bigs in 2009.

The Rangers traded him to Baltimore in August, 2011, for Mike Gonzalez, a lefty reliever the Rangers got to shore up their bullpen for the final month of the year and for the postseason. Strop had a solid 2012 campaign for Baltimore, then struggled badly in 2013 before being shipped to the Chicago Cubs, along with Jake Arrieta, on July 2, 2013, for Steve Clevenger and Scott Feldman.

Strop did consistently good work out of the bullpen for the Cubs from 2014-18, but saw his stuff regress in 2019, when he put up a 4.97 ERA and a 4.53 FIP in 41.2 IP.

The Rangers have a number of young arms in the system that are bullpen candidates, but don’t have much in the way of veteran relief options right now. It remains to be seen how significant the Rangers’ interest in Strop is, and whether he’d be a candidate for a major league deal or will have to settle for a minor league contract, but either way, it would make some sense for the Rangers to be looking at him as a potential bullpen piece.