Chicago Cubs: Getting Pedro Strop back isn’t the answer in the bullpen

Despite the fact Pedro Strop has been the most consistent part of the Chicago Cubs bullpen for a half-decade, he’s not the whole solution down the stretch.

Ladies and gentlemen, can I have please have your attention. I’ve just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story, and I need all of you to stop what you’re doing and listen – the Chicago Cubs have a bullpen problem.

That’s right. In case you spent your winter on some remote beach without access to the outside world or you simply chose to bury your head in the sand and trust the front office’s bottom of the barrel, penny-pinching plan to address the shorthanded relief corps this offseason, via use of a Ron Burgundy quote, I needed to fill you in.

For the rest of us who said the bullpen was a problem literally all winter, throughout spring training and into the regular season – the problem we all knew was coming at some point has reared its ugly head. It took longer than anticipated, but the Cubs need bullpen help – and Xavier Cedeno and Tony Barnette are not going to cut it.