MESA, Ariz. – In a jarring reminder of what’s at stake this season, Cubs reliever Pedro Strop has been temporarily barred from the team’s practice facility after violating Major League Baseball’s health and safety protocols.
Making smart off-the-field decisions, minimizing the risk of contracting the virus and ultimately staying healthy became a competitive advantage during the 60-game pandemic season. Cubs manager David Ross hammered that point when the team regrouped at Wrigley Field for training camp last summer, reinforcing the idea that their actions would have consequences for their teammates and their families.
Advertisement
The audience included cancer survivors Anthony Rizzo and Jon Lester as well as Craig Kimbrel, whose daughter, Lydia Joy, was born with a heart defect that required multiple surgeries. Ross made a chilling, personal appeal to stay out of bars and nightclubs and hold each other accountable.
Strop wasn’t sitting in the Wrigley Field stands that day – he briefly went to the South Bend training site in September after getting released by the Reds – but Cubs officials rave about his positive energy and ability to connect with teammates. For a veteran player with Strop’s stature in the clubhouse, there is no excuse. Ross will address the rest of the team on Monday at the Sloan Park complex.
“It’s easy to get in this environment and relax,” Ross said during Sunday’s workout in Mesa. “We’ve got to continue to stay diligent. It’s real. We’ve got to follow protocols.”
Strop’s quarantine situation is connected to a matter in Cleveland’s training camp: All-Star infielder José Ramírez and Cleveland slugger Franmil Reyes were directed to stay at their Arizona residences after similar infractions, The Athletic’s Zack Meisel reported Sunday. Cleveland played the Cubs on Friday in a Cactus League exhibition. MLB and the MLB Players Association recently loosened the guidelines, allowing players to dine outdoors at restaurants.
“If your friends are going out and you sit inside – and you don’t want to be the one that says something – we still got to stay diligent with the rules,” Ross said. “It is a perk to spring training – I hear about all the great restaurants – but you just can’t go eat inside. The numbers are real about how this thing spreads indoors. That’s why we’re doing all these outdoor activities.”
Ross did not immediately have a timeframe for how long Strop would be sidelined. The manager does not expect any further discipline for Strop, who was already on the Opening Day roster bubble after signing a minor-league deal around the start of spring training.
Advertisement
“It’s a setback,” Ross said. “From what I understand, it’s just you’re going to have to sit out, which is almost punishment enough for a guy who’s trying to make a team, right? That’s a big deal. I talked to him late (Saturday) night when I found out the news. He’s pretty disappointed, but I think he understands and he’s going to try to stay as sharp as he can.”
Strop, 35, has built up so much goodwill inside the organization that he is viewed as someone who could work for the team once his playing career ends. He reported to spring training about 20 pounds lighter than last year, weighing around 225 and hoping that a new nutrition/conditioning program would prevent some of the lower-body injuries that slowed him down in recent seasons.
Strop’s inclusion in the 2013 Jake Arrieta deal with the Orioles may have made it one of the best trades in franchise history. Strop showed up in the middle of the season – that 2013 team would lose 96 games – and established himself as one of the most productive relievers in the majors with the Cubs (2.90 ERA in 411 appearances). Strop earned a 2016 World Series ring and helped influence younger players like Javier Báez.
“None of us are going to be mad at Pedro,” Arrieta said. “It’s just a little slipup. Again, it’s a moment for us to realize that we need to take the protocols seriously and keep everybody as safe as possible so we can play all 162 this year.”
Back in a Cubs uniform again, Arrieta talked about his comfort level with the entire organization after throwing two scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks on Sunday at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. The Cubs reinvented their player-friendly operation last season, relying on more than just self-discipline and self-policing to get players to adhere to the protocols. For road trips, the team found hotels with outdoor space that could be converted into open-air lounges, staggered buses at 20-minute intervals and supplied three boxed meals a day.
Advertisement
Arrieta played for the Phillies team that faced the Marlins in Philadelphia around the beginning of Miami’s coronavirus outbreak last year. The Cubs gained an edge in the National League Central race when the Cardinals experienced a COVID-19 outbreak last summer and hung on to win the division before the Marlins bounced them out of the playoffs.
“The challenge is that we’re going to have to abide by the protocols for not only 60 games, but for 162 games,” Arrieta said. “Being familiar with the protocols and traveling like we did last year, I feel like we’re going to be able to handle it very well. Of course, it’s going to be tough. But the most important thing is to make sure that everybody is healthy and safe.
“The way I look at it, the last thing I would ever want to do – if I were to get it – is give it to somebody that has preexisting conditions or is elderly and then it gets really bad for them. The protocols are what they are. They’re put in place to preserve our ability to finish a full season. Hopefully, we’re able to do it. But from our perspective as a team, I don’t see any reason why we’re not able to follow the protocols and play out this season without any problems.”
MLB and union leadership have put a rigorous testing system and operations manual in place. There has been encouraging news about COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution. Staying on guard for the last 12 months has not been easy.
Ross, the team’s enforcer and daily spokesman last season, doesn’t feel quite the same weight right now, but he will still take this as a wake-up call for the Cubs.
“If you don’t know by now,” Ross said. “That’s probably the reminder, right? We talked it to death last year. It was really a constant. I don’t feel that same stress this year as I did last year. But that doesn’t mean that we’re taking it any lighter. We’ve stated the importance of this over a year’s time.”
(Photo of Strop: Allan Henry / USA Today)
