What It Means:

The two sides avoided arbitration earlier this month with a one-year, $5.5 million contract, and they've now tacked on one and potentially two more years. Strop had been slated to hit free agency next winter. The 31-year-old has been excellent since arriving in Chicago at the 2013 trade deadline, and will again be a setup man for the Cubs in 2017.

Strop assembled a 2.85 ERA (2.52 SIERA), with a career-high 32.1 percent strikeout rate and 8.0 percent walk rate in 47 1/3 innings in 2016.