3:15pm: Norris would earn $1.75MM with the Halos were he to make the Major League roster, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (Twitter links). The deal contains incentives that can push the total value of the contract north of $3MM.
12:40pm: The Angels and right-hander Bud Norris have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The Wasserman client will compete for a rotation gig in Spring Training, Passan adds.
[Related: Updated Los Angeles Angels Depth Chart]
Norris, 31, pitched to a 5.10 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and a 47.6 percent ground-ball rate through 113 innings between the Braves and Dodgers this past season. Initially signed to a $2.5MM deal by Atlanta in the offseason, Norris suffered through a dreadful April and quickly lost his spot in the Braves’ rotation. However, his time in the bullpen clearly helped him to right the ship, as he pitched to a pristine 2.08 ERA with a 43-to-17 K/BB ratio over his next 47 2/3 innings (which included five starts in a reclaimed rotation role). Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan broke down Norris’ run of success in late June, noting that a newly implemented cutter had dramatically improved his performance against lefties. That success proved to be short-lived, however, as Norris struggled to a 6.54 ERA with the Dodgers.
From 2011-14, Norris was a solid mid-rotation arm for the Astros and Royals, pitching to a 4.06 ERA and averaging 30 starts/174 innings per season. The past two seasons, though, have largely been a struggle outside of the previously mentioned two-month run of excellence in Atlanta.
Norris will compete for an opportunity to line up behind presumptive rotation locks Garrett Richards, Matt Shoemaker, Ricky Nolasco and Tyler Skaggs (assuming he is healthy). Current candidates for the fifth slot include right-hander Jesse Chavez, who signed an early $5.75MM deal with the Halos back in November, in addition to lefty Nate Smith and right-handers Alex Meyer and Daniel Wright. Non-roster southpaws Manny Banuelos and John Lamb could eventually get consideration as well, health permitting.
Nice
Good pick up for potential bullpen help. Could also trade to a PTBL or something to help build up farm system
Bud Norris is the pyrite of pitchers. I was eager to see him pitch for the Padres a few years back. He can still throw hard but when he can’t locate (which is often), he gets clobbered.
I dunno.. He’s more of a BP pitcher it seems to me. FB is flat, nothing seems to work. I think Angels would have been better of signing ex- orioles Vanimal for the 1m he just signed for.. Guy can go 2-3 innings of solid relief and has been solid entire career. Norris wasn’t really more than a weak back end guy at his best.
No, the biggest problem with Norris is that lefties eat his lunch and always have. For some reason teams are unable to look up career splits and keep trying to start him, when he should clearly be used as a righty specialist out of the bullpen, a la Russ Springer back in the day or Joe Smith or something. Justin Masterson was the same way, and teams kept throwing him into the rotation anyway.
DaveP:
He should sign with the Pittsburgh Pyrites.
Total angels move
I don’t think Bud Norris ever played for the Royals. He went Houston to Baltimore, didn’t he?
Yes, was actually pretty decent for the Os in ’14. 15 wins and a solid era. After that he was beyond horrible though
Bud never pitched for the royals it was Baltimore that he played for
Angels have one of the most underrated offseasons . they picked up cheap great pieces that fill their need. maybin, Espinosa, Revere, Luis valbuena
Just hope we can compete now and win some big games!
season hinges on grich and his right elbow.
Ya man hoping for a healthy rotation moving forward!
Bobby Grich retired 20 years ago. :-P
Ryan I hate to make both of us feel old. But Fridge retired 30 years ago.
“Fridge”? William Perry?
Stupid auto corect. I wrote Gridge and it changed it to Fridge.
Old and going senile I guess.
Still pretty good, though.
duhtruth:
California Dreamin’ …. on such a winter’s day.
Lame.
they picked up cheap great pieces – maybin, Espinosa, Revere, Luis valbuena.
I think we might have different definitions of great
for the amount of money they got, there aren’t much people better.
They got good value doesn’t mean they got great pieces.
hang em up Norris, go back to Novato
This is the first I’ve heard his name mentioned this winter. Signing makes sense for LAA as much-needed insurance for inevitable rotation injuries.
There was an article suggesting this back in November.
I must have completely missed his time with the Royals??? I also see no mention of his 2014 season, with the Orioles btw, where he went 15-8 over 28 starts good for an era of a sparkling 3.65 with a sweet 7.2 to 2.8 strikeout to walk ratio per 9. Only real drag was only 165 innings, I wanna say that’s less than 6 innings a start. Liked his demeanor on the mound and I always thought he had the stuff to be a solid 2/3. He was good that year and that season made it worth giving up Josh Hader when they got Bud from Houston. Hader has been climbing every prospect list since. A trade which actually worked out for both sides! Solid chance to take if you are the Angels to get him on a minor league deal and let him win a job.
Norris is the Brett Tomko of this generation. The world’s most hittable 96 MPH heater.
That’s why you sign him to a minor league and see what happens. If he can’t hack it as a starter, you throw him into the bullpen as a multi innings reliever.
This is same Bud Norris that boasts the following ???
2015 (6.72 / 1.58)
2016 (5.10 / 1.46)
(era / whip)
For the money, I’d rather have Weaver back, though I’d imagine he’d balk at a minor league deal.
I remember when he killed the Angels when he was an Astro in 2014. This is a risky move, but it will bring a lot of competition to Spring Training. We still need a #1 catcher and bullpen.
Logan , and Blevins is still availble. Hammel and fister still for the rotation. Wieters makes too much sens for us.
It helps that’s it’s a real cheap deal if he makes the club. They’d still have $14-16 million left before the luxury tax.