The Nationals have released catcher Derek Norris, the team announced and Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post first reported (via Twitter). Norris had been placed on waivers recently, but the Nats were unable to find a taker.
By releasing Norris now, the Nats will avoid the bulk of the $4.2MM arbitration salary the team had agreed to with the veteran catcher. Still, D.C. will owe him thirty days of pay, which amounts to around $688K. The organization will chalk that up to the cost of insurance, as the addition of Norris covered the club while it explored other options all winter.
As it turned out, the Nationals signed Matt Wieters in the middle of camp, which made Norris expendable. Washington will go with a combination of Wieters and Jose Lobaton at the major league level, with Pedro Severino working on his hitting at Triple-A and providing depth.
Norris has fallen off at the plate recently, with his strikeout and walk numbers plummeting from their once-excellent levels. On the other hand, he has improved his standing behind the dish, where he now grades well from a framing perspective.
It stands to reason that there’ll be pursuers for the veteran, though odds are he won’t make as much as he had been lined up for. The Rays are said to have some interest already. And it wouldn’t be surprising to hear of a pursuit from the Rockies, particularly with Tom Murphy sidelined, or organizations such as the Angels and Reds.
One of the best Nats catchers ever.
I really don’t get this team. I hope Pedro Avila does something with the Friars.
“One of the best Nats catchers ever.”
Agree. Here are his all time rankings for the team
0 strikeouts – 1st
0 Outs made – 1st
0 runners stolen against – 1st
0 Passed Balls – 1st
0 Errors – 1st
nice
0 yards per carry
0 turnovers
0 sacks allowed
0 missed FG. Is that football or basketball? Ohhhh
Lol
Ottis was an upgrade over that trash they just signed
One bad year and bam
Norris *
He’s certainly worthy of playing for a major league team. It’s odd that the Nats would go for both him and Wieters though
They never intended to get WIeters until he fell into their laps.
Until Boras put him there
he would be a perfect platoon fit with jason castro
Agreed, but I doubt they do it. They already have Giminez and Murphy as backups, not sure the new front office goes ahead with that.
I think the new FO likes giminez as the back up right now, but Norris is the more opportunistic pick
The Nationals officially gifted the Padres with a prospect who has a 2.93 ERA in 156 pro innings so far, given away for nothing. Ouch.
Worst trade of offseason? There hasn’t been too many so it might win.
“There hasn’t been too many so it might win.”
Except Seattle which seems like it’s done half the trades this offseason.
Yeah but their deals were pretty fair on paper at least. They weren’t trading away a negative asset for an actually-decent return like SD somehow managed to do.
And New England. They have been making moves non stop. I think the Brandin Cooks trade may have been a tad much, but with the best QB in all of football, it’ll probably work out. But no, it wasn’t as bad as this trade.
The Padres did not give away nothing. Just because the Nats released him has nothing to do with the Padres losing him. He was released not for bad play but to save money since they signed Weiters. That is all. They had to cut him now so they only pay termination pay. Norris will be on another team by the end of the week.
Of course it does not mean the Padres are not happy with the trade. I am just saying the Padres did not “give away nothing”
They gave away the worst catcher in baseball last year for a decent prospect, they got given a gift there. They could have released Norris just like Washington did.
So sensitive, relax, this isnt a big deal like Swanson, it just says that a lot of trades looked pretty good on paper this offseason – if this is the worst one then its no big deal.
It wasn’t a gift you idiot. He had one bad year. He may not bounce back, but it’s way more likely than not that he will get back to being what he was than staying at the level he was at last year
They meant that Washington gave away their prospect for nothing
Glad to see that patience is still a virtue.
lol, reading comprehension is a virtue too
but even still he’s wrong no matter what way you look at it: SD got a good prospect for a guy they should have released. Chalk one up for Preller and negative one for Rizzo and move on.
He had a -0.4 WAR last year (Negative 0.4). I think it’s very fair to say the Padres gave up nothing (or Less than nothing) in that trade.
It’s not fair though. One bad year doesn’t make or ruin a career
Yea, WAR tells all. That’s why the Braves had the worst offense in baseball in the second half after getting Matt Kemp.
Not to mention, defensive metrics aren’t accurately in WAR, even less so for catchers, and Norris is a notoriously GOOD pitch framer….
Matt kemp is a bad baseball player. He’d actually be kind of valuable if he could DH though
Fine, want to talk about Offense strictly?
175 players last year had 450+ PA.
Would you like to know where Derek Norris ranked in wRC+? That would be DEAD LAST with a wRC+ of just 55.
And you do know that Catchers are given a boost in WAR, right?
On another thread about Norris, they pointed out that he had the worst year for a full-time catcher (100 GP/400PA) at the plate since 1917 or something like that. Got to really hurt your chances of signing a deal when you had the worst year ever.
The nationals have now made the two worst trades this offseason. Winners
The Eaton trade isn’t one of the worst. Off the top of my head Seattle, a wannabe contender, traded for yovanni gallardo and didn’t make Baltimore eat any money while giving up a useful player.
Oooh good one, yes Gallardo is horrendous but even still, he had a 0.6 WAR last year. Norris was still way worse.
Avila wasn’t a top 30 prospect for the Nationals prior to the trade and doesn’t make a list of the Padres top 50 prospects, so little chance that he becomes a major piece. Stats in the Sally League don’t mean much and anything below that you can just throw out. The DSL is similar to spring training.
Making up for trea and joe I guess. Minor plus 1/5 of their value lol
Still lacking
Shame shame the rays got hosed
hello white sox!
Yes I would imagine the White Sox are on the phone with his agent now
Lol shields and Norris
The real “lol” battery on the South Side might be Giovanni Soto and Geovany Soto!
Shields and Norris might qualify as the “wtf” battery!
I actually kind of hope so. But I think Soto is in line to platoon with Narvaez (though I guess they could always do Soto a favor and release him).
Omar Narvaez could use some defensive polishing at AAA Charlotte and also continue working with an elite young pitching staff that will feature a rotation of Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Carson Fulmer, along with Zack Burdi as closer to start the season.
Meanwhile, Derek Norris would provide a better defensive catcher with pitch-framing skills that could benefit the pitchers on the White Sox roster, many of whom are veterans that the White Sox would love to deal as soon as possible to continue their rebuild. Norris’ pitch-framing ability would also be a boon to a pitcher like Carlos Rodon who can use some help behind the dish with his wipe-out slider and his overall command. The White Sox had the worst trio of framers in MLB last season with Dioner Navarro, Alex Avila and Narvaez splitting time behind the plate. Norris might also become a solid “flip” candidate for the White Sox this summer, particularly if he can improve on his offensive game.
Regardless of their efforts in signing Norris, I’m still hoping that the White Sox can revisit the stalled David Robertson discussions with the Nationals and swing a trade for catcher Pedro Severino. Perhaps CF Michael Taylor could be included in any potential deal and help with the White Sox current CF dilemma. Taylor was a former top Nationals prospect who has struggled with his offensive game since being promoted to their MLB roster. He is still young enough (will turn 26 later this month), is a decent enough defender with some power and base stealing ability. He is also having an excellent spring, In 13 games and 29 PA’s, he is batting .448 with a 1.172 OPS. It would seem to be a fair exchange with the Nats still in need of a proven veteran closer while the White Sox could use some long term defensive help behind the plate and some immediate aid in CF.
“Omar Narvaez could use some defensive polishing at AAA Charlotte and also continue working with an elite young pitching staff that will feature a rotation of Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Carson Fulmer, along with Zack Burdi as closer to start the season.”
That’s a good point. Hopefully they can deal Norris/Soto to a team looking for a catcher and call up Narvaez with the rest of the starters.
No to the Michael Taylor idea.
I’m not in love with Michael Taylor but he would fill an immediate need for the White Sox. As a younger right-handed hitter he might also make a more sensible platoon partner with lefty hitting Charlie Tilson when he returns from the disabled list than journeyman veteran Peter Bourjos.
The main return in the Robertson deal would be catcher Pedro Severino. Many White Sox fans seem to think that the club should continue to pursue the few remaining elite prospects left in the Nationals organization following the Adam Eaton trade. I think that is a highly unrealistic goal, especially in exchange for Robertson. In my mind, Severino and Taylor would be a fair exchange that also makes a world of sense for both clubs presently and for the White Sox in the long term.
The White Sox will still have plenty of available veterans assets remaining in which to fill their other organizational needs with Jose Quintana topping the list. “Q” would be the primary carrot to dangle in order to snag the elite high level positional prospects from potential contenders like the Astros, Cubs, Yankees and Red Sox, perhaps along with the Rangers, Cardinals and Pirates as well. Robertson is a secondary asset in comparison and any comparable return for him would be wishful thinking.
The White Sox would also have an immediate replacement for Robertson in Nate Jones, who’s own stock as a trade chip could escalate with some success in the closer role. Zack Burdi would be waiting in the wings at AAA as the future core closer on the South Side and even be in line for a quicker promotion as a late inning setup man to take Jones place once Robertson is dealt.
It’s been said that Liriano can handle CF. Id’ rather see him out there if Tilson is out than Bourjos or Taylor.
Rymer Liriano hasn’t played a single inning in CF for the White Sox this spring and that’s with Charlie Tilson having missed their entire camp. He’s not on the team’s radar for CF.
Liriano is listed as 6.0′ and 230 lbs. He’s primarily been a RF in his professional career and all his brief MLB experience with the Padres in 2014 was spent there as well. He has played some CF in the minors with minimal success. Liriano has primarily played LF with the White Sox this spring with some limited time in RF. The club is affording most of it’s RF playing time to Avisail Garcia in the hopes that he could improve on his defense as their expected starter at the position in 2017.
If the White Sox make no further additions to their roster before opening day, non-roster invitee Peter Bourjos will be their starting CF early on with switch-hitting Leury Garcia and/or Jacob May backing him up. Garcia is having a great spring and is out of MLB options so he stands a good chance of making the active roster as not only a backup in CF but as a player who can play every other position in the outfield and infield except for 1B. May spent all of last year at AAA Charlotte as their primary center fielder. He struggled with his offense as well as an oblique injury which is now healed. Like Garcia, he is also having a strong spring camp.
The only other option for CF would be Adam Engel who was promoted to AAA last summer when May went on the disabled list. Engel has struggled with this hitting this spring and definitely needs more work refining his swing in the minors. If both May and Engel are optioned out, the former would likely begin the season at AAA while the latter would return to AA since they are both CF’s who could both use regular playing time in the minors to improve their weak hit tool.
Rockies now that Murphy broke his arm
I would be surprised. Black was not a fan.
He was so terrible last season that it’s hard to believe he wasn’t hiding an injury or something. Maybe he recovers a bit of value hitting in a better environment.
He can’t get any worse, so for his sake and the team who signs him I hope so. Just glad the Os are not talking about picking him up.
Hopefully the Angels get him so they can have 3 catchers who can’t hit over .200
Best comment of the thread!
The price of signing Wieters was a prospect and $688K. And the Wieter’s contract. If Wieters performs well, it will be a win for Nats, as he will opt-out and sign with another team. Prospect +$12M for a good year on a contending team isn’t bad.
In a battle of TJ survivors: who has the better shot…
Stras getting 30 starts or Wieters getting 500 plate appearances?
Strasburg. Not because Wieters isn’t healthy, because only 8-9 catchers get 500 PA a season. 60-70 pitchers got 30 starts in a season the past 10 years.
Wieters
I hope the nationals fail
Ah, yes. Derek “I’m an every day catcher in this league” Norris. Cocky as an All-Star with Oakland. Turns out, not only is he not an every day catcher, he can’t even make a roster. Good luck D-No
I’m sure this has been a reality check for him. Hopefully he’s got a chip on his shoulder and feels the need to prove himself now.
And the worst defense (no sarcasm here)