The Rays “continue to have conversations” about the possibility of adding catcher Derek Norris, whom the Nationals placed on waivers over the weekend, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first connected the two sides recently. Washington was known to be shopping Norris aggressively after signing Matt Wieters but, unable to find any takers for his $4.2MM salary, placed him on waivers. They’ll be on the hook for 30 days of his salary, or about $688K. (The remainder of his salary, as is the case with the majority of arbitration agreements, was not fully guaranteed.) Once he clears waivers, Norris would be a free agent that is free to sign anywhere for any amount.
However, the Rays are also wary of interrupting their camp and inserting a new catcher into the mix after all of the work that incumbent options like Luke Maile and Curt Casali have put in with the staff, per Olney. Tampa Bay also has veteran Wilson Ramos on the roster, though he’ll miss a significant portion of the season as he continues to rehab from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, which he suffered late last September.
Norris brings more offensive upside to the table than either Maile or Casali, though he’s coming off the worst season of his career. In 458 plate appearances with the Padres last season, Norris batted .186/.255/.328. Norris did tie his career best with 14 homers, but his strikeout rate continued to escalate, ballooning to a career-worst 30.3 percent. The 28-year-old did post strong framing numbers — a trait that the Rays value highly — and has a career 26 percent caught-stealing rate (though he checked in at a below-average 21 percent in that regard last year).
It’s not yet known where else Norris will draw interest if and when he clears waivers and becomes a free agent, though one speculative fit could be the Rockies, following today’s news that projected backup Tom Murphy suffered a fractured forearm.
As someone pointed out on another thread, it was not just the worst season of Norris’ career, it was the worst season of any catcher that had 100 games behind the plate and 400 PA. Unless he brings good defense with him, I don’t understand why any team would pay him more than major league minimum.
Maybe because Norris wasn’t always bad?
He was rarely good, which I think is more the point. Historically bad season and only good for one season in five with the bat is not worth paying much for. Probably why the Nationals can’t give him away with his $4.2 million salary and why they are willing to eat $700k to get rid of him.
From 2013-2015 Norris was above league average offensively in 2 of 3 seasons and above average for a catcher in all 3. During that same period, his 110 wRC was 5th out 24 catchers with at least 1000 PA. His 7.2 fWAR over that time was good for 9th in MLB. I’m not sure why you have so much animosity over a bad second half last season, but there is no need to lie about his past performance.
I think the dregs they have are better bets. At least they are younger and considered plus defenders. Devil you know.
Just go with Casali and Maile till Ramos is good then just use Maile as the backup.
I’d actually think Sucre has a better shot of winning a job than Maile.
My guess is he goes to Colorado. There’s not a better place for a guy to go to improve his offensive numbers from the previous year, and they have an opportunity now that Murphy is hurt. After last season, he’s got to know he’s not getting a starting gig this year.
Agree.
Plus….Norris has some experience at 1B, where the Rockies will be missing Desmond for an extended period (6-8 weeks). Sure seems like a nice fit all around. I wonder if they will bite, however.
Not much experience and he wasn’t very good at it
Since he is a good framer I know the DOYERS love that in there catchers too. One of the main reasons they liked Grandal so much. I can see them bringing him in as a backup with power against LHP. Same reason why they picked up Ruiz last year so it all depends on if they really believe in Barnes to at least be a capable backup or not. I’m not sold on him yet.
Not only do they believe Barnes is a capable backup but he just might be the man by years end..and Norris is more horrible as an option against lefties.
Looking at Derek Norris’ career, I was surprised to see such a poor offensive season last year from a player who had been pretty good, especially for a catcher. Digging a little deeper, his 1st half and 2nd half splits were pretty drastic and I was trying to see if something happened to cause such a,drop.
Last season on July 4th, Derek Norris was hit on the elbow by a bat during a backswing. He left the game for X-Rays after being in pain and according to his manager he couldn’t get feeling back after being hit on the nerve. Up to that point of the season he had a 77 wRC+ with 11 HR in 264 PA. His overall batting line was down, but his 6.4 BB% and 25.4 K% were similar to the previous season and his .191 ISO was a significant improvement. The main reason for his offensive drop looked to be his .241 BaBIP. From that point on, his batting line cratered. During the next 3 months, he had 194 PA with only 3 HR, 25 wRC+ and .075 ISO. He also saw his K% increase to 37.1%.
I have no concrete evidence that Norrris was injured or if it affected his hitting, but this is a player who played 3 quarters at RB and LB in a high school football game with a broken leg. Looking at his history, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to play through an injury and that led to his uncharacteristically poor batting line in the 2nd half. As long as he checks out medically, as a Rays fan, I would be happy to see them sign him.
Great comment.
I agree ^^^ I feel like so many people overlook injuries when players have a down year. Even if it wasn’t announced or they weren’t placed on DL doesn’t mean guys won’t get banged up during a 162 game season. A lot of little nagging injuries will effect players overall stats during a year and we might not even know they are hurt just cause they are still in the lineup everyday.
He did good in a platoon role that one season with the A’s. He’d be perfect to pair up with a left handed hitter behind the plate.
Be careful how you talk about Norris on here everyone. Westcoastryan is going to call you all idiots and talk about how it was a down season for him and how he will bounce back, Im the biggest Padre fan there is and I watched every game he played in a Padre uniform and nothing he ever did was impressive. No hate towards the guy but just calling it like it is.