The Brewers are finalizing a deal to acquire lefty reliever Daniel Norris from the Tigers, tweet Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. MLB.com’s Jason Beck first broke news of the trade discussions, and he hears that minor league starter Reese Olson is heading back to the Tigers. The deal is done, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.
Norris, 28, has struggled to the tune of a 5.89 ERA, 25.5 K%, and 9.6 BB% in 36 2/3 innings this year for Detroit. The southpaw has been done in by a .354 batting average on balls in play, so better things may be on the horizon. Plus, Norris has stifled lefties, whiffing more than 30% of them against a 7% walk rate. He’s due for free agency after the season, so he’s a clear trade candidate for the Tigers. Norris is earning $3.475MM on the season.
Norris was drafted in the second round by the Blue Jays back in 2011. He was the key piece in the Jays’ acquisition of David Price in a deadline deal of six years ago, along with Matthew Boyd. Back then, Norris was a 60-grade prospect with the potential of a frontline starter. However, Norris battled numerous injuries in his Tigers career. He made a career-high 29 starts in 2019, but switched to the bullpen permanently last August when Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize hit the scene. Though Norris has mostly pitched in low-leverage situations for the Tigers this year, he did work his way up in the bullpen pecking order in July.
This month the Brewers have been relying on Josh Hader and Devin Williams in high leverage situations, with Williams activated from the IL for elbow discomfort on Tuesday. In addition to Hader, the Brewers’ pen includes lefty Brent Suter.
Olson, 21, was a 13th round pick out of high school by the Brewers back in 2018. He’s got a 4.30 ERA, 26.9 K%, and 11.9 BB% in 14 High-A starts this year.
Cardinals need to wake up and look for pitching, cause the Brewers are making lots of moves
The cardinals have seen the writing on the wall, you should too
What, that we can’t improve our pitching? The front office believes that they still have a chance, but I don’t think they will unless their pitching improves. So you need to get some glasses and reread the writing on the wall
Not sure how much they improved getting Norris, he’s had potential but hasn’t lived up to it.
The Cardinals are standing pat and that’s exactly what they should be doing. I assume you’re a Cardinals fan and it’s frustrating to see your team not making any moves but do you really think they have a chance to catch Milwaukee and make the postseason. As a Reds fan, they’re even closer to Milwaukee but I don’t know that they have a chance to catch Milwaukee. The Brewers rotation most likely will help them win the Central even if their bats fall asleep for an extended period of time.
Cardinals are in no better position than the Cubs.
The Cardinals are shining by doing absolutely nothing, but its understandable once you look at the standing and we cannot even count with the wild card game because that belongs to the NL west teams. I’m Mozeliak, I would be trading some pieces as of right now. On paper, we will not be able to beat the super team, although you never know.
Meh
Not sure what kindof return they can get for Norris, but I am all about it. Wonder if the Brewers would give up on Hiura this soon. Stranger things/trades have happened.
#vanman
*takes a shot*
The Brewers just love ex-Blue Jays.
Love this (guessing price wasn’t high) oBABIP and FIP suggest he’s been unlucky/bad defense and Brewers have great up the middle defense. Exactly what we needed in this pen.
The Brewers have better guys in AAA.
Like who? Smh
Hardy had better numbers at Detroit when they were teammates. Barker is far better than Norris. Is two enough?
Check his numbers outside of ERA. Also He’s money against LH and is still only 28. Glad you’re not running our team.
His ERA in almost a six this year. Glad you’re not running our team.
Lol at someone who thinks ERA is a way to project pitchers performance
And BABIP says it’s mostly bad luck and bad D.
Good D and good luck in MKE!
You’re so lucky Al Avila doesn’t run your team. You’d think he’d have a plan for everyone on the roster, be prepared to take on contract/salary, flip those players too by paying said contract, bundle them altogether for top headline grabbing stuff…..but that’s not the focus.
This is.
Good trade though. Norris is great and Al like Olsen.
This feels like the Brewers just want to be mentioned amidst all of the trade rumors going around lately. “I’m still here, El Guapo!” Yeah, but the NL Central is only interesting for a few more hours due to trade rumors. Brewers will win the division, but right now, they aren’t a very interesting topic. Down the stretch will be a different story, though. Don’t get me wrong…the Brewers are solid…they just happen to be in a division that is uninteresting overall this season.
What? Sounds like your just trying to post non sense to be somewhat relevant over the next few hours
Idiot.
Just because we got Adames WAY before the deadline and Escobar now, doesn’t mean a thing.
The Brewers ARE interesting.
The rest of the division is not.
And the Brewers ARE better than most of the teams ranked ahead of them (and all of those in the NL).
I remember these boards when the jays traded him. Just a reminder that even with skill and pedigree being a good major league pitcher is really really rare
Olson is a pretty solid get bu the Tigers, Showing impressive stuff in the minors, just needs to work on command
Norris has been a favorite of Tigers’ fans since coming over from Toronto. He was thought to be the prize of the deadline deals in 2015, but both Boyd and Fulmer produced more.
We’ve called him “The Van Man” because he would take his VW van on the road and live in it during the off season.
He quietly had two good seasons and looked like maybe an opener good for once through the order this season, but that didn’t pan out. He’ll go stretches of 10 games without giving up a run, and then get shelled. His issue is HR ratio when he’s in trouble.
He’s a free agent after this season and wasn’t likely going to be back with the Tigers.
Wish him all the best.
Norris has owned lefties this year and has pitched better than his ERA indicates. Tigers have a garbage defense and the Brewers are very good. Great low key add and won’t cost much (whatever the return actually is)
Norris is indeed better than his ERA make believe. His was not sharp in spring, but has improved since.
Even if Fangraphs might be overly bullish on Olson, this is a good return for Norris. This trade could be a win for the Brewers, the Tigers and Norris just alike.
Gruß,
BSHH
Return was basically nothing. A minor league starter no one among Brewer fans is excited about.
And the rest of his contract is not even 1.5 million.
Great move if the young guys falter, and no loss if our young guys produce.
Tigers have a pretty good defense (with exception of SS) and Norris is not a ground ball pitcher.
Love the beard, the VW microbus, the surfing. Plus, he’s a cancer survivor (thyroid). Daniel Norris is one cool guy, now if he could just put it together as an MLB pitcher. Good luck young man!
I hope you are right and I am wrong! Just commented on his current stats!
He’s outpitching his stats, but still isn’t great. I just like the guy and wish him well.
I’ll miss the van man. Been a favorite of mine for years. Stuff always seemed better than the results.
Not a big move, but Brewers needed another lefty arm and they have a knack for finding bullpen value. Positional moves for Adames, Tellez and (hopefully) Escobar already addressed weaknesses, unless there’s one more move for an OF bat. In Stearns we trust!
When are fans that follow MLB going to realize that David Stearns is one of the 5 top Baseball Ops heads in MLB?
He works in tandem with Craig Counsell. He’s constantly ahead of then curve as to what the Brewers need to do to their roster to win – grabbing so-so players that when playing together on the field mesh so well.
With the juiced baseball being phased out for the 2021 season, he realized that more balls would stay in the yard making defense more valuable. He brought in Kolten Wong and Jackie Bradley Jr. to an already good defense. Added Willy Adames in-season – which he could do because the Brewers are great at maximizing pitchers abilities, so they always have a surplus for trades. He quietly added Rowdy Tellez as a middle of the order LH power bat, and Escobar as a bat for the stretch run. Now he’s adding a veteran LH relief pitcher for Chris Hook and his staff to tweak.
None of the moves Stearns made since the end of the 2020 season stand out as eye-popping. But when added to the existing Brewer’s core, the collective result has a huge impact and keeps them in 1st place……and it’s done on a small market budget. With all due respect the 3 sexy NL West teams, it would not surprise me to find the Brewers in the 2021 WS. They play consistent, solid, smart baseball and Counsell runs a game as well as any manager in MLB.
Those of us who are Cardinals fans need to realize that this is Milwaukee’s division. Cardinals will not do anything today or this coming winter to improve themselves. What we see is what we get from them the next few years unfortunately. Yeah they have had injuries,but good teams find a way to get through them.
Jesse;
This may sound a bit odd…..
For a long time I’ve followed 6-8 ML teams a year. The Internet and then MLB radio followed by MLB.TV made it even easier. The Cardinals were always one of my favorites, as they were still playing Branch Rickey baseball after the Dodgers fazed that out when the O’Malley’s sold the franchise to a corporation. I’m impressed that Mike Shildt keeps a copy of ‘How To Play Baseball The Cardinals Way’ on his desk, and refers to it constantly.
However….
Those Cardinals exist no more. When he was starting Moneyball / Analytical work for the Cardinals in the early 2000’s, Jeff Luhnow learned many of those theories – particularly working with and maximizing pitchers, When he went to Houston as GM he supercharged those processes and implemented them throughout the organization.
While it sound a bit crazy, The Cardinal Way is now in Houston.
The St. Louis Cardinals have gotten consistently worse at drafting for their farm system. Developing those players at lower levels and further enhancing their abilities at the ML level……especially pitchers. Their youngsters stopped panning out, so they have to package a group of their overrated young players to bring in “stars” [sic] such as Goldschmidt and Arenado that are eating up a huge portion of the payroll budget as they slowly decline from their peak years….to opposite of what the St. Louis Cardinals did for well over 70 years.
That GM has to go.
Phased out. Like a phase that is over.
Faze is to stun.
Norris has tremendous stuff with poor mechanics. His shoulder opens too early.
Yup, he’s either real good or real bad. When his mechanics are on, he can be lights out…..
Good deal. Norris never reached his potential in Detroit but from time to time he was terrific. Maybe a change of scenery will help him. As a pending free agent and given his performance, Tigers were lucky to get anything for him. We got a lottery ticket who looks like someone who could develop into a back end starter or maybe a solid relief pitcher.
I think Detroit made a great trade! See my comments below!
I hope you’re right.
If Brewers still have a bigger move in store, Brice Turang is probably their top trade bait and now expendable with SS position set for years. Also don’t forget Cain’s return this week is like picking him up in a trade; he looks healthy and productive so far.
Mitchell hasn’t played the last few days. Is he hurt, or are they keeping him off the field to avoid injury?
Who’d they get??is he even in the top 40 for brewers farm?? A money move by Avila.
Fangraphs ranks him high. He’s a project, but has shown promise this year. 4 solid piches
He is worse then many they already have. Means 2of 3 guys are gotten rid of: Gustave; Sanchez ; or,Strickland. All are better then him! I see the Brewers making the following moves to get to 26:1) DFA Big Shaw and Vogelbach(barrell Man 1 ; 2. Send to minors Pablo Sanchez and Keston Hirua; 3) activate Peterson, Yellich, and Escobar , when off DL and reporting. Go to 13 pitchers instead of 14 and 13 players on the Roaster. The trade is stupid because now you have to send down 2 pitchers instead of 1 to get to 13 and 13 rather then 14 pitchers and 12 players like we have now! Looks like a trade just to make a trade!
How many lefties do they have though? I honestly don’t know. Counsel and sterns love to play matchups. Sounds like this guys is good against left handed hitters. Doesn’t seem all that bad to me.
UPdate: With the second trade you now have to move 3 pitchers to get the Roaster down to 13 pitchers and 13 position players!
If they move 1 of them to the crock pot they’ll be fine.
Seriously though, we know the Brewers are big on moves between the big league club and Triple H..I mean A. This helps cover even more in case of injuries to the pitchers. It might force them to get away from the 6 man rotation, but that just means more jockeying guys up and down to skip a start or give a couple more days between.
The legend of Dirty Dan continues in Milwaukee…..
He’s not likely to get many chances, but in the NL Norris might get to hit. He can hit…for a pitcher.
I suspect he can be a help to the Brewers, but hardly a ton.
He was going to leave the Tigers this winter anyway. I won’t be holding my breath waiting for Olson contribute in Comerica.
He hit that one home run in Wrigley that I’ll never forget. However, he isn’t the second coming of Babe Ruth or Shohei Otani so don’t build him up too far!
What a bunch of saps. All of your “expertise” is simply overwhelming. Patting each other on the backs to confirm you own idiotic positions……
No honor in kissing each other’s arses and pretending you are experts, its dishonest.