July 23: Daniel Norris has been granted his unconditional release, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). The veteran southpaw is now free to sign with any team.
July 17: The Cubs announced to reporters, including Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, that they have selected the contract of right-hander Erich Uelmen. Lefty Daniel Norris has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Norris, 29, was considered one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball during his time with the Blue Jays. Baseball America ranked him one of the top 100 prospects in the sport in 2012 and again in 2015. He moved to Detroit as part of the package that resulted in David Price going to Toronto, with the Tigers surely hoping that Norris could be a building block in their rotation for years to come.
Unfortunately, Norris couldn’t make the best of the opportunity, registering an ERA north of 5.00 in both 2017 and 2018, followed by a 4.49 in 2019. A move to the bullpen in 2020 seemed to unlock a new gear for him, however, as he put up a 3.25 ERA with a 24.1% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate. The next year, his ERA shot up to 5.89 as a Tiger, though his peripherals were still encouraging enough for the Brewers to take a shot on him, acquiring him in a deadline deal. Things went in the wrong direction, though, as his ERA as a Brewer was 6.64, eventually getting left of the club’s postseason roster.
The rebuilding Cubs took a flier on him for this year, surely hoping that he could right the ship enough to turn himself into a trade candidate. But 2022 has been yet another setback for the southpaw, as he has a 6.90 ERA as a Cub. His 32.1% strikeout rate on the season is very encouraging, but it’s come with a 15.7% walk rate, almost double the 8.3% league average. The Cubs will now have one week to trade him, pass him through waivers or release him. As a veteran with more than five years of MLB service time, Norris can reject an outright assignment without forfeiting any salary.
Uelmen, 26, was a fourth round pick of the Cubs in 2017. He was primarily a starter on his way up but switched to a full-time bullpen role upon reaching Triple-A. His first taste of action with the Iowa Cubs didn’t go so well last year, but he’s having an excellent showing here in 2022, working in a multi-inning role. Through 42 frames in 28 games, he has a 2.79 ERA, 55.3% ground ball rate and 29.1% strikeout rate, though the walk rate is high at 12.8%. He’ll now get a shot to see if he can translate any of that into the big leagues, making his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.
NOT VANMAN
Finally!!!!!!!
I guess the finger tendonitis excuse couldn’t pass the League Censors twice, Oh well.
Back to living in a van down by the river in Des Moines.
“Well, la-dee-freakin-da!”
What took them so long?
Daniel Norris was once a top 20 prospect. Don’t overvalue prospects.
Man, the ‘homer’ comes out on here when it comes to everybody’s fav team’s precious prospects.
So… Your suggestion is that the team should ditch the farm system?
I wish the Cubs had Mike Trout but… Oh wait, wasn’t he a prospect too? Must be a miracle that a good player was once a prospect…
You totally missed the point. There’s a whole lot of ‘sure thing’ prospects for every Mike Trout that never do squat. Duh
The Cubs are already losing at a high clip, why not dump the veterans and see what their prospects can do?
What prospects?
lame.
Lame? Who’s in the minors that should be in Majors??
You sir (or ma’am) have a valid point. Very few cubs prospects are deserving of “the call”.
It’s people love to say “bring the kids up” but fail to realize that it may be detrimental to guys development. Also, why the start the clock?
After the deadline, we will continue to see Velazquez and a couple other guys that might be bench players and then we will also see a bunch of 4-A players like we did last year.
It will be painful to rebuild, but it is time to trade Contreras and separately, Happ for prospects and young mlb talent. Probably has to happen, and sooner than later. Look at the Astros from 2009-2014. They were going down down down, but rebuilt into a consistent winning team even after losing Correa and Springer
There’s no hope for re-signing Contreras, but they should keep Happ and try to extend him.
Norris back to Tigers???!!!!
You mean blue Jays?
Don’t they have enough problems? The Tigers I mean, this got moved down a spot.
For a second there I thought the Cubs called up Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitzweimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.
Let’s we how many Monty Python fans are out there today.
It’s Grumble-Mayer 🙂
I really thought Norris was going to be a great pitcher. Great velocity and it seemed like little effort.
The Norris Era is over.
I thought Norris was going to make the Blue Jays regret that trade for years afterwords. Just goes to show there really is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
Maybe the red Sox can get him and fix him like they did with Andrew Miller
Yes. Ok. That’s probably going to happen.
I hope the As pick him up I bet they can fix him like they did with Liam Hendricks
Chris Martin was supposed to fix him while they were in the Cubs bullpen, but Norris thought he was a sap and it looks like Daniel will be hanging out in his van at Walmart while he ponders his next move.
Maybe he asked the wrong Chris Martin and learned to sing instead…
Finally
Fake News! I have been told that everyone Avila trades away becomes superstars!
Hey, the Mets need a lefty reliever. Daniel wants to set up camp in Flushing Meadows.
Atlanta needs to pick this guy up and give him a chance to sort it out back in the south, where he comes from. He has huge potential and just needs some familiar surroundings to pull it together. A nicer guy you will never meet. Pulling for him.
Only 2 months late. Better late than never.