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Daniel Norris

Roster Notes: Rangers, Cubs, Pirates

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The Rangers announced a pair of interlocking roster moves today, optioning Spencer Howard to Triple-A and recalling outfielder Zach Reks. Howard has been shelled in 6 2/3 innings of work this season, working to a 12.15 ERA, but the demotion is reportedly more about building him up as a “full-fledged” starter, per Jeff Wilson of Rangerstoday.com (via Twitter). Whatever the reason for the move, the Rangers will surely want to see a more productive couple of appearances in Triple-A out of Howard.

Reks, meanwhile, steps right into the starting lineup, starting today’s ballgame in left field. It will be Reks first appearance with the Rangers after being acquired from the Dodgers this past November. In other roster moves…

  • The Cubs have optioned Mark Leiter Jr. to Triple-A, activating Locke St. John in his place, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). Leiter Jr. appeared in four games for the Cubs, starting three, but yielding nine earned runs over 10 1/3 innings. St. John, meanwhile, was recently added to the 40-man roster to satisfy a condition of the minor league contract he signed over the winter. For now, he’ll join Daniel Norris and Sean Newcomb in a full Chicago bullpen.
  • The Pirates have reinstated Cole Tucker from the COVID Injured List and optioned Tucupita Marcano to Double-A in order to give the infielder regular playing time, per Kevin Gorman of Tribune-Review Sports (via Twitter). Marcano, still just 22, was promoted to fill the void in the short-term. He was the key piece in last season’s trade that sent Adam Frazier to the Padres.

Cubs To Sign Daniel Norris

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The Cubs are set to sign left-handed pitcher Daniel Norris to a Major League contract reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN.

The 28-year-old is fresh off a season divided between the Detroit and Milwaukee organizations. His work out of the Tigers’ bullpen didn’t match the success he found there in 2020, but a fluky .354 batting average on balls in play and other ERA estimators figured his 5.89 ERA with Detroit last season was more bloated than it should have been. The Brewers figured as much as well, and acquired the left-hander in a deadline deal last July.

Unfortunately for the Brewers, Norris’s run prevention skills only worsened. In 20 plus innings Norris gave up 15 runs and walks apiece, along with five home runs, all of which contributed to a 6.64 ERA with his new team. Despite a .231 batting average on balls in play after the trade, his reduced groundball, strikeout, and home run suppression abilities all resulted in a cumulative 6.16 ERA on the year that easily stands as his worst.

Even though things seldom clicked all at once for Norris in his platform year, there are still green flags in his profile. Chief among those flags are Norris’s ability to stymie left-handed batters. In 2021 opposing lefties struck out at an unappealing 29.5% rate and posted a weak .635 OPS when facing the pitcher. Furthermore, a 4.32 SIERA and other ERA estimators largely paint Norris’s end-of-season numbers as unlucky, and point to improvement should he keep his same skillset intact next season.

While no longer the high-end starter prospect who headlined the trade that sent David Price to Toronto back in 2015, the Cubs figure to have plenty of use for the modern day reliever version of Norris. Currently the only left-handed relievers projected by Jason Martinez of RosterResource to be in Chicago’s bullpen are Brad Wieck and Justin Steele. While Wieck had a 0.00 ERA through 17 innings on the year, and Steele debuted to a respectable 4.26 ERA in 57 innings (2.03 ERA in 13+ innings as a reliever), neither has a long enough track record to bank on repeated bullpen dominance.

With yet another Major League addition today it’s become increasingly clear that the Cubs are eyeing a spot in the recently expanded postseason field.

Brewers Announce NLDS Roster; Brent Suter Out With Oblique Injury

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The Brewers announced the 26-man roster they’ll carry for an NLDS showdown against the Braves this morning. Left-hander Brent Suter at first appeared to be a surprising omission, but the Brewers announced that Suter is out for at least this series due to a “minor” right oblique strain. Rather than swap Suter out for another lefty, such as Hoby Milner or deadline acquisition Daniel Norris, they’ll instead go with three catchers. Here’s how the roster breaks down…

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

The loss of Suter is a notable one. While he’s far from the household name that teammate Josh Hader is, Suter has quietly been brilliant for the Brewers since his 2019 return from Tommy John surgery. In 123 1/3 innings since being reinstated from the injured list that season, Suter carries a 2.70 ERA with a 24.1 percent strikeout rate, an outstanding 5.9 percent walk rate and a similarly strong 52.2 percent grounder rate. He’s no stranger to working multiple innings, and he has no discernible platoon splits of which to speak. Since 2019, lefties have batted .227/.280/.393 against Suter, while righties have slashed .241/.288/.365. That the team specified the injury as “minor” in nature gives some hope that he could return for a potential NLCS or World Series run, but no timetable for his recovery has been formally announced.

Milwaukee surely had higher hopes for Norris when acquiring him from the Tigers just prior to the trade deadline. Looking past the 5.54 ERA he posted in Detroit this season, Norris had posted strong strikeout, ground-ball, home-run and swinging-strike rates prior to the swap. Every one of those rates trended in the wrong direction following his acquisition, however, and his walk rate jumped by nearly seven percent: from 9.6 to 16.5.

Jackie Bradley Jr.’s inclusion on the roster serves as a testament to his brilliant glovework, which could factor late into any close games for the Brew Crew. After hitting just .163/.236/.261 in his first season with Milwaukee, there was certainly a case to make different use of that roster spot, but Bradley still posted nine Defensive Runs Saved, six Outs Above Average and a 7.1 Ultimate Zone Rating in 722 innings in center field.

Brewers Acquire Daniel Norris From Tigers

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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.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 1/15/21

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The deadline to exchange arbitration figures is today at 1pm ET. As of this morning, there were 125 arbitration-eligible players who’d yet to agree to terms on their contract for the upcoming 2021 season. Arbitration is muddier than ever before thanks to the shortened 2020 schedule, which most believe will lead to record number of arb hearings this winter. Be that as it may, it’s still reasonable to expect dozens of contractual agreements to filter in over the next couple of hours.

We’ll highlight some of the more high-profile cases in separate posts with more in-depth breakdowns, but the majority of today’s dealings will be smaller-scale increases that don’t radically alter a team’s payroll or a player’s trade candidacy. As such, we’ll just run through most of today’s agreements in this post.

I’ve embedded MLBTR’s 2021 Arbitration Tracker in the post (those in the mobile app or viewing on mobile web will want to turn their phones sideways). Our tracker can be sorted by team, by service time and/or by Super Two status, allowing users to check the status on whichever groups of players they like. You can also check out Matt Swartz’s projected arbitration salaries for this year’s class, and we’ll do a quick sentence on each player’s agreement at the bottom of this post as well, with the most recent agreements sitting atop the list.

Today’s Agreements (chronologically, newest to oldest)

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Central News & Rumors: Hader, Burnes, Twins, Norris, Romine, Tigers, Chatwood, Gio

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The Brewers are receiving a lot of interest on Josh Hader and Corbin Burnes, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (all links to Twitter), though there isn’t any sign that Milwaukee would consider moving either reliever for anything less than a major offer, particularly for Hader.  Brett Anderson or David Phelps are perhaps more realistic options to be dealt if the Brewers opt to move an arm.  The Yankees and Twins are two of the clubs who have been in touch with the Brew Crew about Hader, but there hasn’t been much indication that talks led anywhere.

Let’s dive into some news and trade buzz from around both the NL and AL Central divisions…

  • The Tigers are drawing interest in catcher Austin Romine and left-hander Daniel Norris, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports in both a tweet and a longer notes column.  The Rays are one team linked to Norris, who has impressed by posting a 2.40 ERA, 7.2 K/9, and 4.00 K/BB rate over 15 innings.  The former second-round draft pick has been plagued by injuries throughout his career and missed part of Summer Camp recovering from a positive COVID-19 test, though he has performed well as a multi-inning reliever for the Tigers this year.  Romine has also enjoyed a strong season with a .291/.309/.418 slash line over 81 PA, though his trade chip status could have a late wrinkle — the Tigers scratched him from today’s lineup due to right knee soreness.
  • Tyler Chatwood left today’s outing due to right elbow discomfort, according to the Cubs.  The righty bounced a pitch to the plate in the third inning, with manager David Ross telling ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers and other reporters that Chatwood initially felt a problem while throwing a breaking ball on the previous pitch.  Chatwood was making his second start back from the injured list after missing much of August with a back strain.  Elbow problems aren’t good news for any pitcher, though it is particularly concerning in Chatwood’s case since he already has a Tommy John surgery on his record.
  • The injury bug also struck on the south side of Chicago, as the White Sox placed left-hander Gio Gonzalez on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 27) with a right groin strain.  Gonzalez’s first year with the Sox hasn’t been a smooth one, as he has a 5.11 ERA over 24 2/3 innings and a 1.5 HR/9 that is almost twice his 0.8 career average.  His most recent outing was, intriguingly, 3 2/3 inning of shutout relief against the Cubs, which could hint at Gonzalez’s role for the White Sox when he returns from the IL.

Quick Hits: Cardinals Coronavirus Update, Mize, Kimbrel

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The Cardinals and Brewers scheduled doubleheader for Sunday has been postponed, MLB announced in a statement. The Cardinals had 3 players and 1 staff member test positive for coronavirus this weekend with four pending tests still unresolved, tweets ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. The positive tests will affect the schedule for the next week as well. The Tigers and Cardinals were originally supposed to play a home-and-home pair of series this week in St. Louis and Detroit. Following the cases of coronavirus in St. Louis, however, all four games will be played in Detroit, including a doubleheader on Wednesday. The Brewers’ schedule will be unchanged, as they’ll head to Chicago to take on the White Sox.

  • Contrary to earlier speculation, Casey Mize will not make his major league debut for the Tigers on Sunday, writes The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen. Without a minor league pipeline in which to develop, many young players have made their debuts already this season, including highly-touted pitching prospects like Brady Singer of the Royals and Nate Pearson of the Blue Jays. For the time being, however, the Tigers continue to play coy with the future of Mize. Despite the rampant speculation that Mize would earn his promotion to take part in Sunday’s doubleheader, the Tigers finally tabbed Daniel Norris and Rony Garcia instead. Norris will make his 2020 debut after previously testing positive for coronavirus. Garcia, a 22-year-old Rule 5 pick from the Yankees, made his debut on Tuesday getting against the Royals. Garcia went 3 innings, giving up 3 runs, 2 of which were earned. 
  • The Cubs are considering moving Craig Kimbrel out of the closer’s role as the veteran fireballer has continued to surrender the long ball at an alarming rate, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian and others. Cubs manager David Ross was noncommital when asked to comment on the situation. Jesse Rogers of ESPN noted that Kimbrel has given up a rather shocking 11 home runs in just 22 innings since joining the Cubs midseason last year. Kimbrel is arguably one of the most successful closers the era, but he has yet to figure it out in Chicago. With the bases loaded in the seventh inning today, Ross turned the ball over to Jeremy Jeffress, who would be a top contender to replace Kimbrel. Though he too is coming off a difficult 2019, Jeffress does have experience closing out games (45 career saves). If today’s game was any indication, however, Ross may choose to deploy Jeffress in high-leverage moments while distributing closing opportunities piecemeal to some combination of Rowan Wick, Kyle Ryan, Kimbrel, and Jeffress.

Daniel Norris Returns To Player Pool

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The Tigers announced today that lefty Daniel Norris has been cleared to return to the team’s 60-man player pool. He had been recovering from COVID-19 and awaiting consecutive negative tests.

It’s good to see Norris already clear of infection and ready to return to action. The timing is such that he’s likely to require some further work before he’s able to suit up in regular season action, but he can now begin building towards that goal.

This was already shaping up to be a decisive season for the 27-year-old southpaw. The former top prospect is in the middle of his arbitration years but still hasn’t fully established himself as a reliable rotation piece. And the Tigers have several young guns nipping at his heels.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Detroit organization handles its staff this year. Norris is sure to get a good look in some capacity. If the club wants to maximize his exposure to MLB hitting, perhaps it will deploy him in some kind of piggyback or multi-inning relief role while he builds up his pitch count early in the season.

Filling Out The Tigers’ Starting Rotation

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UPDATE: Zimmermann has been placed on the 45-day injured list, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck and others (Twitter links). The Tigers aren’t ruling him out for the season yet.

TODAY: Jordan Zimmermann is dealing with the same sort of forearm soreness that sapped him of much of the 2019 season, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. If he can stay healthy – a big if – Zimmermann would look to make the most of a short season by proving his arm still plays at the major league level. This will be the final year of the five-year, $110MM pact he signed with the Tigers before the 2016 season.

It’s been a tough couple of years for Zimmermann, who will end his contract without ever making 30 starts in a season after doing so in each of his final four seasons with the Nationals. Despite the precipitous drop in performance, the Tigers were nonetheless turning to Zimmermann as a veteran stopgap in a rotation that will soon be overrun by high-upside prospects like Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, Franklin Perez, Casey Mize, and Joey Wentz. The rotation is already without Daniel Norris, who has yet to pitch in camp after testing positive for coronavirus.

In the meantime, the Tigers are scrambling to fill out the rotation behind ace Matthew Boyd. Veteran Ivan Nova was brought in to soak up innings (34 starts, 187 innings in 2019), and Spencer Turnbull figures to slot in somewhere in the middle of the rotation after a mostly-strong showing in 2019. Turnbull went 3-17 last season with a 4.61 ERA/3.99 FIP. He’s done a nice job of limiting long balls throughout his two seasons in the majors, and if he can improve upon some control issues that led to an AL-high 16 hit batters and 3.6 BB/9, the Tigers hope Turnbull can level off his 4.76 career ERA and land closer to his 3.88 career FIP mark.

Beyond those three, the Tigers are working on extending the innings of Dario Agrazal, Shao-Ching Chiang, Hector Santiago, and Tyler Alexander to potentially fill out the rotation. Former Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer also has a chance to get some rotation innings, writes McCosky. Fulmer missed all of 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Of the youngsters in camp, Mize probably has the best shot of cracking the rotation. Under normal circumstances, Mize would be ticketed for Triple-A after 22 starts with a 2.55 ERA in Double-A last year, but without minor league games to further his development, count Mize among the many young stars with a slightly better chance of breaking into the big leagues sometime during the shortened 2020 season. Seven days on the taxi squad will be enough for the Tigers to secure an extra year of service time, notes McCosky, but manager Ron Gardenhire doesn’t plan on making any official decisions until knowing more about the health of Zimmermann and Norris.

Daniel Norris Away From Camp Due To Coronavirus Protocols

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11:41am: Norris has tested positive, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports.

10:39am: Tigers lefty Daniel Norris is away from Summer Camp pursuant to the coronavirus protocols, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports on Twitter. It is not clear whether he has personally tested positive for an infection.

The good news here is that Norris indicates he’s not presently experiencing any deleterious side effects. The southpaw adds that he’s at full strength otherwise.

Even if Norris has not contracted the virus or does not experience symptoms, he’ll have to wait a while before returning to camp. He will have to register negative for COVID-19 on two consecutive tests.

Norris, 27, remains an interesting and uncertain part of the picture for the Tigers. He threw 144 1/3 innings of 4.49 ERA ball last year, compiling 7.8 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9, a 42.6% groundball rate, and 1.56 homers allowed per nine innings. The results and the peripherals suggested that Norris performed as a back-of-the-rotation starter — a useful player, but perhaps not what once seemed possible for the former to prospect.

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