The Padres have signed righty Bud Norris, according to a team announcement. San Diego also selected the contract of righty Colin Rea and designated reliever Dale Thayer and infielder Taylor Lindsey for assignment to create roster space, according to Scott Miller of Bleacher Nation (via Twitter) and MLB.com’s Corey Brock (Twitter link).
Norris, 30, was recently designated and released by the Orioles. He owns a 7.05 ERA over 66 1/3 innings on the year, with 6.8 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9. Baltimore will pay the balance of Norris’s $8.8MM salary on the year, less a pro-rated portion of the league minimum for whatever time he spends on the Padres’ active roster.
Of course, the Friars will hope for more from Norris, who threw 342 frames over the past two seasons with much better results. Over that span, he permitted 3.92 earned runs per nine while averaging 7.5 K/9 versus 3.1 BB/9. He’ll look to regain some value before hitting free agency again after the season, but he’ll have to do so from the bullpen. Padres GM A.J. Preller confirmed that will be Norris’s role, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets, explaining: “We’re intrigued in a shorter role, to see how his stuff plays up for the rest of the year.”
San Diego will also see what it has in the 25-year-old Rea, who has steadily climbed the system after originally being selected in the 12th round. This year, he carries a 1.95 ERA across 101 2/3 innings in the upper minors, though he has not performed as well in his time at the Triple-A level (26 2/3 innings over six starts with 6.8 K/9 vs. 4.0 BB/9).
Thayer, 34, entered the season coming off of three straight strong campaigns in San Diego. Last year was his best: 65 1/3 innings with a 2.34 ERA and 8.5 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9. While Thayer outperformed the expectations of ERA estimators over that span, he seemed at worst to be a steady middle reliever.
But this season has been different. Over 37 2/3 innings, Thayer has posted a 4.06 ERA that actually seems somewhat lucky in light of his peripherals. He has seen his strikeout rate drop to less than six per nine while allowing over three-and-a-half batters to reach for every nine innings pitched.
As for Lindsey, he came to San Diego as a key part of last year’s Huston Street deal. The 23-year-old former first-round pick has scuffled in the upper minors since joining the Padres organization. Splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A this year, Lindsey owns a .197/.294/.298 slash with four home runs and four steals over 272 plate appearances.
Of course they do. Loading up on pitchers who may be able to improve in a pitcher friendly park.
if Norris regains his form, or least pitches like a 4/5 and Rea shows he can pitch you can expect to see Ross and/or cashner dealt for sure during the winter meetings and them getting a young arm back.
If neither shows anything it would be harder to trade Ross and Cashner going into the year SD hosts the ASG
Very true. They need to have some players who can reasonably be considered all-stars next year when San Diego hosts.
Preller said Norris would pitch out of the pen. From what has been said so far, they are looking at him to see if he has any value at all as a reliever, not a starter.
I’m not so sure about that. If they keep Shields/Cashner/Ross together, and they have options for the back of the rotation, they can afford to think hard about offering Kennedy a serious offer or looking elsewhere. There is a lot of good starting pitching hitting the free agent market this winter, so that effectively devalues Cashner and Ross. Why should I trade away assets to get an arm when I can just pay for one?
Want your career back?
Go with The Padres and Darren Balaley. Good choice for Bud.
Surprised on the DFA’s. Dale Thayer has been decent ever since he came to the Padres and Lindsey is a former first rounder. i was expecting it to be Chris Rearick.
Yea I was also expecting Rearick
Lindsey’s been in AA most of the season. I think he was on the 40-man for Rule 5 protection. He’ll probably just drop off the 40-man only to pop up there again this winter.
Thayer has been decent to awful this season. Last year he was surprisingly good, but this year hasn’t been as effective. This isn’t a surprise to us fans who have watched him all season. He’ll likely accept an assignment to AAA and work his way back up.
If Lindsey was good enough that we felt compelled to protect him from Rule 5 then he’ll be good enough for someone to claim him. He’s still only 23, costs nothing and has options. I’m kinda mad that they DFA’d Thayer after he’s been the most consistent member of our bullpen for about 3 years now. He only had a couple bad appearances right before he went on the DL and right after. Won’t be surprised to see either of them get claimed. Lindsey was pretty highly valued by the Angels so maybe they will take him back, lol.
He was demoted from AAA to AA and is hitting .197 so far this year. I dont think the Padres are worried about him getting claimed.
Lindsey had regressed and hasn’t had a strong track record since rookie ball in 2014. He hasn’t really done much at double or triple a in over 1,000 PA.
And Thayer is 34 who’s been replaced by Maurer as the 7th inning guy.
Lindsey wasn’t Prellers so it was an easy choice despite him being 23. Also gives more playing time to McElroy who’s faired better at triple A.
Rearick at least had a decent track record to fall back on last year and the year before at double a. He pitched 2.72 at triple a last year.
I would not be surprised if a rebuilding team took a look at Lindsey. Worst case scenario they try and sneak him through waivers. He would be able to be maintained due to the fact that he has only been in the minors for 6 seasons and wouldn’t qualify for minor league free agency until NEXT season. I would definitely take a look
Good thing for Bud, hope he gets his stuff back. He’s a great arm out of the pen for sure, maybe just as good from the bump to start in the rotation.
Padres are an interesting study this year. Next year could be more fun.
Lindsey was the Angels #1 prospect last year.. Once again another prospect has shown that they usually flame out.. He is young and can still turn his career around but had the Angels held onto him they would be looking foolish right now. I am looking forward to when the overvaluing of prospects era finally comes to an end and GM’s get back to the way things should be before writers/fans started thinking a teams #1-#10 prospects were sure fire future All Stars and raise hell when a GM trades them for anything but a current All-Star with years of control remaining..
Or even refuses to trade them for that (I’m looking at you, Red Sox)
Lindsey was the #1 prospect sure, but it was a terrible system that has maybe gotten a bit better. It’s sort of like being the Rockies’ “ace”. It’s not like he was even close to as highly valued as guys like Corey Seager or Byron Buxton.
I don’t see why the Angels don’t take another look at Lindsey. He was a borderline top 100 prospect here, and it may be the Angels hitting coaches know how to work with him.
Norris will do better in long relief and pitching at petco. Probably wins the cy young next year
My personal,consipracy theory holds that this SD implosion was intentional in order to make the rebrand of brown jerseys and logos more marketable over the winter… They can run out the “change” marketing scheme. I don’t really care…whatever it takes to get those sweet mocked unis on the players and away from what they’re rolling out now.