SEPT. 28: The Dodgers have released Norris, reports MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (via Twitter).
SEPT. 20: The Dodgers announced today that they have designated right-hander Bud Norris for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for left-hander Alex Wood, who has been reinstated from the 60-day disabled list.
Norris, 31, signed a one-year, $2.5MM deal with the Braves this offseason and recovered from a brutal month of April to deliver a dominant performance in May and June (2.08 ERA in 47 2/3 innings between the rotation and bullpen). That strong run allowed the Braves to trade Norris, Dian Toscano and a PTBNL (Alec Grosser) to Los Angeles in exchange for minor league pitchers Caleb Dirks (originally drafted by Atlanta and reacquired in this deal) and Phil Pfeifer.
Norris started out quite well for the Dodgers and made a handful of very effective starts during his time in L.A., but he also mixed in his fair share of clunkers and was torched in four separate bullpen appearances. Ultimately, his Dodgers tenure will finish with a 6.54 ERA in 42 2/3 innings split between the rotation and the ’pen. While that’s not a terrific stepping stone back into the free-agent market for Norris, his impressive run with the Braves should pique the interest of some clubs looking for a buy-low candidate. Norris, after all, received a Major League deal this past winter on the heels of an even more disappointing 2015 campaign, and free agency will present teams with even fewer rotation options this coming winter.
C-ya, Bud..
Wood was looking better his last like 5 starts I think it was besides the start he got hurt in. I’m glad to have him back if he can pitch like he was. I am very glad we won’t have Norris on the playoff roster. That guy gave me a a lot of anxiety lol
Bye Buddy! Hope you find your dad!
Lol
^
Wow… Looks like the folks above forget he pitch a few good games after Kershaw went down. Those comments sound personal!
Like, two good ones. Everything else was awful.
Yeah, he fell apart pretty quickly. Went back to being the old Bud.
looks like people forgot about the perfect game Philip Humber threw a few years back… why isn’t he on a team??
Dallas Braden also threw a no-hitter, and he, and his skullet, is on ESPN…even journeyman pitchers get spotlighted occasionally.
IIRC Dallas got hurt and had to retire
Same with Humber. Like all Rice pitchers, he was heavily abused in college. Jeff Niemann is another example.
His father should round house kick the LA front office.
Why didn’t they just trade him to the diamondbacks probably could have got a couple of there top prospects
Lol
If he falls to the Indians, I hope they pick him up. Anyone with more than half of a year of MLB experience to be #5 in the rotation would be nice (at least for the rest of the regular season).
Good move
Not to worry… The kakabrainiacs will tender him a huge contract….
Lol stop commenting about genius boy Eppler
Thanks to Cardinals’ espionage, we learned that the Astros wanted Gregory Polanco for Norris. Thank goodness Huntington said “LOL, no thanks.”
Got Fisher and Hader though
The Giants need to do this with their bullpen
Well, I was hoping that trade would end up being a win-win for both the Dodgers and the Braves..
It truly looked like both sides won after Bud was making some strong starts, but unfortunately he then fell apart..
The Braves were more than happy to get Dirks back in their future bullpen plans. Dirks was nothing short of just filthy and dominant once he came back to the Braves!!
Pfeiffer has had some ups and downs, but Dirks was clearly the pitcher the Braves wanted most!!
Dirks will help highlight an excellent pen moving forward, and coupled with some combination of Chris Withrow, Ian Krol, Akeel Morris, AJ Minter, Jason Hursh, Mauricio Cabrera, Arodys Vizcaino, Bradley Roney, Daniel Winkler, and Paco Rodriguez the Braves have set themselves up with what should become one of the younger and more exciting bullpens in the NL…
Could not trust this guy to pitch a meaningful game, Hopefully, genius Friedman does not collect any more damaged pitchers so they don’t need to trade for guys like Norris. With the emerging DeLeon and Urias next year LA should be really something. Maybe Pirates or Cards can set Norris right.
You might want to hold off on that. DeLeon and Urias will be in AAA upon opening of next season to season. They also going to probably start Stewart late because he’s never thrown as much as he has those year. They are going to start them late so they are available for the playoffs. If they re sign Hill you will still see the #4 and #5 guys being oft injured guys try to claim a spot. So you will still be disgusted at least two months into the season lol.
And in related news Bud was picked up by the Angels.
Bud Norris has always carried such extreme platoon splits; I’ve never understood why a team just can’t commit to him as a bullpen piece to get right-handers out.
Braves could pick him up and use him as trade bait again maybe? I don’t really want him back cause I’d rather see our young pitchers struggle rather than see him struggle. But If he pitches like he can, then it’s a positive pick up.
He and Kelly Johnson could split a time share!