Bud Norris isn’t a household name, but he has quietly become one of the best pitchers available on the trading block this year. Ignore Norris’ 6-8 record – the right-handed starter is having a career year and there are plenty of reasons teams are keeping a close eye on him.
First things first: Norris has only six wins on the season. But playing for the Houston Astros, baseball’s worst team, that number isn’t so bad. The Astros weren’t expected to do much this season and that’s been the case. In fact, Houston has a total of only 33 wins and Norris’ six lead the team. Norris also leads the Astros in ERA (3.63), strikeouts (81), and WHIP (1.41), making him one of their few players to watch. The pitcher hasn’t been dominant by any means, but he’s clearly the best starter on the Astros and has become one of their most valuable commodities.
On a better team, Norris would certainly have more victories. All pitchers have bad luck starts, but Norris can’t seem to catch many breaks this season. In May, he had three starts where he pitched a total of 20 innings and gave up only four runs. Despite those strong efforts, Norris left without a win in all three games. In June, Norris gave up only six earned runs in 21 innings over three quality starts, but was left with an 0-2 mark. On a good team, Norris would have had a good chance to have ten wins by the All-Star break.
Norris is, of course, on the trading block. With so few starting pitchers on the market, it’s understandable that he’s one of the more sought after ones. Not only has he performed well this year but he comes with a low price tag for the rest of the season. Morris is only making $3 million in the last year of his current deal and is an incredible bargain.
The best part may be that Norris is under team control for a few more years and can’t become a free agent until 2016. He is up for arbitration this year and will surely command a higher salary than the $3 million he made this season—but he won’t be able to leave his new team as a free agent until after the 2015 season.
Another thing that teams love about Norris is that he’s only 28. He is in his prime and is a solid option as a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher that should have several more seasons of quality starts ahead of him. The hope is that his career year this season is only the beginning.
Add it all up and Norris is clearly in demand.
Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan said recently the Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and Toronto Blue Jays are all interested in Norris. MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli also says you can add the Baltimore Orioles to that list and for what it’s worth, the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo said last month that he expects a dozen teams to be interested in him by the time it’s all said and done.
All of that interest is sure to raise the asking price by Houston, right? Absolutely. CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman confirmed that by saying the Astros want two highly-rated prospects in return. Houston isn’t likely to get a team’s top two prospects – after all, Norris isn’t exactly a Cy Young candidate. However, the Astros might be able to poach two prospects near the bottom of a team’s top ten list if a franchise thinks Norris can give them good years in 2014 and 2015.
The fact is that while Norris isn’t one of baseball’s best pitchers, he’s one of the best available on the trading block. With so many teams in need of another starter, the Astros can and should ask for a lot in return.
