It’s been a busy day for the Chicago Cubs. They kicked things off with free agent outfielder Seiya Suzuki. They followed that up by signing left-hander Steven Brault. They kept the party going with a deal for righty reliever David Robertson.
And now, they’re closing out the day with a big league deal for lefty reliever Daniel Norris.
The Cubs are signing another pitcher, lefty Daniel Norris, to a ML deal, per source. Was with Detroit and Milwaukee last year.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) March 17, 2022
Norris, 28, is a former tip-top prospect (#18 to Baseball America in 2015) who never quite panned out as a big league starter. So he made the switch to relief in 2020, where he was able to dial his fastball back up a bit (and eliminate his curveball), and it kinda worked for a while: 3.25 ERA, 3.60 xERA, 24.1 K%, 6.0 B%% in 2020.
But the regression stick hit hard in 2021, when Norris struggled through 57.0 innings for the Tigers and Brewers (he especially struggled with his command in Milwaukee).
But by now, I know to give the Cubs big league pitching development team the benefit of the doubt, especially when it comes to low risk, high-reward deals for (1) former stud prospects and (2) relief projects, in general. So I’m excited to see what he’s got. We’ll have more on the signing soon.