Potential Trade Destinations For Derek Norris

[Brent Maguire]

Interesting. He was terrible last year and his good plate discipline he had in Oakland has eroded. But he averaged 2 wins a year from '13-'15 and his pitch framing is above average. He's owed about 4 million dollars next year so I wonder if Eppler tries to squeeze him in and move Perez to AAA. A rebounded version of Norris would provide a serious offensive boost. It's just worth wondering if he'll bounce back(escalated K rate last year). 

[Chuck]

Norris has had a solid spring, hitting .400 with two homers and three RBI.

[AngelStew43]

If he makes it through unclaimed, which he should, I doubt he'll sign here.  Probably back to Oakland.

[Dtwncbad]

Norris was released.  Angels can grab him.  Part of the fun of being a fan is hoping for a big value find.  I just have a gut feeling (which is worth nothing) that Norris is going to be better in 2017 than what the Angels currently have on the roster.  I would be very happy to take a chance on this guy.

[CanadianHalo]

Just one of those things that makes too much sense!

So obviously it won't happen 

 

[ettin]

Defensively our catching corps has been really sharp in Spring Training so far, however batting-wise Maldonado and Perez have not been doing so hot. Acquiring Norris would allow the Angels to either option Perez or trade him to a team in need such as the Rockies for instance.

Personally I don't particularly care what happens here or not. I really have liked how Perez in particular has looked behind the dish in his limited ST action so whatever Eppler decides here is fine in my little world.

[Glen]

He'll sign with Oakland. He'll hit .215 against the rest of the league but .460 against us. After the ASB we'll trade Jahma Jonesfor him. A week later he'll break his leg in a collision at home plate.

[arch stanton]

.186/.255/.328 with 139 Ks in 458 PAs. I just don't see what makes anyone think he'll bounce back enough to be an upgrade

[eaterfan]

13 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

.186/.255/.328 with 139 Ks in 458 PAs. I just don't see what makes anyone think he'll bounce back enough to be an upgrade

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/raburry01.shtml

Look at Ryan Raburn's last 5 years.

Plus, is it that hard to imagine he'll bounce back to beat .209/.244/.325? The bar isn't very high.

[Glen]

And, he's white.

[ettin]

4 hours ago, arch stanton said:

.186/.255/.328 with 139 Ks in 458 PAs. I just don't see what makes anyone think he'll bounce back enough to be an upgrade

These are just some thoughts arch not advocating one way or the other:

1) Derek's BABIP was 53 points lower in 2016 versus his career BABIP so there was definitely some bad luck in his numbers.

2) Norris' exit velocity was actually 84.2 mph in 2016 versus 82.9 in 2015 and he was hitting the ball about 20 feet farther last season.

3) The exit velocity is also reflected in FanGraph's Hard% contact numbers where he went from 28.8% in 2015 to 34.4% in 2016 which is a significant jump.

4) His line drive % in 2016 was a healthy 21.9% in 2016 which is higher than his average 19.7% career number. Also his fly ball % was slightly elevated meaning his GB% dropped significantly (actually 6.5%) which points back to some of the really bad luck we saw from his BABIP numbers.

5) In particular he completely fell off a cliff against LHP as he was 92 points below his career average BABIP against them (30 point below average against RHP).

6) He actually improved his LD% against RHP but if you look at his spray chart you see that he turned the ball over quite a bit to the left side of the infield.

7) Derek is a pull hitter for sure but, outside of his higher K% last year, there is no reason to think that he cannot return closer to his career line. Combined with his pitch framing ability and average defense he'd make a good backup catcher somewhere I think.

[arch stanton]

2 hours ago, ettin said:

These are just some thoughts arch not advocating one way or the other:

1) Derek's BABIP was 53 points lower in 2016 versus his career BABIP so there was definitely some bad luck in his numbers.

2) Norris' exit velocity was actually 84.2 mph in 2016 versus 82.9 in 2015 and he was hitting the ball about 20 feet farther last season.

3) The exit velocity is also reflected in FanGraph's Hard% contact numbers where he went from 28.8% in 2015 to 34.4% in 2016 which is a significant jump.

4) His line drive % in 2016 was a healthy 21.9% in 2016 which is higher than his average 19.7% career number. Also his fly ball % was slightly elevated meaning his GB% dropped significantly (actually 6.5%) which points back to some of the really bad luck we saw from his BABIP numbers.

5) In particular he completely fell off a cliff against LHP as he was 92 points below his career average BABIP against them (30 point below average against RHP).

6) He actually improved his LD% against RHP but if you look at his spray chart you see that he turned the ball over quite a bit to the left side of the infield.

7) Derek is a pull hitter for sure but, outside of his higher K% last year, there is no reason to think that he cannot return closer to his career line. Combined with his pitch framing ability and average defense he'd make a good backup catcher somewhere I think.

Isn't this a lot of the same argument that was made to justify Nava last year?

[arch stanton]

6 hours ago, eaterfan said:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/raburry01.shtml

Look at Ryan Raburn's last 5 years.

Plus, is it that hard to imagine he'll bounce back to beat .209/.244/.325? The bar isn't very high.

You convinced me. Let's go get Ryan Raburn

[ettin]

14 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

Isn't this a lot of the same argument that was made to justify Nava last year?

I don't know, I certainly didn't bring up most if not all of those points regarding him. The only concerning thing was the strikeout rate which is troublesome by itself.

[Rico]

13 hours ago, arch stanton said:

.186/.255/.328 with 139 Ks in 458 PAs. I just don't see what makes anyone think he'll bounce back enough to be an upgrade

Yes, but have you seen Perez and Maldonado this spring?  At this point it wouldn't hurt anything to bring in another warm body.

[Glen]

On 3/11/2017 at 9:41 PM, Chuckster70 said:

Norris has had a solid spring, hitting .400 with two homers and three RBI.

That's more half of our starters.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

was released yesterday