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Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer said the Cubs weren’t done signing players, and he was telling the truth. Here’s one I missed late last night:
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
Daniel Norris has had injury issues over the years — in eight big-league seasons he’s never once made 30 starts — but at one time he was a Top 20 prospect, and has shown flashes of brilliance during his career with the Tigers, and part of last year with the Brewers.
He’s started only one game since 2019 so it would seem to me that the Cubs are looking at Norris as a lefty reliever of some type, rather than as a starter. Despite a somewhat-high walk rate last year, he did strike out 58 in 57 innings combined between Detroit and Milwaukee.
Since this is a MLB deal, per Jesse Rogers, the Cubs are now in territory where someone will have to be designated for assignment to make room. There are now four players who have signed MLB deals with the Cubs whose signings have not been announced: Steven Brault, Chris Martin, Seiya Suzuki and Norris, and there are only three players left who could be placed on the 60-day IL (Adbert Alzolay, Miguel Amaya and David Bote).
As always, we await developments.