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Jerry Coleman: Norris Joins The Orioles Playoff Push

Bud Norris
(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

A busy day for Orioles and Astros who made a trade while at the same time had to get ready to face each other. Bud Norris is now a member of the club that sent L.J. Hoes and minor league pitcher Josh Hader, along with a 2014 draft pick to a team that is in rebuilding mode. Norris, who has been the best pitcher for the worst team in baseball joins a contender and when he met with the Baltimore media about his new colors and leaving Houston he said, "You can't get your head wrapped around one city too much, it's really out of your hands. I have no say in the matter where I go and so forth and I don't have any no trade clauses or any of that in my contract. I am excited for the opportunity, just want to get on the field as soon as I can and go pitch. I do know they have a great young club, they have a lot of good players with Machado and Pac-man and all the rest that want to go out and play."

Acquiring Norris is just another signal that O's VP Dan Duquette is willing to make the necessary adjustments to keep the ball rolling and stay in the hunt for the playoffs. Bud Norris is not a C.C. Sabathia or Justin Verlander, however with Norris only fairly young, time will tell if he can become a "break out" starter and continue his success that got him to this stage in the game. The Orioles are hoping he can do that, and stabilize the rotation that includes Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez, and Wei-Yin Chen.

This move is a positive one, especially since Norris is under contract for 2 more seasons, but whether it takes the Orioles to the World Series, I don't know about that. Sometimes the best moves are the moves that are not made. Certainty the O's needed another arm to help them keep up with the division leaders, and also with the injury to Jason Hammel it was something that made a move to strengthen their pitching rotation and a player in Norris who is "very dependable," as Duquette mentioned before the game as he met with the media "The urgency is to have the team competitive and continue towards the playoffs so, we highly valued the two local kids we gave in the trade and it was very difficult to do that but in light of where the team is and what we are trying to accomplish, we thought we would take a run at it." The 28 year-old is a finesse pitcher so he won't breaking any radar guns anytime soon as he keeps it in the lower 90's and mixes his pitches a lot. But it's refreshing to see the Orioles as "buyers" and not "sellers", for a 2nd straight year.

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