MLB Rumors: Washington Nationals will look to trade Derek Norris
After signing Matt Wieters, the Washington Nationals will now look to move their other veteran catcher.
The market for free agent catcher Matt Wieters was slow to develop this offseason, but the Washington Nationals swooped in and signed him to a two-year, $21 million deal on Tuesday. The Nationals seemed to address their need for a veteran catcher by acquiring Derek Norris from the San Diego Padres back in early December, but the chance to sign a theoretical upgrade like Wieters obviously couldn’t be turned down.
With the designated hitter spot not an option for most of their season, the Nationals are not an ideal spot for two starting-caliber catchers to have a place in the regular lineup. Norris has become an obvious trade candidate between now and Opening Day, and Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post has confirmed that notion directly from manager Dusty Baker.
Dusty implied that the Nationals will hunt for a landing spot for Norris: "there's always someone looking for a front line catcher."
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 21, 2017
It’s a bit of an overstatement by Baker to call Norris a “front line catcher”, but he has averaged 13 home runs and 53 RBI per season over the last three seasons while offering positive Wins Above Replacement (WAR) defensively in all three campaigns.
The Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers were among the teams rumored to be interested in Wieters to some degree recently, and they all could now be in the market to trade for Norris. Wieters’ old team, the Baltimore Orioles, could also consider a deal for Norris.
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The Nationals shouldn’t expect to get something of great value or instant impact for Norris. But he is due to make a reasonable $4.2 million this year, with one more year of arbitration eligibility left, and multiple teams could still use an upgrade behind the plate.