Guardians designate veteran LHP for assignment

The Guardians designated left-hander Daniel Norris for assignment, according to their transactions tracker at MLB.com. His roster spot will go to pitching prospect Gavin Williams, whose promotion was reported Tuesday.

Norris, 30, was selected to the club’s roster just four days ago. He made one scoreless appearance of two innings but has now quickly lost his roster spot to make way for Williams. Prior to having his contract selected, he was pitching in Triple-A after signing a minor league deal with the Guards in March. He was serving as a swingman at that level, logging 37 2/3 innings over 14 appearances, nine of those being starts. He had a 6.93 ERA in that time, striking out 17.6% of opponents while walking 13.2%.

The lefty once seemed like a capable big league starter, finding himself on top 100 prospect lists while with the Blue Jays. He was traded to the Tigers as part of the 2015 deal that sent David Price to Toronto, and he posted an ERA of 3.38 for the Tigers the next year. Injuries and underperformance gradually pushed him to the bullpen in subsequent seasons.

He’s shown flashes of promise at times, but various clubs have tried to unlock it without much success. He’s bounced to the Brewers, Cubs, back to the Tigers, then the Reds and Guardians in recent seasons, but those opportunities have resulted in a 5.58 ERA dating back to the start of the 2021 season. He struck out 24.5% of batters in that time but walked 12.3%.

The Guards will now have a week to trade Norris or pass him through waivers. He has way more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency in the event that he clears waivers, so it’s possible he’ll be back on the open market in the coming days.