The St. Louis Cardinals have a new closer, and it’s not Greg Holland, but former St. Louis Cardinals killer Bud Norris.
The saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. In the St. Louis Cardinals case, if you can’t beat him, sign him — and that’s precisely what they did with (former) St. Louis Cardinals killa Bud Norris.
Even though the numbers for Bud Norris are nothing to write home about, he’d always pitch well against the St. Louis Cardinals — earning the nickname Cy Norris. Looking at his statistics against the Redbirds, they aren’t Clayton Kershaw type good, but in relative terms they indeed are.
His career record of 64-84 and 4.48 ERA make his 8-7 record, and 3.34 against the Birds on the Bat look, well, Cy Young-like in comparison. Keep in mind; the Houston Astros were TERRIBLE when Bud Norris (mainly) pitched against the St. Louis Cardinals as a starting pitcher.
However, for the first time in his career, Bud Norris worked (primarily) out of the bullpen for the Los Angeles Angels and had a bit of success, even collecting 19 saves in the process. According to SB Nation Viva El Birdos, he boasted a:
"3.90 FIP and 4.21 ERA with the FIP being about 10% better than league average. He struck out a career-high 28% of batters thanks to a change in his pitch mix."
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Bud Norris has built on last year’s success, collecting five saves already in the early campaign, and is now Mike Matheny‘s go-to guy in the 9th inning — due to the early struggles of Greg Holland.
To be fair, Greg Holland did not pitch during Spring training, so his defacto Spring training is occurring at the MLB level — he should be fine.
For the time being, Bud Norris is the man to bring the hammer down in the 9th inning. As I’m typing those words I hardly believe them, but they are true.
What’s made Bud Norris so effective? An upper 90’s fastball and wicked slider, and a ton of MLB experience. He’s taken his lumps, and now he’s ready to dish them out.
Is Bud Norris the long-term answer at closer for the St. Louis Cardinals? Probably not. But, it’s encouraging for Mike Matheny, Mike Maddux, and company that if Greg Holland doesn’t work out, there’s a Plan B.
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If Greg Holland turns things around, like he should, and Jordan Hicks continues his dominance, things are looking up for the St. Louis Cardinals. Oh yeah, there’s a guy in Alex Reyes eyeing a return soon, adding even more options to the Redbird pitching mix — a good “problem” to have.