Bud Norris bides his time during batting practice in front of a Budweiser ad in the Dodger Stadium outfield. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff photographer)
The Dodgers activated pitcher Alex Wood from the 60-day disabled list today, as expected. Pitcher Bud Norris was designated for assignment to make room for Wood on the 40-man roster.
“For our roster right now it just made sense to get Alex (Wood) going,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. (Video link.)
Wood will join the Dodgers bullpen. He’ll work as a situational lefty, and Roberts said Tuesday that he’d prefer to bring Wood in at the beginning of innings at the outset. He’s 1-4 with a 3.99 earned-run average in 10 starts this season, with 62 strikeouts in 56 ⅓ innings.
Norris had a 6.54 earned-run average in 13 games (nine starts) for the Dodgers this season. He took Clayton Kershaw‘s place in the rotation when Kershaw went down with a back injury in June. But he never had a regular role after being felled by a back injury in his final start of July. By September, he’d been relegated to the bullpen.
Norris recently told me that he chose entrance music that was both good and underappreciated. He chose this for his last home start on Aug. 26 against the Chicago Cubs:
Alex Wood posted a 3.99 ERA in 10 starts for the Dodgers this season. He hasn’t pitched since May because of an elbow injury. (Associated Press photo)
In recent days, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said pitcher Alex Wood was on track to be activated from the disabled list today. Wood said himself that would be the case just this afternoon.
Then, a few minutes later, when Roberts addressed reporters in the third-base dugout, he dropped a surprise by saying Wood will be activated tomorrow instead.
“We decided to wait another day,” Roberts said. “He’ll be activated tomorrow. We have to make, obviously, a roster move, and we haven’t decided which direction we’re going to go.”