Bud Norris

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Bud Norris left Sunday’s contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks with a back injury, per an announcement from the team.  

Continue for updates.

After spending the first part of this offseason trading players, the Atlanta Braves have added a pitcher to the mix by signing free agent Bud Norris. 

The Braves confirmed the one-year major league deal with Norris on Twitter. According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, Norris will make $2.5 million in 2016.

The Baltimore Orioles have been a pleasant surprise in the American League East thus far, but the club will have to replace one of its more dependable starting pitchers with Bud Norris hitting the disabled list. 

According to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun, Norris tweaked his groin during a bullpen session Wednesday. 

Earlier today, I named seven players guaranteed to be traded by the July 31st deadline. Not surprisingly, all seven will be free agents after the season and play on teams that aren't in playoff contention now and aren't expected to be a month from now. 

Since the Barry Bonds era came to a close, the San Francisco Giants have been winning games because of top-notch starting pitching.

However, this season, it's been different. San Francisco's rotation has been horrendous, and the bullpen is falling apart. Surprisingly, the Giants are 35-31 and right in the thick of things in the NL West, but if they don't make improvements soon, they'll fall behind.

Finding strikeouts late in your draft is not something that is particularly easy to do.  Generally, one of the reasons pitchers fall on draft day is because they lack in one area (most notably, no upside in strikeouts).  However, there are a few pitchers out there who could significantly help you in the category.  Here are five pitchers who are being picked after No. 216, on average, and I have projected to strikeout at least 170 batters in 2011.

Although the Houston Astros have spent a majority of the 2010 season in the cellar of the National League Central, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the team’s future.

Today, we’re going to look at 15 solid reasons to get pumped up about next year’s Astros squad.

Let’s begin by taking a look at five honorable mention candidates before quickly narrowing down to the top 10 players on Houston’s young and talented depth chart with the highest probability of becoming future MLB stars.

Nothing is better for a struggling Houston Astros team than a trip to St. Louis? That doesn't make any sense. St. Louis is in first place in the NL Central. Houston? They aren't in first place, or second, or third or fourth. Nope, they proudly reside in fifth place, one game back of the powerful Pittsburgh Pirates.

And this is after a three game sweep of the Cardinals.  

Astros baseball! After two eight game losing streaks, a third place finish isn't impossible, just improbable! I think that would be a great slogan for the rest of the season.