Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles and right-hander Bud Norris have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $5.3 million contract.
Norris made $3 million last season while posting a 4.18 ERA and 147/67 K/BB ratio over 176 2/3 innings between the Astros and Orioles, so he’ll nearly double his salary in his second year of arbitration. He remains under team control through 2015.
Norris has been mentioned as a possibility to fill the Orioles’ vacant closer role, but it appears that he’ll remain in the starting rotation to begin 2014.