30 Games, 30 Astros
#27: Bud Norris
Some of you drink Bud Light or Bud Heavy, but at one point in time the entire city of Houston was drinking up what Bud Norris was pouring. Was he very good? No. Was he better than what we had at the time? Absolutely. You’ve heard of RBF, but have you heard of RPF? Resting Poop Face? Because that is what Bud Norris has. No shade at all, just it looks like he always has to poop.
This isn’t a roast of Bud Norris I promise. This is actually to give him some flowers. For those that were alive or around during Bud Norris’ tenure with the Astros, you remember. For those that weren’t, save me the trouble of typing out our record and just go look at Baseball Reference. In summary: we sucked so bad. It felt like at times we were genuinley trying to lose games (because we probably were) and every good player we had immediately got traded. That is, except, for Bud Norris.
Bud Norris, a 6th round pick out of Cal Poly, was at one point in time the Astros #2 rated prospect. He made his debut in 2009, making 10 promising starts. The Astros thought they found their ace of the future. Sadly, that was not the case. Norris continued to put up mediocre numbers over the next 3 years with the club, eventually getting traded to the Baltimore Orioles. The haul for Bud Norris was legendary Astros name LJ Hoes and, current closer, Josh Hader (yes, I know he was traded around before coming back as FA).
So why did Bud Norris make this list? The best ERA he ever put up in an Astros uniform (or in general) was a 3.77. This is where nostalgia comes into play in these rankings. When Bud Norris made his first career start, I begged my mom to let me stay up and watch him pitch. I was drinking the Kool-Aid so much. Bud Norris could do no wrong in my eyes when I was a kid. I would legitimately sneak out of my bed (once my mom was asleep of course) and go back into the game room just to watch the Astros lose 100 games. And who started 118 games and lost 46 of them? Bud Norris.
The dark days look even darker given our recent stroke of good luck here in Houston. Thank goodness for guys like Bud Norris that helped keep us mediocre so we could get better draft picks. Enjoy retirement Bud.
