Report: Rays, Derek Norris agree to 1-year deal

The Tampa Bay Rays have reportedly agreed to a deal with free-agent catcher Derek Norris, according to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports.

The deal, which is still pending a physical, is a one-year contract with no options according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Norris was weighing a couple of offers, but ultimately chose the Rays due to playing time, where he joins a catching corps that currently consists of Curt Casali and Luke Maile. Both of those players have been competing for the starting gig, but the signing of Norris - now the expected starter - likely relegates one to backup duty and the other to the minors. Maile was out-performing Casali with a .355/.394/.781 slash line through 31 spring at-bats.

Norris was released by the Washington Nationals after the team agreed to a one-year, $10.5-million deal with Matt Wieters this offseason. The signing of Wieters - combined with the fact that Jose Lobaton is still under team control for the next season - made Norris the odd man out.

While Norris is criticized for his throwing and receiving abilities, he's been one of the better hitting catchers in the majors over the past four seasons. Omitting his horrendous 2016 campaign, Norris ranked fifth in MLB among qualified catchers by wRC+ from 2013-15. That is some very selective sampling, though, as he struggled to the tune of a .583 OPS over 458 plate appearances last year.