As bullpen finally settles down, Nats say no to Norris

That minor league deal the Nationals were working on with Bud Norris? It isn't happening anymore.

And that Nationals bullpen that had been a train wreck through the season's first eight games? It might be starting to come together.

Norris had been invited to West Palm Beach earlier this week to work out at extended spring training as Nationals baseball and medical personnel determined whether they believed the veteran right-hander was worth signing right now as a potential Band-Aid for their woeful bullpen.

In the end, they decided the answer was no. Norris, according to a source familiar with the discussions, appeared to need several weeks to get himself ready for big league action, and the club didn't feel like it was worth it to sign him.

Perhaps the performance of the actual major league bullpen this week in Philadelphia helped assuage some fears about the state of this group and convinced general manager Mike Rizzo and others to stick with what they've got for now.

When the Nationals arrived in Philadelphia on Monday, their bullpen sported a major league-worst 10.80 ERA and 2.700 WHIP. Opponents owned a 1.037 OPS against these relievers, who had allowed a staggering 53.8 percent of inherited runners to score.

But the three-game series against the Phillies offered a glimpse of what this group could still be when enough parts are working in unison. Nats relievers combined to allow only two runs and six hits in 11 1/3 innings. Their WHIP dropped to 0.882 (and it drops all the way to 0.618 if you take out Trevor Rosenthal's three-walk ninth inning Wednesday night). None of the four runners they inherited scored.

It's only three games, so it's way premature to declare everything is fixed. But there were some encouraging signs at Citizens Bank Park:

* Joe Ross tossed two scoreless innings, pitching on one day's rest after making his bullpen debut Sunday in New York.

* Wander Suero turned into a fireman, stranding two inherited runners Monday (after escaping a jam created by Rosenthal the previous day) and then tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts Wednesday.

* Tony Sipp retired both batters he faced, including Bryce Harper, though his quick departure Wednesday with shoulder stiffness is a bit of a concern.

* Rosenthal, though he walked three batters and allowed a run, recorded his first three outs of the season Wednesday. And his misses weren't nearly as bad as they had been before, with pitches just off the plate instead of out of the catcher's reach altogether.

We'll see if any of that was a sign of things to come or merely a blip on the radar when the Nationals return to action tonight against the Pirates, the start of a six-game homestand that also sees the Giants come to town.

But if nothing else, the most scrutinized bullpen in baseball did its part this week to change the narrative just a bit. And perhaps convince club officials they didn't need to make a desperation move to sign Norris after all.