When Bud Norris was signed to a one-year deal just as spring training began, the Cardinals really had nothing specific in mind for the 33-year-old righthander.
Adam Wainwright was coming off elbow surgery, so Norris, who had spent all but one of his nine seasons as a starter, was insurance for that. Having closed for much of the 2017 season with the Los Angeles Angels, Norris was a candidate for that, too, but Luke Gregerson had been given a two-year deal to do that, so it commonly was assumed that Norris might wind up in the back end of the bullpen but probably not in the ninth inning, if he wasn’t a starter.