Last month left-hander Jordan Norberto was released by the A’s after being sidelined by an elbow injury and the reliever underwent Tommy John surgery this week.
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Norberto has filed a grievance against the A’s, claiming that he should have been placed on the disabled list rather than released because he was already injured when Oakland optioned him to the minors at the end of spring training.
“I expected more from the team after the way I pitched for them last year,” Norberto told Slusser, adding that he was “disappointed” by how the whole thing played out. “But I’ll work hard and get a job with someone else.”
When the A’s released Norberto he was on the Triple-A disabled list with what was being called a strained elbow and was about halfway into a six-week recovery timetable. However, if Norberto was actually hurt earlier than that, before being demoted to the minors in late March, that information wasn’t reported on publicly. Could be an interesting case.
Meanwhile, he’ll miss all of this season and probably most of next season, wiping away any career momentum Norberto had after posting a 2.77 ERA and 46/22 K/BB ratio in 52 innings for the A’s last year.