Astros trade rumors: Bud Norris scratched from Tuesday start

With rumors swirling as the July 31 trade deadline looms, the Astros made a potentially impactful move on Tuesday, scratching Bud Norris from his scheduled start against the Orioles and putting Lucas Harrell into his place.

RT @JeffPassan: Sources: Bud Norris very likely to be dealt today, and Pittsburgh could be landing spot.

— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) July 30, 2013

That's right, boys and girls. This is not a drill. I repeat. This is not a drill.

Prepare for overreaction, underreaction and all reactions in between. At the very least, Luhnow and Co. are going to be trolling us pretty hard over the next few hours as they work on this deal. Norris getting scratched from his start is just a start.

Apparently, the Pirates are also talking about Norris. They won't deal Gregory Polanco...yet...but they are talking about Tyler Glasnow:

Astros scratched Bud Norris from his start today. Pirates won't deal Gregory Polanco for him. Houston does like Glasnow, a 6-7 monster RHP.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2013

As I said on the podcast, any deal with the Pirates that doesn't include Alen Hanson would be a failure by Luhnow, since he's trying to hoarde ALL of the second basemen.

Oh, and then there's the intrigue that the Orioles may be making a push to trade for Norris today, so he didn't start against him tonight. What with the competitive AL East race and all, the O's may just need every trick in their book to win the division.

Buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy few hours.

Especially since we are hearing now that the Astros may have just bumped Norris back a day and that he still expects to start against the Orioles. Oh, and that Bo Porter will "address the Norris situation" with the media later today.

Astros tell us Bud Norris has not been traded at this point and Bo Porter will address situation during his media session.

— Julia Morales (@JuliaMoralesCSN) July 30, 2013

Ummm, okay, Astros Spin Monster. I totally believe you now.

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• Profiling newest Astros prospect Danry Vasquez
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• Astros create closer, flip closer, rinse, repeat