From Chronicle Staff Writer Susan Slusser at the Coliseum

Quick breaking news: Catcher Derek Norris, like Tommy Milone from the Gio Gonzalez deal, was called up this morning and is in the lineup. Josh Donaldson was sent out, along with left-hander Pedro Figueroa, because left reliever Jordan Norberto (shoulder) came off the DL.

UPDATE: Manager Bob Melvin says that Norris will split time with starter Kurt Suzuki – Norris isn’t here to sit. But Melvin also said this is not like the Jason Kendall situation when Suzuki came up in 2007. Kendall was traded five weeks after Suzuki’s arrival, whereas the A’s aren’t looking to move Suzuki.

Norris said that his Triple-A manager, Darren Bush, told him that he was going to make an appearance this morning dressed as Dinger, the Sacramento mascot. Norris groaned “Really?” and then Bush told him the truth – he’s coming to the big leagues for the first time.

“I’m just trying to focus on my breathing,” Norris said.

Suzuki sat down with Norris for 15 minutes and he told him to ask any questions at all, he’s here to help, and Suzuki said, “Go get ’em,” Norris said.

Suzuki knows that he has not been performing well, and he told me, “Maybe this will make me a better baseball player. I’m happy to be here, I enjoy this team, the guys, I love the coaching staff. I am still here – and I am looking to get back on track and be the player I can be.

“I’m not thinking of this as a death sentence. There is nothing I want to do more than perform well for the Oakland A’s. It sucks I haven’t been performing the way I can, but I’ve been working on some things and I’m feel like I’m getting close to getting there.”



Melvin acknowledged that this is an unusual situation saying, “The catcher of the present and the catcher of the future have to coexist. It’s different, but we feel as an organization this is what we’re best suited to right now.”



This is something of a surprise: The A’s initially had discussed keeping Norris, 23, at Triple-A Sacramento for a full season because this is his first year at that level. He’s batting .273 with eight homers and 36 RBIs.

Starting catcher Kurt Suzuki has struggled, batting .215 with zero homers and 16 RBIs, but he is highly valued for his work with the A’s young starters. It would be surprising if he doesn’t get the bulk of the starts, but maybe Norris will get worked in the way Suzuki did during the middle of the 2007 season.

Ken Rosenthal recently floated the idea that Suzuki is on the trading block, but given that the A’s have so little experience in their rotation and that even their closer is a rookie, it’s hard to imagine them moving their experienced catcher and putting Norris in full-time this season.

Of course, if he comes in and performs well, perhaps this could wind up a Mark Ellis-Jemile Weeks situation. Weeks played so well while Ellis was out with a hamstring strain, he never left the second base spot and longtime second baseman Ellis was traded within weeks. I’d be stunned if that happened, but you never know – this is a team that rewards players who come up from the minors and demonstrate immediately that they belong here.

Other A’s news today: Josh Reddick, 0 for his past 19, is getting the day off against lefty Clayton Kershaw.

Here’s the lineup: Crisp CF, Weeks 2B, Cespedes DH, Gomes LF, Inge 3B, Moss 1B, Norris C, Cowgill RF, Pennington SS.