Following three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, right-hander Chris Bassitt is joining an American East rival, agreeing to a one-year, $18.5 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles, multiple media outlets reported Wednesday night.
Bassitt, who will be 37 on Feb. 22, reportedly will receive a $3 million signing bonus once he passes a physical. If he starts 27 games, which he has done each of the past five seasons, he will receive an extra $500,000, per the reports.
Over the past five seasons, Bassitt has been one of the game’s most durable arms, ranking eighth among all major league pitchers with 880 1/3 innings.
Entering his 12th season, Bassist was a key piece of Toronto’s staff on the team’s run to the World Series in 2025, finishing 11-9 with a 3.96 ERA and 166 strikeouts over 170 1/3 innings. In the American League Championship Series and the World Series, he pitched 8 2/3 innings of one-run relief with 10 strikeouts.
Bassitt is the latest addition to an overhauled Orioles team that has guaranteed more than $200 million this offseason in free agent signings. The veteran righty joins slugger Pete Alonso and closer Ryan Helsley, along with right-hander Zach Eflin, who re-signed this winter. Baltimore also acquired right-hander Shane Baz and left fielder Taylor Ward in separate deals.
A 16th-round pick of the Chicago White Sox in 2011, Bassitt is 83-64 with a 3.64 ERA, 1,191 strikeouts and 409 walks over 232 games (218 starts) with the White Sox, Athletics, New York Mets and Blue Jays. He is 1-1 with a 3.04 ERA in 10 postseason games (three starts), notching 21 strikeouts and six walks in 23 2/3 innings.
