Former Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt agreed to terms on a one year, $18.5 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles today. Bassitt, who turns 37 next Sunday, spent the last three seasons with the Blue Jays. He was originally drafted by the White Sox, but spent the bulk of his MLB career as an Oakland A, with a one year stint with the Mets before signing in Toronto.
He was effective last season, making 31 starts and posting a 3.96 ERA over 170.1 innings. He moved to the bullpen for the playoffs, logging a 1.04 ERA over seven appearances and 8.2 innings and was a solid contributor to the World Series run. Overall, he gave the Jays 541.1 innings with a 3.89 ERA. That innings total ranks ninth in the majors over the past three seasons, while the ERA was 5% better than league average. He was exactly the kind of workhorse #3 they’d hoped for when they signed him, and it was great to have him on the team.
With the additions of Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce early in free agency, it doesn’t seem like the team was serious about bringing him back, though. With Cease, plus Kevin Gausman signed for one more year, the emergence of Trey Yesavage, and (theoretically) Shane Bieber also taking a spot, he’d have had to battle with Jose Berrios for the #5 spot even before the Ponce signing. Given his track record, it makes sense that he’d pursue a more guaranteed starting job.
It’s unfortunate for us that that job comes in Baltimore. The Orioles project to have one of the best offenses in baseball, with homegrown starts Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Jackson Holliday paired with free agent slugger Pete Alonso, but their rotation is a weak spot that had looked like it might keep them out of the top tier of AL contenders. Bassitt gives them a steady hand to back up the mercurial Shane Baz and the talented but often injured Trevor Rogers at the top of the rotation. He doesn’t solve a lack of top end pitching talent, and they still project behind the Yankees, Jays and Red Sox, but the gap is closed a bit and the AL East becomes even more of a gauntlet.
That aside, I wish Bassitt well. He was a great addition to the team while he was here, and seemed pretty likeable. I hope he pitches well enough to be traded to a contender in the NL at the deadline.
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