The Baltimore Orioles have been among MLB’s most active teams this offseason. They signed first baseman Pete Alonso to a $150 million+ deal, and then landed reliever Ryan Helsley shortly after. They made a couple of small additions after that, but landed former Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt on Wednesday night.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Baltimore Orioles have agreed to a one-year deal with Chriss Bassitt on a $18.5 million deal. Bassitt is 36, and joins a Baltimore Orioles rotation that includes Trevor Rogers, Shane Baz, Zach Eflin, and Dean Kremer. The deal includes a $3 million signing bonus and 500K of incentives if he makes 27+ starts.
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Orioles to Sign Chris Bassitt
Just days before MLB spring training officially gets underway, Chris Bassitt is now a Baltimore Oriole. Bassitt had been one of the top names available on the starter market.
Mike Elias, president of baseball operations, has a reputation for signing veteran starters to one-year deals. He’s done so with names like Kyle Gibson and Charlie Morton in the past. They don’t always work out, but nothing about Chris Bassitt shows he’s slowing down.
GettyBlue Jays pitcher linked to four teams.
In fact, he’s one of those late-blooming starters, like Morton, who has gotten better after crossing his age-30 season.
Chris Bassitt was named an All-Star in 2021 with the then-Oakland Athletics, and really started t flourish as a starter after that stint with the A’s.
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Chris Bassitt’s Career Journey
That 2021 season kick-started five straight seasons for Bassitt of making 27+ starts, including 31+ starts in the last three seasons.
He spent the last three seasons in the AL East with the Toronto Blue Jays, so the Orioles should be quite familiar with Chris Bassitt.
In 2025, Bassitt made 31 starts and posted a 3.96 ERA over 170.1 innings. Bassitt has 170+ innings in each of the last four seasons.
Chris Bassitt has been in MLB for 11-years, going on 12 now, and he has a career 3.64 ERA over 1278.2 total innings. He originally transitioned into being a starter in 2019, which was right around the time he turned 30, so it was a career turnaround for Bassitt, who broke into MLB in 2014 with the White Sox.
The teams that presumably missed out on Bassitt are the Mets, Braves, Blue Jays, and Padres, who were all thought to be linked to the former All-Star arm.
However, this is a great signing for Baltimore. He will be able to eat up a lot of innings, and Elias has met his promise of being uber aggressive this offseason. Baltimore has also brought in Taylor Ward, and Tyler O’Neill was also retained earlier this winter.
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