The Orioles are reportedly in agreement with the starter Chris Bassitt one-year, $18.5MM contract, physical pending. Bassitt, a Meister Sports Management client, is getting a $3MM signing bonus and could unlock another $500K if he reaches 27 starts. Baltimore has an opening on the 40-man roster after losing center Bryan Ramos in giving up going to St.
President of baseball operations Mike Elias has made a habit of signing veteran starters to one-year deals over the past few years. They have had some success with Kyle Gibson in 2023. Last winter’s reunion with Gibson and the addition of Charlie Morton again Tomoyuki Sugano it didn’t go as planned. Bassitt is in the same phase of his career as he approaches his 37th birthday, but he should have a higher floor than those past additions.
Bassitt did not reach 100 MLB innings in a season until his age 30 campaign in 2019. He has been on consistent rotation for the past seven years. Only once has his earned run average climbed north of 4.00. His 2.29 ERA during the shortened season was a small sample, but he was a safe bet to allow between three and four earned runs per nine while logging heavy work. Bassitt has surpassed 150 innings in the past five seasons, one of six to do so. He is eighth in total innings over that stretch.
The veteran righty pairs plenty with quality in the middle rotation. He’s coming off a 3.96 ERA with a slightly better-than-average ERA. Bassitt struck out 22.6% of the batters he faced with a 7.1% walk rate over 170 1/3 innings last year. His strikeout rate is slightly below average, but he has managed to strike out between 22-23% of opponents over the past four seasons.
Bassitt’s speed has slowed slightly as he enters his mid-30s. His sinker averaged 91.6 mph last season, which is a career low. That’s still not too far from the 92-93 mph range he’s worked in throughout his career. The sinker is Bassitt’s primary offering, but Statcast identified eight different spots he used at least occasionally in his final season in Toronto. He works a lot with the sinker, cutter and curveball and generally does well to limit hard contact.
More concerning would be Bassitt’s problems against left-handed hitters. While he caught them earlier in his career, Bassitt has seen his team’s divisions increase over the past few seasons. Since the start of 2023, lefties have hit at a .284/.360/.483 clip in over 1200 plate appearances. He held his opponents to the same .224/.286/.323 hitless line in the same number of at-bats in that stretch.
Bassitt is coming off a three-year, $63MM contract with the division rival Blue Jays. He pitched 541 1/3 innings of 3.89 ERA ball for Toronto during the regular season. Bassitt missed only one start, as a small back inflammation sent him to the injured list last September. He missed the Division Series win over the Yankees but returned in the AL Championship Series. Bassitt came out of relief and emerged as one of John Schneider’s most trusted arms in October. He pitched 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts during Toronto’s run.
One year after helping the Jays advance to the AL East, Bassitt will hope to accomplish the same with Baltimore. The Orioles had a great season after stumbling to a 75-87 showing. They signed Pete Alonso (a former partner of Bassitt’s in New York) to a monster five-year, $155MM deal. IO’s that are prone to damage Grayson Rodriguez in another bat of righteous power, Taylor Wardwhile discussing the four prospects and draft picks of the Rays Shane Baz. They signed Ryan Helsley a two-year contract to close the casualty area Felix Bautista and met again Zach Eflin for a $10MM contract.
The Orioles also shied away from the top of the free agent market, preferring to make a splash in the middle of the roster. They’ll hope to unlock another gear for Baz, a former standout who has shown flashes but consistency in his first few seasons. Trevor Rogers will look to build on the last few good months of last year, while Kyle Bradish he has a chance to be a top rotation starter now that he’s recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Bassitt joins Rogers, Bradish and Baz as locks to open the year in Craig Albernaz’s rotation. Eflin will be guaranteed a starting fifth role as long as he is fully recovered from surgery last August. He is expected to be a full participant in Spring Training, so it should be. That can be a push Dean Kremer and/or Tyler Wells back to Triple-A Norfolk to open the season. Both pitchers still have an option remaining, though each is approaching a five-year service limit where they will have the right to decline any minor league assignments. Wells needs another 40 days on the MLB roster to get there, while Kremer has 60 days left.
The O’s could use Wells in long relief and start the year with Kremer completing a six-man rotation if they want both pitchers in the majors. A lot of money in circulation usually pays for itself before long. The Braves, Blue Jays and Tigers all announced major injury losses during the first two days of camp. Even if all of Baltimore’s starters are healthy right now, they could be lucky if that’s the case on Opening Day.
Bassitt may not be the type of top rotation that O’s fans have been hoping for, but he’s a logical fit for a team that will look to innings for Bradish and Eflin after losing seasons. MLBTR projected a two-year, $38MM contract at the start of the offseason. Baltimore was able to avoid making that second season in the offseason there Merrill Kelly he commanded $20MM annually over two years at the Diamondbacks in the same years.
The O’s salary projection rises to $166MM, as calculated by RosterResource. Despite taking a few key snaps for the season, he’s nearly $6MM more than where he opened last season. This will probably close their significant season deals, but they shouldn’t have a problem picking up some money during the season if they’re ready to buy. Bassitt’s removal from the market leaves Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito again Max Scherzer like the best free agents available teams still want to add.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the deal and terms. Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images.
