{"id":568027,"date":"2026-02-12T11:22:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/568027\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T11:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:22:03","slug":"chris-bassitt-signs-one-year-18-5-million-contract-with-orioles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/568027\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Bassitt signs one-year, $18.5 million contract with Orioles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an American League East that looks competitive top to bottom, the Orioles made another move to solidify an area of need. <\/p>\n<p>Baltimore and right-handed pitcher Chris Bassitt agreed to a one-year, $18.5 million contract, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JonHeyman\/status\/2021760710355595408?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Post\u2019s Jon Heyman confirmed<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Bassitt gets $500,000 in incentives as part of the deal. <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.34207077;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"792\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NYP042725YANKEES51JS.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Bassitt #40 of the Toronto Blue Jays throws a pitch during the first inning.&#10;\" class=\"wp-image-38465330\"  \/>Chris Bassitt of the Blue Jays throws a pitch against the Yankees last season. Jason Szenes \/ New York Post<\/p>\n<p>The Braves were among the teams thought to be interested in Bassitt, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/29\/sports\/rotation-ready-arms-mysteriously-still-on-mlbs-free-agent-market\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Heyman reported in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The soon-to-be 37-year-old stays in the AL East after spending the last three seasons with the Blue Jays following a one-year stint with the Mets. <\/p>\n<p>He continued to be an innings eater in 2025, throwing at least 170 frames for the fourth straight season. <\/p>\n<p>Bassitt held a 3.96 ERA (and 4.01 FIP) with 166 strikeouts as the Blue Jays won the division and came two outs shy of their third World Series crown. <\/p>\n<p>He pitched 8\u00b2\/\u2083 innings \u2014 all in relief \u2014 in the playoffs and yielded just one earned run.<\/p>\n<p>An All-Star in 2021 with the A\u2019s, Bassitt has a 3.64 ERA and a 1.246 WHIP across 11 big league seasons.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.43216783;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38465331\" width=\"845\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NYP040525METS43JS.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Bassitt\" class=\"wp-image-38465331\"  \/>Chris Bassitt pitched the last three seasons with the Blue Jays after one year with the Mets. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n<p>Baltimore has been active this offseason, especially in the pitching market by re-signing Zach Eflin, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/19\/sports\/orioles-landing-shane-baz-from-rays-in-intriguing-al-east-trade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">trading for Shane Baz<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/29\/sports\/ex-met-ryan-helsley-signing-with-orioles-to-become-closer\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bringing in hard-throwing reliever Ryan Helsley<\/a> on a two-year deal. <\/p>\n<p>Ex-Mets slugger <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/10\/sports\/pete-alonso-bolts-for-155-million-orioles-contract-in-mets-crusher\/#:~:text=Why%20Mets%20never%20even%20bothered,League%20in%20doubles%20with%2041.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pete Alonso came over on a five-year pact<\/a> to bolster the offense.<\/p>\n<p>The Orioles, with a combination of injuries and inconsistencies, finished last season with the fifth-worst pitching staff ERA at 4.60.<\/p>\n<p>As of Wednesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/standings\/playoff-odds\/fg\/div\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Fangraphs projected Baltimore to win 83.7 games<\/a> \u2014 nearly three behind the Yankees \u2014 with a 53.7 percent chance to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>While Bassitt might not go 200 innings again as he did five years ago, he should be a stabilizing force for a rotation that needs it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an American League East that looks competitive top to bottom, the Orioles made another move to solidify&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[47,5,377,2554,82,4,2046,185,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-568027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baltimore-orioles","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-blue-jays","11":"tag-bluejays","12":"tag-chris-bassitt","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-mlb-free-agency","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-toronto","17":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","18":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116057404749590063","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}