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Jeff PassanFeb 12, 2026, 12:30 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>ESPN MLB insider Multiple Authors<\/p>\n Right-hander Chris Bassitt<\/a> and the Baltimore Orioles<\/a> are in agreement on a one-year, $18.5 million contract, sources told ESPN on Wednesday, adding a reliable veteran with significant postseason experience to their overhauled rotation.<\/p>\n Bassitt, who turns 37 on Feb. 22, went 11-9 for the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> last season, posting a 3.96 ERA with 166 strikeouts in 170 1\/3 innings. He came out of the bullpen during the American League Championship Series and World Series, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out seven over 8 2\/3 innings as Toronto fell just short of its first championship since 1993.<\/p>\n The deal, which is pending physical, includes a $3 million signing bonus and $500,000 in incentives if Bassitt starts 27 games, sources told ESPN. He has done that in each of the last five seasons, during which his 880 1\/3 innings rank eighth among all MLB pitchers.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n One of the last remaining established veterans on the free agent market, Bassitt heads to an Orioles team that has guaranteed more than $200 million in free agent signings. In addition to adding slugger Pete Alonso<\/a>, closer Ryan Helsley<\/a> and re-signing right-hander Zach Eflin<\/a>, the Orioles also traded for right-hander Shane Baz<\/a> and left fielder Taylor Ward<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Bassitt, the Orioles landed a starter whose dependability is among his greatest hallmarks. With four consecutive seasons of 30-plus starts and a strikeout rate that has barely budged year to year, sitting between 22.2% and 22.6% each season, Bassitt’s consistency as an innings-eater comes from an eight-pitch mix that makes up for a fastball that sat in the low 90s last year.<\/p>\n Baltimore prioritized starting pitching this winter, with right-hander Kyle Bradish<\/a> potentially limited in his first full season coming off Tommy John surgery and left-hander Trevor Rogers<\/a> and right-hander Dean Kremer<\/a> the only other certain rotation pieces on the roster. Flanked on the free agent market by Zac Gallen<\/a> and Lucas Giolito<\/a>, Bassitt emerged as Baltimore’s target in recent days.<\/p>\n Bassitt is familiar with the cutthroat AL East, having spent the past three seasons with Toronto after signing a three-year, $63 million contract prior to the 2023 season. While left-handed hitters have had an OPS of .844 against Bassitt over the last two seasons, he has been poison to right-handed hitters, with an OPS of .632.<\/p>\n Over his 12-year major league career with the White Sox<\/a>, Athletics<\/a>, Mets<\/a> and Blue Jays, Bassitt is 83-65 with a 3.64 ERA, 1,191 strikeouts and 409 walks in 1,278.2 innings. In 23.2 career playoff innings over three postseasons, Bassitt has a 3.04 ERA.<\/p>\n ESPN’s David Schoenfield contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff PassanFeb 12, 2026, 12:30 PM CloseESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-474084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”<\/p>\n