Blue Jays Losing Veteran Pitcher Chris Bassitt to AL East Rival Was Inevitable

The Toronto Blue Jays veteran starter will be seeing the franchise again this season after agreeing to a deal with a division rival.

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

It took former Toronto Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt the entire offseason, but he finally found a landing spot in free agency.

Bassitt and the Baltimore Orioles reportedly agreed to a one-year deal on Wednesday, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The one-year, $18.5 million deal lands him in the same division with the Blue Jays, which means there is a high likelihood that he’ll face Toronto at some point in 2026.

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Toronto gets its first crack at Baltimore from May 28-31 in Baltimore, followed by a three-game set in Toronto from June 5-7. In the second half of the season, Toronto and Baltimore will meet six times in a two-week span — Sept. 11-13 in Toronto and Sept. 21-23 in Baltimore.

Bassitt landing within the division was inevitable. The Blue Jays committed to other starters in free agency and the Orioles were one of the few teams remaining in baseball that had competitive rotation spots and a need for veteran leadership.

Chris Bassitt’s Blue Jays History

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt. | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Bassitt signed with the Blue Jays before the 2023 season, inking a three-year deal worth $63 million. The former Chicago White Sox draft pick made his MLB debut with the White Sox in 2014, spent six years with the Athletics and then the 2022 season with the New York Mets.

His Blue Jays debut was his best season with Toronto and the best season of his career. He went 16-8 with a 3.60 ERA in 33 starts. He finished 10th in American League Cy Young voting and threw a career-best 200 innings. He struck out 186 and walked 59.

He followed that up in 2024 with a 10-14 campaign with a 4.16 ERA, as he struck out 168 and walked 70 in 31 starts. But the Jays finished in last place in the AL East, which was not a portent of things to come in 2025.

Bassitt helped the Blue Jays get back to the World Series for the first time in 32 years last season. He finished the regular season 11-9 with a 3.96 ERA in 32 games (31 starts), with 166 strikeouts and 52 walks in 170.1 innings. He spent the latter stages of the regular season on the injured list with lower back inflammation. He didn’t make a postseason start, but he pitched in seven games as a reliever and only allowed three hits and one earned run in 8.2 innings.

Toronto went in another direction with its starting rotation, which made Bassitt expendable. The Blue Jays signed Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to go along with holdovers Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, Kevin Gausman, Eric Lauer and José Berríos.