Orioles add veteran right-hander Chris Bassitt to rotation, AP source says

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Chris Bassitt is staying in the AL East.

The Baltimore Orioles agreed to an $18.5 million, one-year contract with the right-hander Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement was pending a physical. The deal includes a $3 million signing bonus, and Bassitt can earn $500,000 in performance bonuses if he starts at least 27 games.

Bassitt, who turns 37 on Feb. 22, has reached that number of starts each of the last five seasons.

ESPN was the first to report on the contract.

Bassitt went 11-9 with a 3.96 ERA for AL champion Toronto last year. He has pitched at least 157 1/3 innings in each of the past five seasons, and only once in the last eight seasons has he posted an ERA above 4.00.

Bassitt joins a Baltimore rotation that includes Shane Baz, Trevor Rogers and Zach Eflin. Baz was acquired in a December trade with Tampa Bay, and Eflin re-signed with the Orioles for a $10 million, one-year contract.

After two straight years in the playoffs, Baltimore finished last in the AL East with a 75-87 record in 2025. It made a big splash in free agency when it signed first baseman Pete Alonso to a $155 million, five-year contract in December.

But the Orioles could use an improved rotation after last year's starters ranked 24th in the major leagues with a 4.65 ERA. Team president Mike Elias said in November the team was trying to find "whether it’s ‘top’ or ‘front’ or ‘top half’ of the rotation, all those buckets.”

That was after Baltimore traded right-hander Grayson Rodriguez in a deal for outfielder Taylor Ward — and before the Orioles landed Alonso. Since then, they have added Baz and brought back Eflin.

Still, after Ranger Suárez (Boston) and Dylan Cease (Toronto) signed elsewhere in the division, and with Framber Valdez now in Detroit, not much seems to have changed in how Baltimore is approaching its rotation. The Orioles haven't made any long, big-dollar commitments to their starters, instead adding to the rotation via one-year deals or trades.

Before last season, Baltimore signed Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Gibson to one-year deals, and the aggregate result from those three was quite disappointing.

Bassitt arrives with a better recent track record than Gibson had, and he's a good deal younger than Morton was. The Orioles can also hope for better health from Kyle Bradish, who made six starts last year, and a full season from Rogers, who went 9-3 with a 1.91 ERA over 18 starts in 2025.

The Orioles hold their first full-squad workout of spring training on Monday.

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AP Baseball Writer Jay Cohen contributed to this report.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB