Right-hander Chris Bassitt is wrapping up his age-37 season and he will turn 38 before the next season begins. He’s also an impending free agent. That naturally leads to some questions about what comes next and Bassitt addressed his future with reporters this week. He acknowledged that he would have to consider his family but also clearly expressed a desire to keep playing.
“I’ve got a 7-year-old at home, I’ve got a 3-year-old at home and a wife that wants me to be home. So yeah, we’ll cross that bridge when we do,” Bassitt said, per Jake Rill of MLB.com. “But I mean, overall, I still have a lot of fire in me to definitely do something. I’m gonna have to win the wife over, I’ll tell you that. But yeah, there’s a lot of fire still in me. I know I still can play this game at a really high level.”
Bassitt has generally been a workhorse in recent seasons but he was slowed down this year. From 2019 to 2025, he made at least 27 appearances and logged at least 144 innings in each campaign. He also made 11 starts and threw 63 innings in the shortened 2020 season. This year, back discomfort put him on the injured list for over two months from early June to mid August. He has made 20 appearances, 18 of those officially being starts, and chucked 102 innings.
The results were passable, though not overwhelming. He allowed 4.59 earned runs per nine frames. His 16.1% strikeout rate was subpar but his 8.3% walk rate was right at league average for a starter this year and his 44.6% ground ball rate was three ticks better than par.
The time off to rest his back may have helped, as he had a 5.27 ERA before the IL stint and a 3.74 after. That’s a pretty small sample size of 12 appearances before and eight appearances after, but he only had a 14.2% strikeout rate in the former section and 18.6% after. His velocity was better later in the year as well. His four-seamer averaged 90.4 miles per hour in June but has been at 93.3 mph in September.
If Bassitt decides to come back for 2027, he will surely be able to secure a deal. He got $18.5MM from the Orioles for 2026 but his earning power will be less this time, since his results declined both in terms of quality and quantity.
But veteran starters capable of competent results can still get paid. Last winter, Justin Verlander got $13MM for his age-43 season, though with heavy deferrals. Jose Quintana got $6MM from the Rockies for his age-37 campaign. Max Scherzer got an incentive-laden $3MM deal for his age-41 season and eventually unlocked another $2MM via those bonuses.
The Orioles won’t be making the playoffs, so Bassitt will be going into offseason mode in a few days. He can spend some time with his family and figure out whether he’s coming back for another season in the show. If he is unsigned on December 1, he might get a lot of time to think about things, as the league is widely expected to lock out the players when the collective bargaining agreement expires. How long that lockout lasts it anyone’s guess.
Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images
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