Blue Jays sign Chris Bassitt to three-year, $63 million deal as starting pitching market narrows
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The winter market for available starting pitchers has narrowed once again — and the American League East got that much tougher — after Chris Bassitt agreed to terms on a three-year, $63 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.
Bassitt, who turns 34 in February, will officially join the Blue Jays after a physical examination, according to a person with direct knowledge of the agreement. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the contract is not yet finalized.
Bassitt’s signing is the second significant movement in less than 48 hours, after the New York Mets added Japanese star Kodai Sengai on a five-year, $75 million deal. Sengai essentially replaces Bassitt in the Mets rotation.
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Bassitt spent just one year as a Met, making 30 starts and pitching a career-best 181⅔ innings to steady a rotation in which former Cy Young Award winners Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom both missed significant time with injury.
It will be a similar scenario in Toronto: All-Star Alek Manoah remains the staff ace, while Kevin Gausman, signed to a five-year, $110 million deal last winter, will man the No. 2 spot. For now, the Manoah-Gausman-Bassitt troika remains the deepest in the AL East.
That will only ramp up the price for free agent lefty Carlos Rodon, who remains the only unsigned starting pitcher among the top five available this winter. Multiple big-market clubs are poised to make a run at Rodon, most notably the Yankees and Giants, and the stakes of that poker game are only higher now that the Senga and Bassitt fallback options are gone.
Beyond Rodon, former Red Sox right-handers Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Wacha and Blue Jays right-hander Ross Stripling remain the most viable options.
Bassitt proved he can handle the rigors of a large market, as his 3.42 ERA practically duplicated the 3.44 mark he produced in six seasons in Oakland, while his WHIP improved to 1.15.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blue Jays sign Chris Bassitt to three-year, $63 million deal as starting pitching market narrows