Blue Jays' weird week gets worse as Chris Bassitt defects to AL East rival

When the 2025 season ended in heartbreaking fashion for the Toronto Blue Jays, losing Game 7 of the World Series, there wasn't a sense of dread around the team, or the fan base. Sure, losing the biggest game of the year really stung, but it felt like there were reasons to be optimistic about the group going forward that this wouldn't be the Blue Jays' lone chance at a World Series ring in the near future.

The Blue Jays front office maintained that optimism throughout much of the offseason by signing some key free agents. But as Spring Training officially got underway, the optimism downgraded as the Blue Jays announced a slew of injury updates that will have a major impact on the team in 2026.

Anthony Santander is out for 5-6 months. Shane Bieber will have his spring delayed, and won't begin getting ready to pitch in the regular season until the regular season is already underway. Bowden Francis is also done for the year. So with Blue Jays fans already digesting all of that news, another piece of information came out late Wednesday night (Feb. 11) that won't make the start to spring any easier. Former Blue Jays' pitcher Chris Bassitt has joined the Baltimore Orioles.

Blue Jays' weird week gets worse as Chris Bassitt defects to AL East rival

In the wake of the Francis and Biber injuries, bringing back the 37-year-old veteran Bassitt on a short term deal felt like it made sense for the Blue Jays. Bassitt spent the last three seasons with the Blue Jays, pitching to a 4.6 bWAR with a 3.89 ERA. He threw 541.1 innings and struck out 520 batters.

Sure the Blue Jays still have a good amount of depth in terms of their starting rotation, but the depth has thinned. Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, José Berrios and Cody Ponce now look to be in the driver's seats to break camp as the five-man rotation. Eric Lauer also figures to be in the mix, but having him play a swing-man role as a lefty out of the pen, might be more valuable in the early stages of the season.

But with that plan now in place, Bassitt, who was a starter throughout his Blue Jays tenure, but accepted a bullpen role in the playoffs and performed admirably in that role, could have potentially snuck into the Blue Jays rotation plans late in the offseason. However, he decided to jump ship and join the rival Orioles on a one-year $18.5 million deal, which includes a $500,000 incentive if he starts 27 games according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

The Orioles, who had a good team last year but performed to awful results, finishing fifth in the division, got a lot better this offseason and should be one of the main challenges to the Blue Jays' quest to repeat as AL East champions. They added sluggers Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward, signed closer Ryan Helsley and bolstered their pitching depth with Zach Eflin and Shane Baz.

This is an Orioles team that is chalk full of young talent who just couldn't do anything right last year. But with the new additions made, this is a lineup that should be tough to face game in and game out. Meantime, the rotation still has some issues, with Kyle Braddish coming off Tommy John surgery. Trevor Rogers and Dean Kramer will also be looking to build off positive bWAR seasons.

Baz has pitched over 100 innings just once in his career, and that was last season when he threw 166.1 innings with the Rays, while Eflin will have to be better than he was last season when he pitched to a 5.93 ERA in 71.1 innings with the Orioles.

What Bassitt does is bring a stabilizing veteran presences in a rotation that really needs an anchor and gives them some depth as the season gets going. He was regarded as one of the clubhouse leaders in the Toronto locker room and that could be huge for an Orioles team that is trying to do everything they can to forget the mess that was 2025, and return to the postseason like they did in 2023 and '24.

The Blue Jays will play the Orioles 13 times in 2026 and that means they'll likely have to face Bassitt a time or two in their AL East title defence season.