I have long been a Chris Bassitt fan, but that has mostly been from afar. That’s a different Bassitt we have watched for much of 2026, the one that Mike Elias chose to pay $18.5 million for one year of pitching.
This year’s version of Bassitt has thrown 56.1 innings. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander has allowed an untenable 100 baserunners. The accompanying ERA is 5.27. Surprisingly, he is 4-4.
But the Orioles dug themselves a deep early hole. They can’t afford the type of buzzkill performances such as the one Bassitt turned in on June 3 at Fenway Park: three innings, three runs, six hits and two walks while working through lower back tightness.
You simply cannot escape the old baseball truism that a team’s momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. The Orioles for the first time all season had been on a bit of a roll, winning 8 of 11. Now, they have started a new one-game losing streak.
What puts extra spotlight on Bassitt’s failings are the fact that Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz and Brandon Young have been sensational in their last 14 combined starts. The team is 10-4 in those starts. Those are the types of performances that can help a club make up for such a dismal start to the season.
The wild card in buying time with Bassitt is Trevor Rogers, whose performance has flipped from his remarkable 18 starts of 2025. Rogers’ ERA ballooned to as high as 6.96 following an extended bout with the flu. He returned to form in his first six innings against the Blue Jays on May 29.
If Rogers can return to 80-85 percent of what he was last season, that would allow Craig Albernaz to stay with the status quo for a while longer. The internal organizational options are not great. Cade Povich (elbow) has been out too long to simply come back and attempt to claim a spot whenever he is ready. Dean Kremer (quad) can return from the 60-day injured list on June 21, but that date has no real relevance as to when he could be ready to pitch in orange and black again. That seems more like a July thing to me.
I mentioned that Bassitt is earning $18.5 million. He is not exactly the pitching equivalent of Tyler O’Neill, who is owed the rest of his $16.5 million this year along with another $16.5 million in 2027. When a GM has two mistakes of this magnitude on his books, he isn’t likely to feel comfortable making the calls to part with two of those pieces.
While the club may be inching closer to cutting bait with O’Neill, the immediate options to replace Bassitt are far from obvious. I laid out the problems with timing for either Kremer or Povich.
Trey Gibson earned Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors in 2025. He has a 3.65 ERA in three major league appearances, but his Triple-A numbers don’t shout out that he is knocking the door down (3.55 ERA and 1.53 WHIP). He is right now more of an emergency piece.
Luckily, the Orioles are somehow only 8.5 games behind the Rays for first place in the American League East. They are 29-33, just 1.5 games behind the Athletics (30-31) for the wild-card spot. The Rangers sit at 30-32.
So it’s not exactly a time to panic. Bassitt has shown glimpses of being more serviceable than his numbers say. But if Rogers and Young are pitching well when Kremer is ready to return, Bassitt may end up picking up for the venerable but unspectacular Albert Suárez in a bulk role.
Of course, the trade deadline looms on Aug. 3. And that might be a more resounding chance to uplift a rotation that looks ready to carry this team.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles