Chris Bassitt 'wasn't ready' for New York in 2022; maybe he would be in a return to Mets
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt speaks prior to Game 5 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/Ashley Landis
LOS ANGELES — As the Mets consider the winter options for retooling their rotation, why not pitch a shot at redemption for Chris Bassitt?
While Tarik Skubal, the likely back-to-back AL Cy Young winner, is the headliner among that group, he won’t be free agent until after the 2026 season — and there’s no guarantee the Tigers will trade him before then. Detroit could prefer running it back with Skubal again as the No. 1, hoping to capitalize on two consecutive playoff appearances cut prematurely short in the Division Series.
Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease and Ranger Suarez lead this winter’s free-agent class, with Tatsuya Imai — soon to be posted by the NPB’s Seibu Lions — the most prized starter from Japan. The Mets could use a bona fide ace to front their promising youngsters, or at least share the gig with the stellar Nolan McLean, but another reliable veteran would also fit the bill, given the instability of Sean Manaea in the first season of his three-year, $75 million deal. As for Kodai Senga, a change of scenery is feeling like the best move for all the parties involved.
That should put Bassitt into the conversation, as he’s coming off another strong year, at age 36, and excelling this October as a key piece in the Blue Jays’ bullpen — a necessity given his late return from back inflammation. Entering Wednesday night’s Game 5, Bassitt had pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings over five appearances, allowing one hit, one walk and striking out eight. He supplied a perfect eighth inning in Monday’s 18-inning marathon, then added two more innings in Tuesday’s 6-2 victory.
“He’s really gone up in the circle of trust, if you will,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “It’s not easy to do, but I think at this stage of the season, man, you just trust people. Chris has been one of our best pitchers for three years. We trust that the different routine won’t affect him and he’s throwing the ball extremely well.”
But the fact that Bassitt turned himself into a shutdown reliever for Toronto’s World Series run shouldn’t be confused with a career switch. Bassitt just wrapped his fourth straight season of 30-plus starts and 170-plus innings, posting a 3.96 ERA. Since 2022, Bassitt’s 723 innings rank sixth-most in the majors. Also important, he’s much wiser now than during that ’22 stint with the Mets, and in talking Wednesday about his fantastic postseason, Bassitt brought up that one-year stay in Flushing as serving a valuable lesson for this playoff success.
Obviously, that season ended in disastrous fashion, first with the Mets getting swept in Atlanta to lose the NL East title followed by a three-game exit in the Wild Card Series, won by the Padres at Citi Field. Bassitt was a prominent villain during that final week, lasting just 2 2/3 innings (4 ER) in his Truist Park cameo and then only four innings (3 ER) in the winner-take-all finale against San Diego.
Three years later, hours before Game 5 at Dodger Stadium, a 6-1 victory that sent the Blue Jays home to Rogers Centre with a 3-2 lead in this series, Bassitt still had those Mets catastrophes on his mind. All it took for them to surface was a rather innocent question about how calmly he’s looked on the mound during the playoffs.
“I would say you live and learn,” Bassitt said. “I would have to say the 2022 year with the Mets taught me a lot. I didn’t think I handled that moment that well, regretted a lot of things that I did in that game, how I approached that game. So then it turns into just a learning experience.”
When Bassitt was then asked to elaborate, the insightful righthander was happy to oblige. He described coming over from Oakland, where he did have playoff starts under his belt, but that was during the contained COVID environment. Bassitt welcomed the trade to the Mets during the 2021 offseason, and had a great season, going 15-9 with a 3.42 ERA over 30 starts (181 2/3 innings). October, however was a different story. Much different.
“When you threw me into New York, I thought I was ready, and then looking back, I was like, dang, I wasn't ready for it,” Bassitt recalled. “Like, mentally I didn't really know how to prepare for it, physically I did not like where I was at in that moment. So a lot of the times — I mean, anything in life, your biggest failures, or whatever you think your failure is, is probably your biggest teaching lesson if you just look at it the right way.”
Not only did Bassitt deliver two of his worst performances in the Mets’ most crucial games, he also drew the ire of the team’s fans with some of his comments about the over-the-top scrutiny playing there, calling New York “an absolute gantlet every night.” But the outspoken Bassitt has never been shy about speaking his mind, and he doesn’t harbor any ill will toward the Mets.
At the end, Bassitt made the obvious business decision of rejecting his side of the $19 million option (along with the $19.65M qualifying offer) to become a free agent, and the Mets moved on figuring a multi-year deal was too expensive. So Bassitt signed a very reasonable three-year, $63 million contract with the Blue Jays while the Mets added Senga, Justin Verlander and Jose Quintana.
This year, Bassitt helped orchestrate a Toronto reunion with one of his former Flushing rotation mates, Max Scherzer, as the two became good friends in that Citi clubhouse. The Mets should think about a potential Bassitt reunion, too.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
