The New York Mets have avoided arbitration with right-hander Chris Bassitt by signing him to a one-year contract extension that includes a mutual option for 2023, Ken Rosenthal reports. The deal will pay Bassitt $8.65 million for the current season. The option is worth $19 million or a $150,000 buyout. A mutual option means both sides -- i.e., player and team -- must agree to exercise it for it to be in force, which is something that rarely happens. Bassitt and the Mets had been scheduled for an arbitration hearing on Monday.
Bassitt, 33, has been excellent in his first season in Queens. In eight starts, he has a 2.77 ERA with a 3.77 K/BB ratio in 48 2/3 innings. For his career, Bassitt has an ERA+ of 121 over parts of eight MLB seasons. Bassitt in 2020 finished eighth in the AL Cy Young voting as a member of the A's, and last season he made his first career All-Star appearance. The Mets acquired Bassitt from the Oakland over the offseason in a trade that sent Adam Oller and prospect J.T. Ginn out west.
Bassitt remains slated for free agency after this season, although the mutual option makes it theoretically possible that he'll play at least one more season on this deal.
