November 10: The Blue Jays have made it official by announcing the move.
November 8: The Blue Jays are planning to exercise their club option on reliever Anthony Bass, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Bass will receive a $3MM salary for 2023 instead of a $1MM buyout.
It’s an unsurprising move, as that modest salary is a bargain for an effective middle-innings arm of Bass’ ilk. The veteran righty hasn’t posted an ERA above 4.00 in any of the past five years, working at least 25 innings in each season since 2019. That includes 70 1/3 frames over a career-high 73 games for the Marlins and Blue Jays this past season. He tallied a cumulative 1.54 ERA over that time, striking out 26.5% of opponents against a modest 7.3% walk rate.
At last summer’s trade deadline, the Jays acquired Bass and fellow reliever Zach Pop in a deal that sent former first-rounder Jordan Groshans to Miami. The 35-year-old Bass was generally given medium-leverage work by skipper John Schneider, but he handled himself well north of the border. In 25 2/3 innings in a Toronto uniform, Bass posted a 1.75 ERA while averaging just under 95 MPH on his fastball.
Toronto had a middle-of-the-road bullpen in 2022, ranking 13th with a 3.77 ERA and 14th with a 23.6% strikeout rate. General manager Ross Atkins and his group could look into adding some relief help from outside the organization this winter to strengthen the bridge to star closer Jordan Romano.
Not sure he can repeat his 2022, but he doesn’t have to. He’s been a solid reliever for the last five years. More than worth $3MM.
What a catch!
Hook, line, and sinker… or is that a slider.
He tops out at medium leverage though. If I recall that wasn’t a medium leverage situation Schneider placed him in during Game 2 of the Wild Card round. Choked.
YES IT WORKED
Smart, low risk move. Perhaps he develops more and won’t choke on critical games.
Smart decision, 3 million$ for a reliever who constantly pitches to an ERA in the low 3’s is a decent deal
I like the trade the Jays made there. Groshans was not progressing to where he needed to be to join Toronto and getting Bass for one and half years cheaply and Pop who pitched well too is a good return for the Jays weakest area.
Agreed it was a good trade for the Jays. Bass for Grisham alone is a good deal. Pop needs a lot of development still. Right now he is not a reliable MLB reliever. Pete Walker needs to do the same with Pop as he did with Stripling, more over the top delivery.
Groshans, . AAC.
Once he went to Miami, However, Groshan began progressing very well. Should only continue. Thanks Jays!
‘Bass To Mouth’ is the name of my fantasy league team. We were number 2 last year.