The Blue Jays plan to exercise their club option on relievers Anton Bassreported Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. Bass on $3m salary for 2023 instead of a $1m takeover.
It’s not a surprising move given that modest salary is a steal for an effective middle-innings arm of Bass’s ilk. The veteran Righty has not posted an ERA above a 4.00 in any of the past five years and has batted at least 25 innings in each season since 2019. That includes 70 1/3 frames in 73 career-high games for the Marlins and Blue Jays this past season. He posted a 1.54 cumulative ERA during that time, beating 26.5% of opponents against a modest 7.3% walk rate.
At the close of trading last summer, the Jays acquired Bass and his associates Zach Pop in a deal that sent former first-rounders Jordan Groshans to Miami. The 35-year-old bass was given generally moderate work by skipper John Schneider, but he managed 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 with his fastball.
Toronto had a mid-tier bullpen in 2022, finishing 13th with a 3.77 ERA and 14th with a 23.6% deletion rate. General manager Ross Atkins and his group may be looking to add some extra help from outside the organization this winter to strengthen the bridge to the closer star Jordan Romano.