The Toronto Blue Jays attempted to improve their bullpen on Tuesday with the signing of relief pitcher Anthony Bass of Dearborn, Michigan. According to Rogers Sportsnet, Bass signed a one year contract worth $1.5 million.
The Blue Jays become Bass’s sixth Major League Baseball team. In addition to the Mariners, Bass has played for the San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs.
Last season with the Mariners, Bass was extremely effective. In 44 games, he had a record of two wins and four losses and five saves with a respectable earned run average of 3.56. In 48 innings, the right-hander only gave up 30 hits, 19 earned runs, and had 43 strikeouts compared to 17 walks. Bass also had a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 0.98.
Bass becomes the second pitcher the Blue Jays have acquired in the offseason. On November 4, they acquired starting pitcher Chase Anderson of Wichita Falls, Texas from the Milwaukee Brewers for minor league first baseman Chad Spanberger.
Bass also becomes the second most experienced relief pitcher on the Blue Jays squad. Only closer Ken Giles of Albuquerque, New Mexico has more Major League Baseball experience among relievers on the Blue Jays than Bass. Giles has 353 career games, while Bass has 191 games.
Expect to see Bass in possibly a setup role for Toronto in 2020. However, it will be interesting to see how many key situations Bass will have in the eighth inning while protecting a Blue Jays lead. Toronto is still in a rebuilding mode, and outside of starting pitchers Matt Shoemaker and Anderson, have a rather inexperienced starting rotation. That is one of the reasons why Toronto appears to be very active in signing Zack Wheeler from the New York Mets.
