Fastball

Toronto Blue Jays Jettison Controversial Reliever By Releasing Anthony Bass

The Toronto Blue Jays have officially released reliever Anthony Bass. He was designated for assignment last week.

Brady Farkas

Toronto Blue Jays Jettison Controversial Reliever By Releasing Anthony Bass
Toronto Blue Jays Jettison Controversial Reliever By Releasing Anthony Bass /
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After designating him for assignment last week, the Toronto Blue Jays have officially released controversial reliever Anthony Bass.

This means they were unable to trade him and did not send him to the minors. It also means that he went unclaimed on waivers. Now, Bass is free to sign with any team.

This ends the tumultuous tenure for Bass in Toronto this season.

He had recently gotten in hot water for sharing a video with homophobic rhetoric on his Instagram page. You can learn more about that here.

Then, the team announced that Bass would catch the ceremonial first pitch last Friday night during the team's kickoff to Pride Weekend.

But before that game and ceremonial first pitch ever happened, the Blue Jays elected to designate Bass for assignment and activate pitcher Mitch White from the injured list.

The 35-year-old Bass is in his 12th year in the major leagues. He's pitched for the Padres, Astros, Rangers, Cubs, Mariners, Marlins and Blue Jays. He's been with Toronto for two different tours: 2020 and 2022-2023.

He's a lifetime 16-28 pitcher with a 3.91 ERA. He has 15 career saves.

This year, he's 0-0 with a 4.95 ERA. He's thrown 20 innings and has struck out 19.

As for the Blue Jays, they enter play on Friday at 38-32 and in fourth place in the American League East. They are 5-5 in their last 10 and are 11.0 games back of the first-place Rays.

They'll take on the American League West leaders, the Texas Rangers, on Friday night at 8:05 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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