Blue Jays Picking Up Anthony Bass' 2023 Option

The Jays will pick up Bass' $3 million team option, slotting the righty back into high-leverage duties in 2023.

Unsurprisingly, the Blue Jays will pick up Anthony Bass' team option for the 2023 season.

The option year carries a $3 million salary for next season, instead of the $1 million buyout if the Jays chose not to pick up the reliever's final season. Bass was acquired at the 2022 trade deadline and finished the season with a 1.54 ERA across 70 innings with the Marlins and Blue Jays. Toronto's decision to pick up Bass' option was first reported by Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith.

Bass will enter his age 35 season expected to slide back into high-leverage duties for the Jays next year. Bass has pitched over 500 MLB innings across 11 seasons, earning a 3.87 career ERA and 4.06 FIP. Honing in a fastball and slider combination in 2022, he became a reliable late-inning option for Miami and Toronto. Though Toronto could add another relief arm during the offseason, they have an established bullpen core of Bass, closer Jordan Romano, Tim Mayza, Yimi García, and others under team control already.

It was long expected the Jays would pick up Bass' option after acquiring him at the deadline. All four players the Jays traded for on deadline day—Bass, Whit Merrifield, Zach Pop, and Mitch White—carried multiple years of team control, and Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins lauded the power of roster continuity at the time.

"We've seen the power of keeping this young core that we're so excited about, that's already here together, and then growing it together," Atkins said. "So it is attractive to us to think about adding to that young core in a way that is sustainable."

Bass was Toronto's only team or player option to determine ahead of the start of free agency on Thursday.

H/T Ben Nicholson-Smith