Blue Jays claim reliever Anthony Bass off waivers

The Toronto Blue Jays announced they have claimed reliever Anthony Bass off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.

The 31-year old right-hander made 44 appearances out of the bullpen for the Mariners in 2019 posting a respectable 3.56 earned run average in 48 innings of work. The hurler saved five contests for Seattle while fanning batters at an 8.1 strikeout per nine clip.

In 2019, Anthony Bass relied on his fastball 52.2% of the time while complementing it with a slider (33.3%) and a split-fingered fastball (14.6%). Bass also induced groundballs from the opposition 51.6% of the time last season.

The native of Dearborn, Michigan was selected in the 5th round of the 2008 amateur draft by the San Diego Padres out of Wayne State University. Over parts of eight seasons in the majors, Bass has pitched for the Padres, Astros, Rangers, Cubs, and Mariners. He sports a career 7-13 record with a 4.38 earned run average with eight saves in 191 games.

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Bass is arbitration-eligible after earning just $725,000 in 2019, the hurler is not expected to reach free agency until 2021.

In order to make room on the 40-man roster for Bass, the Blue Jays designated pitcher Ryan Dull for assignment. The 30-year old made one appearance last season for the Jays while also seeing action with the Yankees and Athletics.

In his only appearance north of the border, Dull tossed 1.1 innings surrendering a solo home run to Austin Meadows in a loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Dull compiled an inflated 12.79 earned run average in 11 MLB appearances last season.

Bass will provide some bullpen depth for the Blue Jays in what could be an interesting offseason for their relievers. Closer Ken Giles was on the trade block leading up to the trade deadline while the Jays still need to fill the voids left by Daniel Hudson, David Phelps and Joe Biagini plus the injury to Tim Mayza.