It’s time for Jays to cut Bass loose

Pitcher under fire after sharing anti-LGBTQ post

Anthony Bass alienated a lot of Blue Jays fans with his poor pitching throughout much of April. He alienated even more this week by going public with inflammatory views about the LGBTQ community.

Bass found himself in hot water Monday after he shared a video on Instagram that contained anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. By making the post, he backed a boycott of Bud Light and Target for endorsing a lifestyle that supposedly goes against his religious beliefs.

The video went viral with members on the LGBTQ community and their supporters calling for Bass’s release. Some fans suggested starting a boycott of their own, while others made charitable donations on his behalf. Predictably, there were also comments defending his right to free speech.

After being inundated with media requests on Tuesday, the Jays made the veteran reliever available to reporters — sort of. Bass spoke for about 30 seconds and did not take any questions. No explanation was provided, which gave the impression that Bass was ducking a controversy he started.

“I’ll make this quick,” Bass said off the top, which was a good way to discredit everything that followed. “I recognize yesterday that I made a post that was hurtful to the Pride community, which includes friends of mine, close family members of mine and I’m truly sorry for that.

“I just spoke with my teammates ... I apologized (to) them. Right now, I’m using the Blue Jays’ resources to better educate myself and make better decisions moving forward. The ballpark is for everybody. We include all fans at the ballpark, and we want to welcome everybody. That’s all I have to say.”

He then walked away and let manager John Schneider do the talking. Schneider said Bass apologized during a meeting that included general manager Ross Atkins. Schneider then suggested Bass apologize to the entire team, which he did just minutes before speaking with the media.

Schneider said Bass showed a lot of “accountability” with teammates. We’ll have to take his word because Bass didn’t display much in front of the cameras. The pitcher’s statement was over almost as soon as it began, and beyond the vague reference to using the Jays’ “resources” to educate himself there was no mention of how he intended to make amends.

“I think the message is that we have (been) and will continue to be a huge part of the Pride community,” Schneider said, when asked what he would say to fans considering Bass’ refusal to answer questions. “We’re looking forward to the (Pride events on the) ninth and 10th of June and it doesn’t represent our overall feelings as an organization. We love our fans, we love all the support that we get.”

Let’s get one thing out of the way. If Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Kevin Gausman shared a similar video, they would have lost some fans and the club would have weathered the storm until the news cycle changed. The reality of professional sports is that talent trumps just about everything else and exceptions are made all the time for star players.

But Bass isn’t a core piece. He’s barely a replacement-level pitcher, which should make his potential departure easier to stomach. That led some people, including this columnist, to believe the Jays would sever ties with Bass before the clubhouse opened to reporters on Tuesday. They instead went into damage control, an odd move over someone who means so little to the on-field product.

For anyone who needs a reminder, Bass — more than anyone else — was responsible for the Jays’ stunning collapse in last year’s AL wildcard series. He was handed a fourrun lead in the top of the eighth and surrendered three consecutive hits to the Mariners, which forced Jordan Romano into the game with the tying run at the plate.

A collision between Bichette and George Springer allowed two runs to score, and an inning later the Mariners completed the comeback on an RBI double by Adam Frazier. Lots of Jays had a hand in that loss, but nobody performed worse than Bass.

As ugly as that outing was, his performance this season has been even more humiliating. He opened the year as one of the Jays’ primary setup men and allowed runs in sev- en of his first 11 appearances. Along the way, he lost his high-leverage job and was relegated to the bottom of the depth chart.

To be fair, Bass has been better of late. He entered Tuesday having al- lowed just one run over his last 8 2⁄3 innings, but he previously lost the trust of Schneider and it’s worth questioning whether the 35-year- old will ever get it back, no matter how well he pitches in the coming days.

This isn’t the first time Bass has stepped in it on social media. Earli- er this year, he went viral after post- ing a picture of his kids on a United Airlines flight. Bass ripped the air- line for having the audacity to ask his pregnant wife to clean up a mess their children allegedly made.

Bass, a multimillion-dollar ath- lete, was mocked worldwide for his rant. One might have thought he’d learned something from that expe- rience. Apparently not, because a month later Bass deemed it wise to go public once again, this time with far more polarizing views.

Some right-wingers will label this cancel culture run amok. But this isn’t about cancelling someone be- cause they’re ignorant or homo- phobic; people get away with that all the time in sports. It should be about getting rid of an attention seeker causing headaches for team- mates, coaches and sponsors while needlessly offending some of the club’s biggest supporters.

Bass hasn’t been worth the effort for a while and he’s even less worthy of it now. We’d be ignorant to believe he’s the only guy inside the Jays clubhouse who shares anti- LGBTQ views, but he’s the only one stupid enough to publicly express them.

Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences, espe- cially in the corporate world, and some players are more disposable than others. With Pride Month just around the corner, the Jays would be wise to wash their hands of this mess entirely instead of playing the role of enabler.

The Jays didn’t do that on Tues- day. Give Bass another outing or two and they still might.