Bass Accepts Assignment

That didn't take long -- Brian Bass had 72 hours to decide whether or not he would head to Rochester or become a free agent, but he took only about 1/3 of that time to make the decision. I suggested yesterday that I would suggest accepting free agency if I were his agent, but after a day to think about it I actually think Bass's best option was to accept the assignment to Rochester.

The reason is relatively simple; with the season drawing to a close, and Bass not having pitched well enough to justify anyone rushing out to scoop him up for the rest of the year, Bass had very little chance to catch on with a team for the remainder of the season. By accepting the assignment to Rochester, Bass at least has a chance to be added to the 40-man roster again when rosters expand in September.

Why would the Twins do this? Four things combine to make it a possibility: (1) the Twins will be looking to add arms in September; (2) Bass has big league experience, even if not all of it is great; (3) the Twins have 4 spots open on the 40-man roster to add players as necessary; and (4) there probably aren't 4 other guys in the organization who it makes sense to add to the 40-man roster for the stretch run. If the Twins don't plan on keeping Bass around past this season, they could add him to the roster for September and remove him when the season is over to open up the roster spot again, so it wouldn't really hurt the team to bring him back in September.

So, I was wrong yesterday -- I wouldn't have recommended free agency as his agent, I would have recommended that he accept the assignment. I just hadn't thought through all of the implications of the decisions. For what it's worth, I hope Bass comes back in September and gets a chance to redeem himself a little bit. I don't want him pitching in any meaningful games right now, but I wish the guy well in his future endeavors, and if he can take care of some innings for the Twins in the process, what's not to like?