The Blue Jays officially announced the signing of Chris Bassitt to a three-year, $63 million contract on Friday. In a corresponding move, Anthony Kay has been designated for assignment in order to open up a spot for Bassitt on the team’s 40-man roster.

Kay was selected by the New York Mets in the 29th round of the 2013 MLB Draft but he didn’t sign. The Mets again selected Kay three years later, this time in the first round.

He spent just a year and a half in New York’s system before getting sent to Toronto as part of the trade that sent Marcus Stroman to the Mets. The other player in the Stroman trade that came back to the Blue Jays was pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson, who was moved to the Minnesota Twins in 2021 along with Austin Martin for Jose Berrios.

Over four seasons with the Blue Jays, Kay made 54 big league appearances, 14 of which were starts, and he posted a 5.48 ERA while walking 4.8 batters and striking out 9.8 batters per nine innings. Kay’s 2022 season was marred by injury, as he pitched just 21 1/3 innings between the big leagues and the minors.

I had speculated a couple of days ago that the Blue Jays might look to make a roster-clearing trade, similar to the one they made in 2021 when they acquired Steven Matz, in order to avoid DFA’ing anybody. That didn’t happen in this instance, but could still be the team’s strategy if they want to make any more additions this winter. The Blue Jays are now at a full 40-man roster.