Unlike the Kevin Pillar incident, the Blue Jays decide apology was enough for Anthony Bass

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Did the Blue Jays consider disciplining pitcher Anthony Bass after his social media sharing of an inflammatory anti-2SLGBTQ+A post earlier this week?

No one is saying for certain, though the team’s handling of the situation is definitely in contrast to the way it dealt with former outfielder Kevin Pillar’s homophobic slur six years earlier.

In that incident, the club acted swiftly in suspending Pillar for two games after uttering the slur at Braves reliever Jason Motte following a frustrated strikeout in Atlanta.

Different times now, of course, which in part led the Jays to handle the Bass situation the way it chose.

When asked about the team’s approach to Bass and Pillar, Jays general manager Ross Atkins said that, ultimately, the team felt an authenticity to the remorse shown by Bass, both in his public and private apologies.

“First and foremost we saw, felt, experienced his very authentic apology and acknowledgment of having made a significant mistake,” Atkins said in a brief interview with the Toronto Sun following Tuesday’s 7-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

“The remorse was authentic, the apology was authentic and the accountability was also there for him agreeing to take action to ensure he’s not going to mistake like that ever again.

“That’s how we got to the conclusion that we did.”

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When asked if a suspension or other disciplinary action was considered, Atkins said: “I’m not going to get into the specifics of it.”

While no one is elaborating on the team’s handling of either situation, it’s worth pointing out that in Bass’ apology on Tuesday, he vowed to use the team’s resources to learn and improve. In his brief statement to the media (unlike Pillar in Atlanta, he did not take questions), Bass was contrite and apologized to those he might have hurt, including family and friends.

Plenty has changed in the world in the past six years and, as offensive as such incidents can be, so much of the reaction is politicized. And the fact that Bass vowed to take control of the situation was a factor.

With Pillar, Atkins flew to Atlanta to deal with the team-initiated suspension immediately and addressed the media, as did Pillar.