LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The less stringent rules governing compensation for free agents who receive qualifying offers is, at minimum, making the Toronto Blue Jays more open to the idea of pursuing such a player.
As a team under Major League Baseball’s luxury tax not receiving revenue-sharing money, signing one of the nine qualified players would cost them their second-highest draft pick and $500,000 from their international bonus pool.
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That’s far less significant than the loss of a first-round pick under the old system, and is why general manager Ross Atkins said Wednesday, “the impact is certainly not as big.”
“I think that it’s less significant of an issue but it’s definitely something you have to factor in,” he added. “It’s not something that would deter us.”
Atkins declined comment on a tweet from ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick saying the Blue Jays and Mets have reached out early on Lorenzo Cain, one of the qualified players. The multi-skilled outfielder makes sense for the Blue Jays on a number of fronts, although it’s hard to see them extending themselves on a contract that begins with a player’s age 32 season.
The general managers meetings wrapped up Wednesday “with nothing that’s concrete or tangible that we’re going to come out of here and announce,” said Atkins, although they do now have “a better understanding of needs and interests and opportunities and alternatives.”
Meanwhile, Dan Halem, Major League Baseball’s chief legal officer, said he’s aiming within a week to wrap up negotiations with the players union to finalize a tentative framework on a new posting system with Nippon Professional Baseball.
That’s a necessary step before Shohei Otani can be up for bidding.
“I’m hopeful we’ll have a new system in place in which players can be posted by the NPB in early December,” said Halem.
