TORONTO – The July 2 international signing period opened Thursday with the Toronto Blue Jays completing a long-rumoured agreement with coveted outfield prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr, industry sources told Sportsnet.
The 16-year-old will obtain a $3.9 million deal, and while that exceeds Toronto’s $2,324,100 international bonus signing pool, the Blue Jays considered Guerrero Jr. the top hitting prospect available.
The Blue Jays have yet to acknowledge an agreement, but the Guerrero Academy announced that the deal — first reported by Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com — is now official.
Teams that exceed their pools pay a penalty on the overage that can reach as high as 100 percent, and they can also face bans on signing players for more than $300,000 in subsequent years.
Those are stiff prices to pay, but on Wednesday, Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos explained that “for the right guy, absolutely,” it makes sense.
“These guys are so young, I don’t know who the best 16 year old is going to be (next year),” he added. “We might have an idea but these guys change, it’s hard enough already to scout 18 year olds. If you have a player you really like and you’re trying to say, well, you forgo the opportunity to sign the best 16 year old two years from now or three years from now, well, you may not like that guy to begin with, and two, you may not even get him. We’re fine with taking the bird in the hand approach, but we better really feel good about the player if we were to do something like that.”
As for whether Guerrero is Blue Jays bound, Anthopoulos was typically vague.
“It normally doesn’t take much beyond a week for us to get something done,” he said.
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Alex Anthopoulos was scheduled to be on hand Wednesday night as Daniel Norris allowed six runs, four earned, on six hits and two walks with one strikeout over seven innings in triple-A Buffalo’s 6-2 loss to Gwinnett.
Earlier in the day, Anthopoulos described the outing as a big one for the left-hander with the club considering a spot starter, likely next week.
He also said, “when Norris is right you see the strikeout totals be big.”
Norris pitched into some bad luck on a wet night against Gwinnett, described by the Buffalo News here.
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A strong run at double-A New Hampshire won’t necessarily mean a return to triple-A Buffalo for Dalton Pompey, as the Blue Jays feel they can keep him with the Fisher-Cats and bring him up from there if necessary.
In 20 games so far, Pompey is slashing .378/.435/.634 with five homers, 16 RBIs and 19 runs scored, regaining his past form. The Blue Jays want him to continue rebuilding his confidence, which is why Buffalo isn’t part of the equation.
“We don’t think we need to,” Alex Anthopoulos says of moving him up. “He’s in a good place right now, he’s having some success, if we have a need up here we’d have no problem calling him up right now. The thought right now is to leave him there, continue to play well, have good at-bats, and if we decide to make a move or call him up, if there’s any type of injury, we’d have no problem calling him up.”