Blue Jays Exceed $2.9 Million International Bonus Pool

[polo007]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/pro ... onus-pool/

The Blue Jays were among the most aggressive teams when the international signing period opened on July 2, signing three of the top 20 international prospects to put them slightly over their $2.9 million international bonus pool.

Toronto signed Venezuelan shortstop Franklin Barreto ($1.45 million), Venezuelan shortstop Luis Castro ($800,000) and Dominican shortstop Richard Urena ($725,000), putting their international amateur spending for the 2012-13 signing period at $2,975,000. That means the Blue Jays are 2.6 percent over their international bonus pool, so for their $75,000 overage they will have to pay a 75 percent tax, which comes to $56,250.

The Blue Jays won't face any penalties beyond the tax unless they choose to spend more than five percent above the $2.9 million pool ($3,045,000), after which they would have to pay a 100 percent tax on the overage and would be prohibited from signing any player for a bonus greater than $500,000 during the 2013-14 international signing period that begins next year on July 2.

While the Blue Jays are probably done for the next 11 months in terms of six-figure international amateur signings, the Collective Bargaining Agreement does have some exemptions that will allow them to still sign players without having to face any further penalties. Each club gets six exemptions on signings of up to $50,000, so the Blue Jays still have up to $300,000 to spread across six players if they want for the rest of the signing period. Teams can also sign unlimited players for $7,500 or less and they won't count against their pool space.

[Hamyltowne]

AA putting on a clinic.

[baulderdash77]

Amazing budgeting there to go into the tax but not over. They got the #1, 9 and 13th best prospects. I expect that we'll use a few of these 50k exemptions too.