Blue Jays trade Wes Parsons to the Cleveland Guardians for $250k in International Signing Bonus Pool Money

According to MLB Trade Rumours, the Blue Jays received $250k in bonus pool money, which is by no means a small amount. It appears that the additional bonus pool money will be for this season, so maybe there’s an additional signing on the way?

Next season, the Jays will have $6,261,600 in bonus pool money and are expected to sign Kennew Blanco, who was set to sign with the Jays earlier in January, but will sign next season.

It may not seem like a big deal, but International Signing Bonus Pool Space is vital to a sustainable contender, which the Blue Jays hope to be. There are a lot of high-name IFA signings that pan out, an example being Vladimir Guerrero Jr., while prospects like Orelvis Martinez and Enmanuel Bonilla are looking good.

However, even getting a small total could be the difference between finding a guy like Gabriel Moreno (who signed for $25,000), Alejandro Kirk (signed for $30,000) or Top 30 prospect Fernando Pérez, who signed for just $10,000.

Of course, the most notable move for international bonus pool money came in 2015, when the Jays (then led by Alex Anthopoulos) traded prospects Chase De Jong and Tim Locastro to the Dodgers for $1,071,300 in international bonus pool money, signing Guerrero Jr. shortly after.

It wasn’t just Guerrero that they had signed with the extra bonus pool money, as former top 100 prospect Eric Pardinho, as well as Miguel Hiraldo and Leo Jimenez were signed, with the latter being the highest-ranked prospect of the three as it stands.

Another significant move and what I can find to be the most recent involving International Signing Bonus Pool Money came when the Blue Jays traded Kendry Morales (and basically the rest of his contract) to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Jesus Lopez and bonus pool money. 

It’ll be fun to see what the Jays do with the added bonus pool!