It may have seemed like a minor move by former GM Alex Anthopoulos at the time, but a 2015 trade with the Dodgers helped the Blue Jays sign Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (ShiDavidi )
are well known by now, from clandestine visits to the Dominican Republic by former GM Alex Anthopoulos to the lunch when the slugger’s mother pulled out his Canadian birth certificate.
As a result, the Blue Jays were able to sign right-hander Eric Pardinho, ranked as the club’s No. 4 prospect by Baseball America, plus shortstops Miguel Hiraldo and Leonardo Jimenez , among others, during the 2017 signing period, one that they would have had to otherwise sit out.As the Blue Jays set their sights on Guerrero ahead of the 2015 international signing period, they faced a dilemma.
For overages of greater than 15 per cent – the range the Blue Jays faced – there was a dollar-for-dollar tax as well as an inability to sign players for more than $300,000 in the next two international signing periods. Some teams had taken the approach of going all out in one bonus period, getting as many of the best prospects as possible, and then accepting the punishment.
Every year, there are teams that don’t use their full allotment in the international market, and unlike most draft picks, those slots can be traded. That summer, the Dodgers were one of those teams and Anthopoulos sought them out. Enter De Jong, a second-round pick in 2012 pitching well at low-A Lansing at the time, and Locastro, a 13th-round pick in 2013 with lots of speed and the ability to play around the diamond who was also at Lansing. The pair would get the deal done for the bonus slots but internal debate on whether to use minor-league assets to ease a penalty continued.
Locastro has appeared in 30 big-league games so far, nine of them with Arizona this season, while De Jong has pitched in 12, one in 2019 with Minnesota.
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