RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesPHILADELPHIA, PA - JULY 11: Commissioner of Major League Baseball Robert D. Manfred announces Cole Carlon as the 39th overall pick by the Toronto Blue Jays during the 2026 MLB Draft presented by Nippon Express at Pennsylvania Convention Center on Saturday, July 11, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The deadline for signing 2026 MLB draft picks was at 5:00pm ET on Monday. The Toronto Blue Jays had 19 picks in this year’s draft, having forfeited their 2nd and 4th round selections for signing Dylan Cease after he rejected the San Diego Padres’ qualifying offer but receiving a compensation pick in the fourth round for the Mets’ signing Bo Bichette.
The table below shows the picks, their signing bonuses (per sportrac.com ), and their net effect on the Jays’ bonus pool:
Round Pick Player Signing Bonus Slotted Bonus Difference 1 39 Cole Carlon, LHP, Arizona State $2,400,000 $2,571,700 $171,700 3 103 Ryan Cooney, SS, Oregon $597,500 $762,900 $165,400 4 131 Will Brick, C, Tennessee HS $2,500,000 $581,100 -$1,918,900 5 134 Nolan Higgins, RHP, Michigan State $2,500 $421,300 $418,800 6 193 Gable Mitchell, SS, Iowa $5,000 $330,300 $325,300 7 222 Dean West, OF, UCLA $196,725 $262,300 $65,575 8 252 Jake Bennett, C, Dallas Baptist $1,000 $219,500 $218,500 9 282 Joey Urban, OF, Southern Miss. $2,500 $202,100 $199,600 10 312 Bryce Chance, OF, Mississippi State $2,500 $191,900 $189,400 11 342 Brayden Martin, 3B, Maryland $197,500 $150,000 -$47,500 12 372 Santiago Garcia, LHP, Louisiana State $150,000 $150,000 – 13 402 Mathis Nayral, RHP, Kansas $150,000 $150,000 – 14 432 Connor Kelley, RHP, U. Texas San Antonio $120,000 $150,000 – 15 462 Oliver de la Torre, RHP, Cal. (Berkeley) $150,000 $150,000 – 16 492 Carson Cormier, RHP, Illinois State $150,000 $150,000 – 17 522 Landon Waters, RHP, Ole Miss. $50,000 $150,000 – 18 552 Jake McCoy, LHP, South Carolina Unsigned $150,000 – 19 582 Cole Travers, SS, Florida HS Unsigned $150,000 – 20 612 Eddie Rosado, OF, Pennsylvania HS $150,000 $150,000 –
As a reminder, bonus amounts in the top 10 rounds form a team’s total bonus pool. Teams can exceed their pool by up to 5% with only a tax, but there are extreme penalties for going beyond that and in practice teams never do it. The pool covers all players drafted in the first 10 rounds and any bonus amounts in excess of $150,000 for players drafted in rounds 11-20.
The Blue Jays’ draft pool this year was $5,543,100 , the second smallest ahead of the Dodgers. They’ve exceeded it by $212,125, 3.83%, so they’ll pay some tax but continue the trend of no team ever having exceeded the 5% threshold.
Strategically, they’ve clearly decided to hang their draft on first rounder Cole Carlon and fourth rounder Will Brick. Carlon got most of his slot bonus, while they were forced to go way over slot to pay Brick the equivalent of borderline first/second round money. To get there, they reached slightly on Ryan Cooney in the third round to find a player they like who would sign for a cut relative to slot, and mostly punted rounds 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 by signing lower profile college guys who would sign for very little, allowing them to reallocate their slot money to Brick. That puts a lot of weight on two players, but if they think he’s a first round talent then they’ve done well to get two prospects of that calibre with this little capital to spend.
Dean West, in the seventh round, is the only other player in the first 10 to sign anywhere close to slot. West was a relatively well regarded prospect, #302 on Baseball America’s top 500 , and the Jays must have liked him and decided they could get one near-full-value pick in while still saving up enough money. 11th rounder Brayden Martin, #227 on BA’s list, got a little over the $150,000 late-round amount as well, indicating another place where they felt that they could make a value pick up.
At the back of the draft, the Jays picked three upside players who were potentially in a position to command over $150,000. 20th rounder Eddie Rosado has opted to take $150,000 to sign instead of following his college commitment to St. Joseph’s University while it appears that 19th rounder Cole Travers will go to Texas A&M and 18th rounder Jake McCoy will go through with his transfer from South Carolina to Tennessee rather than turning pro. Travers and McCoy declining to sign is not a surprise. The former has a top college offer, and the latter will receive a medical redshirt after missing 2026 undergoing Tommy John surgery, allowing him to enter the 2027 season as a junior in line for a significant bonus. Both likely fell out of the top 10 rounds only because of high bonus demands, and were probably picked mostly as insurance in case a medical issue with Carlon or Brick allowed the Jays to sign them significantly below their expected bonus, creating an unexpected cash surplus.
Later this week I’ll review the Jays’ top 40 prospects, graduations, departures, additions and risers to paint a picture of the state of the farm as we head into the trade deadline.
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