Blue Jays: How did they arrive at Austin Martin’s signing bonus?

The Blue Jays officially announced the signing of Austin Martin, including a bonus of $7,000,825. How did the two parties end up on that number?

It took a little longer than most of us wanted, but the Blue Jays finally announced that they have officially signed their first round draft pick from this year, Austin Martin.

The Blue Jays were not expected to have the opportunity to add Martin to their organization, but with a bit of luck and arguably some questionable decisions by the teams picking ahead of them, Martin was still available with the fifth selection. Since he was widely viewed as at least a top-two player in the draft, it was a bit of a surprise, and it brought a few complications for the Blue Jays’ front office, even if they were extremely excited to add the versatile talent.

The only real “problem” was that it was reported that Martin and his agent Scott Boras were seeking the kind of signing bonus that he would have received had he been selected 2nd overall. The Blue Jays had a total pool of $9,176,500 to work with, and the slot for second overall was $7,789,000.

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After they signed their second rounder CJ Van Eyk for 1.8 million, third round pick Trent Palmer for $850,000, and fifth round selection Zach Britton for $97,500, they were left with $6,969,000, but also had to sign fourth rounder Nick Frasso as well. Thankfully they were able to get the latter player under contract as well for $459,000, which was under the slot of $549,000, and saved them 90 grand.

With 6.51 million left in their player pool, Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins knew that it likely wouldn’t be enough to get Martin to sign on the dotted line. From there though, they were allowed to go over their total pool of $9,176,500 by as much as 5%, which would then trigger a financial penalty. They also had the option to go beyond 5% if they had to, but doing so would cause the loss of future draft picks, and no team has ever extended their offers to that length.

However, the Blue Jays were able to reach the magic number of 7+ million with the $90,000 they saved on Frasso’s slot. That gave them an available pool of $6,510,000, and when you add the extra 5% of $485,825, we land at just a shade over the mark at $7,000,825.

It likely took some creative negotiating with the other players the Blue Jays drafted this year, and thankfully Frasso and Britton were willing to take less than their slot value. That allowed the Blue Jays to get Martin’s name on a contract and add another potential impact player to the organization, and they spent every penny they could to do it.