Blue Jays acquire International cap space in minor trade with Reds

The Toronto Blue Jays shipped pitcher Justin Miller to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for some additional International cap space.

The Blue Jays announced that they traded right-handed pitcher Justin Miller to the Reds. Miller had been stationed at the team’s alternate training site and had yet to pitch for Toronto this season.

The 33-year old hurler inked a minor-league pact with the Jays this past offseason after spending the 2019 campaign with the Washington Nationals. In 150 career games, Miller sports a 13-5 record with a 4.43 earned run average with three saves over parts of five seasons with the Tigers, Rockies, and Nationals.

In return for Miller, the Nationals will send the Blue Jays additional International cap space in a season where the signing period was delayed more than six months. Due to the pandemic, MLB officials delayed the International signing period from July 02nd, 2020 to January 15th, 2021.

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If the Reds find themselves in a postseason spot, Miller will not be eligible as the deal was consummated following the trade deadline.

According to Baseball America, prior to the trade, the Jays had $5,348,100 in pool money earmarked for International talent. The Reds along with five other teams were in the top tier of allotted spending pool money with $6,431,000.

The Blue Jays have been linked to the 7th ranked prospect Manuel Beltre who is tabbed as one of the best hitters of the class. Beltre hails from the Dominican Republic and is expected to garner in the neighborhood of $2-3 million.  Along with Beltre, the 41st ranked prospect Martin Gimenez is also expected to land with Toronto.

The Jays bullpen has overachieved this season with the arrivals of Jordan Romano, A.J. Cole, and Rafael Dolis to name a few. Miller became an expendable asset for the brain trust to dangle as trade bait to beef up their International purse strings.

A nice little move even though we are unaware of how much currency is headed north at this time.