Draft Signings Deadline: Blue Jays Sign Early Rounders, but Miss out on Beede

The Blue Jays have signed a new crop of prospects to their organization, adding several more just before the Monday, August 15th midnight deadline.  This brings their total signings to 35 of 55 total draftees and 11 of their top 13.

On Augusta 14th, they signed Dwight Smith Jr., an outfielder that the Blue Jays took 53rd overall in the supplemental first round.  That pick was given as compensation the Blue Jays when Miguel Olivo turned down their offer of arbitration in the offseason after he was acquired in a trade—an interesting move that went along with Alex Anthopoulos' game plan of acquiring as much high-end talent as possible, much of it through the draft.

RHP Tyler Beede, the 21st overall pick, turned down the Blue Jays' offer of around $2.3 million and will instead attend Vanderbilt College, reported by ESPN.com's Keith Law.  

The attempt to sign Beede went down right to the deadline, but it was said that the high school draftee was seeking an offer of $3.5 million.

The Blue Jays will receive the 22nd overall pick in the 2012 draft as compensation.

RHP Kevin Comer, another supplemental first-round pick, was one of four players the Jays signed just before the deadline.  Comer will receive a $1.65 signing bonus, as reported by ESPN.com's Keith Law.

LHP Daniel Norris has signed with the Jays for a $2 million signing bonus, according to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com.  Norris was one of the high-end talents (he was once projected as a top-15 pick) that fell in the draft due to being a projected difficult sign.

The Jays may have landed some top talent by taking that risk, a philosophy that has been both a part of Anthopoulos' draft plan and his greater vision for the Blue Jays.  They have taken that approach in the trades for Colby Rasmus and Brett Lawrie and put that concept into effect by the eager acquisition of draft picks

The other two prospects the Jays signed before the deadline were infielder Christian Lopes and third baseman Matt Dean.

Outfielder Jacob Anderson (35th overall) and RHP Jose Musgrove (46th overall) were the Blue Jays' other supplemental first-round picks.  They both signed earlier in the summer for $990,000 and $500,000, respectively.  

Those two supplemental picks were awarded to the Blue Jays when free-agents Scott Downs and John Buck turned down their offers of arbitration and signed with the Angels and Marlins, respectively.