Toronto Blue Jays announce the signing of 27 international free agents

The club announced Wednesday that it agreed to terms with 27 international free agents, a wide net that quietly tells you where the next roster wave is supposed to come from.

The group spans four countries, heavy on Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, with two signings from Cuba and one from the Netherlands.

As a fan, I like the volume here, because you cannot fix depth with one flashy headline signing.

The headliner on MLB's side is Michael Mesa, a left-handed hitting outfielder tagged as a top-30 overall talent in this class. The swing notes are the kind scouts chase, clean path, loft, and loud contact.

Juan Caricote is the other name that jumps, a Venezuelan catcher, and that matters because catching depth is always a slow cook. MLB.com pegged his bonus at $1,847,500, while other reports have floated slightly higher numbers, so I'd treat the exact figure as fluid.

Celwin Hurkmans is the sneaky one for me, a Dutch lefty in a class otherwise dominated by Latin America. Even one legitimate left-handed arm in the complex leagues can change how you build pitching groups later.

The bigger point is timing, not instant help. MLB's own reminder is blunt, international signees can take years, even the elite ones, to touch the majors.

Toronto's pool this year sits at $5,940,000, and that cap shapes everything, from one big bonus to a wider spread of smaller bets. That same number shows up in MLB's international signing coverage, so we know the sandbox size.

Also worth noting, MLB.com mentioned another signing, Carlos Figueroa, in its early-period writeup, but Sportsnet's Wednesday list of 27 names doesn't include him. Until the club publishes a single consolidated list, I'm treating that as a paperwork timing quirk, not a firm contradiction.

The signing window runs from Jan. 15 through Dec. 15, so this story keeps moving even after the first-day buzz fades. Next is to see who hits early in the Dominican Summer League and starts forcing real prospect conversations.