The Toronto Blue Jays signed Lourdes Gurriel Jr. just in time.
Under the new CBA that Major League Baseball and the MLBPA reached last night in Dallas, Cuban players will now be exempt from team’s international signing pools if they are 25 years old with six years of professional experience.
Correcting earlier note: Cubans exempt from international pool if they are 25 years old with 6+ years of experience.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 1, 2016
This new rule would have impacted Gurriel for two more years. Under the old CBA (which Gurriel signed under), any player over 23 with six six years of pro experience is exempt from bonus pool limits.