TORONTO — The limitations on the Toronto Blue Jays resulting from their World Series run in 2025 and subsequent signing of Dylan Cease in free agency will test their creativity in this year’s MLB draft, which begins Saturday and runs through Sunday.

Amateur scouting director Marc Tramuta’s first selection comes at No. 39, as the club’s first-rounder was dropped 10 spots because last year’s payroll exceeded the Competitive Balance Tax’s second spending threshold.

Due to the qualifying offer extended by the San Diego Padres, Cease’s addition on a $210-million, seven-year deal also cost the Blue Jays both their second-round pick and the compensation pick after the fourth round they would have received for Bo Bichette’s departure, slated to have been their fifth-highest selection. (They also forfeit $1 million from their international bonus pool next January.)

As a result, the Blue Jays are working with the second-smallest signing bonus pool in the draft at $5,543,100 — only the Los Angeles Dodgers have less at $3,951,900 — while they have only four picks in the first five rounds: 39, 103, 131 and 164.

That matters because the odds of selecting a future big-leaguer fall off dramatically beyond the first five rounds — of the 722 players on opening-day rosters selected in the draft this season, 445 (or 61.6 per cent of players) were taken within the first 150 selections.

With the Pittsburgh Pirates ($19,130,700), Tampa Bay Rays ($19,009,300) and Chicago White Sox ($17,592,100) armed with bonus pools three to four times larger, the Blue Jays must decide whether to load up for one or two big swings or spread the wealth.

“Because they have a little, so to speak, leverage, and they can go to school and there's NIL money now, the challenge is in how many bullets do you have for high-school players,” said Tramuta. “Generally, they're........

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