Club expected to sign son of former Montreal Expo great Vladimir Guerrero

The Blue Jays are expected to sign Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — the son of the former Montreal Expos’ great — with the opening of baseball’s international free-agency period on Thursday.

The Jays have long been linked to the 16-year-old Dominican — recently ranked the top international prospect by Baseball America and con- sidered the best power hitter among international prospects — and are already reported to have a deal in place.

Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos would not discuss specifics on Wednesday.

“When (Thursday) hits we’ll start to have talks and so on, but obviously everyone knows (international free agency) moves fast,” he said. “It seems like that’s the one part of our game that’s like the NHL free-agent period.”

One wrinkle for the Jays is that in order to sign Guerrero, they will likely have to go over their allotted $2.3 million international signing bonus pool.

But Anthopoulos said Wednesday he would be willing to incur the penalties of going over-slot, which include a 100-per-cent tax on any overages as well as being barred from signing any international free agent for more than $300,000 for the next two years.

“For the right guy, absolutely,” Anthopoulos said.

The elder Vladimir Guerrero played 16 seasons in the big leagues, including eight with the Expos. The nine-time all-star and 2004 American League MVP signed a minorleague deal with the Jays in 2012 and played 12 games with the club’s minor-league affiliates before asking for his release. He officially retired last year. Brendan Kennedy