The Seattle Mariners and general manager Jerry DiPoto appear to be gearing up for the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.
In their second trade in 48 hours, the team sent Brazilian prospect Thyago Vieira to the Chicago White Sox for international signing bonus pool money.
Vieira, 24, made his major-league debut in an August appearance against the Baltimore Orioles. He threw one scoreless inning with a strikeout.
A native of Sao Paulo, Vieira split last season between the Texas League (Double-A) Arkansas Travelers and the Pacific Coast League (Triple-A) Tacoma Rainiers. In 54.0 inning pitched, Vieira posted a 2-4 record with an earned run average of 4.00 and a 1.296 WHIP.
MLB Pipeline had Vieira as the No. 8 prospect in the Mariners' system.
The obtaining of international signing bonus pool money better positions the Mariners, the team who brought Ichiro Suzuki to North America, to make a run at Ohtani.
In a separate trade, the M's acquired infielder Ryon Healy from the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.