Ongoing collective bargaining talks between Major League Baseball and the player’s union have been civil and remain promising, but Tyler Kepner of the New York Times writes that there are still issues to iron out. International amateur intake, the qualifying offer system, and PEDs all pose thorny questions. And matters such as expansion of rosters, if not also teams, and a reduction of the regular-season schedule could also need sorting. The smart money remains on a peaceful process, it seems, as most areas of potential conflict are of fairly limited scope and the parties have worked together on several complicated matters of late.
- An issue that has increasingly drawn attention is the wages owed to minor league ballplayers. Nathaniel Grow of Fangraphs takes a close look at the matter, including what to glean from recent comments from commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA chief Tony Clark.
- The TV rights fees dispute between the Nationals and Orioles, which is centered around the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, is still bound up in court, as Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun reports. The judge in the case has rejected the Nats’ request that another MLB arbitration proceeding be commenced, leaving more to battle over even before a new hearing is had on the underlying merits. Manfred still says that he believes a league-run panel will decide the matter, as Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reports (via the Washington Times).
- We don’t often hear of top draft picks coming from the service academies, though Air Force righty Griffin Jax recently signed with the Twins after being taken in the third round. As Brent Briggeman of the Colorado Springs Gazette reports, rule changes could make players such as Jax more common. The two-year active-duty service requirement that applies to the academies can now be waived upon application, if an athlete has signed a professional sports contract.
I don’t think the Wages will change because their is no other place in the country you can make more money as a minor league ball player the price point is the way it is for a reason, The American Association non affiliated minor league teams have something like a 125k salary cap. If people were willing to spend more for minor league baseball the non affiliated leagues would be paying more for the talent.I don’t think MILB players deserve a huge chunk of revenue they have nothing to do with generating, so just saying well MLB is rich pay them is not really fitting, the MLB players/teams earned that revenue.
I agree. No one is making them sign for the team. It is their choice. Not only are they making a great deal of money, but they also have a chance at making an even bigger amount down the round. Of course, an organization should def have the right to pay players as much as they want (ceiling wise) because it is their organization. Especially in the minors since there is not a huge monetary advantage to winning a minor league title.
They are not making a great deal of money, is the problem. Do some googling on minor league wages. Unless you were drafted in the first few rounds, you’re really living on nothing trying to chase your dream.
But if MLB is forced to pay minor leaguers a “fair” salary, you can expect to see a decent portion of the minor leagues gone.
But at the same time, these players are signed by Major League organizations and devote their entire lives to the game of baseball. Most of these guys don’t even make a living wage. It’s become too expensive to play minor league baseball unless you’re a top prospect. These guys don’t have the time to get a second job, so Major League organizations have forced them into poverty while chasing the dream of having your rights owned by said franchise for the next decade. If that’s not communism, I don’t know what is.
After looking up the salaries, I am amazed how low they get paid
Wages need to change for MiLB “labor” to be legal. As of now guys get to the park between 1 and 2:30 for seven O’Clock games. Any later than three PM is late. If a game ends at ten PM that means certain guys will have been at the stadium for nine hours (not including showering after game).
If a player makes $1,500 a month in High A for 26 days of work per month, that’s $57.70 per day. Divide that by nine hours per day and you get $6.41 per hour. That’s below minimum wage for every state I could find.
Also, you spend half the season in a hotel or on a bus traveling up to nine hours on the road and you’re not getting paid for that time either. You can’t work another job even if you wanted to.
What’s going to have to happen is players will have to spend less time at the field. That’ll mean less time practicing and working out, but it will save teams money. They can clock in if a team wants them to be there longer than a certain time. This way players won’t be frowned upon for not being at the park after two thirty PM and they can work another part time job during the morning.
Yeah, you guys are right. It at the very least needs to be minimum wage. Now, no one is forcing them to do this of course, but they at least need to make minimum wage.
Yes, exactly. No one is forcing anyone to work actually. People get paid to do nothing in this country. Minor league life isn’t easy. You’re away from your home for eight months a year. You stay in cheap apartments and homes making less than minimum wage. You play in small towns where there’s nothing to do and nothing to eat. You eat McDonalds and Waffle House for every meal. It’s all done under the veil of MLB glamour, so much so that everyone including players think they’re living the life. They’re not.
McDonalds is always hiring. No one is forcing them to dedicate their entire life to baseball, all though I do agree they should at the very least make minimum wage as a basic human right, any thing beyond that I don’t see it happening, the Hickory Crawdads are not generating millions of dollars, most minor league teams are a complete hobby for a rich person not an investment that returns dividends at all.
No, no one is forcing them to do anything. That still doesn’t make it right to require them to do what they’re currently required to do for 1500 a month. During the year and much less than that for spring training. You have to be willing to do it full time. Train full time and practice full time. The pack will pass you by. I’m not saying it’s for everyone. It’s not, but this whole system needs to be adjusted, because it’s not even legal what they’re doing.
How is that different though from when I argue that guys such as Groome should take what they are offered and don’t complain? I am not saying either of you argued that with me, but some guys mentioned, “What if they blow out their arm or another career ending injury?” Paraphrasing of course, but why is it top draft choices get special treatment and others that still busy their butt do not get more leeway?
Maybe it is I know the former minor leaguer, now attorney that brought this case to court, but seems the Groomes, Trouts, Moncadas get special treatment when they are the ones that will have the great payday anyway.
Unfortunately that is just the way it is in pretty much any situation in life. People who have the potential to make someone money will get special treatment from that person. Not much will ever change that. I am not condoning the behavior, I am just saying it is human nature.
I agree.
Plenty of jobs don’t pay for you to shower after working outside and plenty of jobs don’t pay for your travel time or time at a hotel while you are not working. If you don’t have to be there until 3 it is unfair to count the time that you decided to arrive to work early if it was not required. $57.5/7 = $8.21 which does exceed the minimum wage in many areas.
Agreed with that. These minor league players choose that path and if they don’t want to continue it? The way it’s been for over 100 years and worked perfectly well? Go out in the real world and get a job like most everyone else does.
It’s simply wild that some can argue otherwise and think that even young kids, or people that choose to want to play a game for some kind of a living and not be good at it should be able to continue to do it for a living. it’s why they have this thing called.. RELEASED and why teams keep these people in organizations around only to take up space as filler.. They want to hang around? It’s your choice and if not? Teams will just keep their own draft choices around longer instead, yet these same ppl who argue everywhere for this so called “unfair policy” of no pay fail to see this on unfair wages here, the nonsense 15.00 an hour that costs jobs in cities.. it’s just wild how some ppl think.
1) Once you do it for a living it’s not just a game. It’s a way of putting food on the table. It’s a job. It’s a profession, and if you treat it like it’s just a game it’ll chew you up and spit you out. It’s funny when people that pay close attention to sports and are fans are confronted with issues like this and then they say “it’s just a game”. It’s big business. Dog eat dog and extremely competitive.
2) Part of the problem here is that the attitude is that “it’s just a game”, so people don’t even consider the fact that half of all professional baseball players in affiliated ball aren’t even making minimum wage. Then the guys in Indy Ball, well that’s a joke too.
3) What’s a “real” job? Sitting at a desk all day playing solitaire? Or crunching numbers? Or calling people at dinner time to sell vacation packages? Driving a cab? Heck, over half of all jobs in this country are in retail and sales. You call selling someone else’s hard work a job but not someone who takes his profession extremely seriously and works as hard and punishes his body as much as anyone else to make a living? I just don’t understand the attitude that professional sports isn’t a legit job. It’s a product. Goods and services. Supply and demand. Don’t like it, don’t pay attention and it’ll go away.
@Niekro, This is untrue. Do you think the major leagues would be as good without the existence of the minor leagues? The minor leagues exists as a training system for players trying to make it into the bigs, it exists as a system that allows players to hone their skills and prove these skills. Without it, you would see much more raw talent in the majors or minor leagues existing in other countries.
Therefore it’s short sighted to say minor league players “don’t deserve a huge chunk of revenue they have nothing to do with generating”. They have had everything to do with generating MLB revenue AND they are not asking for a huge chunk or revenue, they are asking for a SMALL chunk of revenue in comparison to the amount of revenue MLB makes.
Read the FANGRAPHS article, it is very well written and makes the point very well.
Good to see the rule change allowing people like Jax to sign on to a club and waive the 2 year service requirement. I like that. I was in the Air Force myself, and if I knew I could be headed to the minors if it was not for my 2 year commitment, my work production probably would have slumped. However, the argument on the other side which is just as, if not more, valid, is you know the possibility when you sign up. No one forces you to do anything. Either way, I like this rule because it will bring some awareness of athletes who are connected to the military.
I’m fairly certain that all Jax — and others like him — is getting is a service deferral. Uncle Sam’s going to get his money’s worth from the three years that were spent on that academy seat, after all. I agree with you, though, that the Pentagon’s realization that working with would-be professional athletes from the service academies has more upside than just enforcing their commitment is a good thing. If for no other reason than that sooner or later someone’s going to have a legitimate career and become a PR asset.
I see. And you are probably right. A deferral isn’t too bad.
What is the dollar amount on a living wage?
It’s actually moronic for Manfred to suggest that minor leaguers shouldn’t get paid a reasonable amount of money and then sit there and complain that baseball isn’t attracting minorities. Hey, here’s a tip for you… if you pay a decent wage you will attract athletes of all races. When someone can go to college and potentially get drafted directly to the NBA or NFL and get a decent payday right away, or they can get drafted low in MLB and get a small signing bonus and then sit in the minors for 5 years earning low $$$ until they get a call up… it’s not going to attract athletes, they will go to play a sport where they can fast track their way to a bigger payday.