6:09pm: The Rangers have committed to $400 a week for their minor leaguers through at least June, Levi Weaver of The Athletic was among those to report. The same goes for the Braves, per David O’Brien of The Athletic, as well as the Diamondbacks, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic adds.
12:59pm: The Padres will also pay their minor leaguers the $400 weekly stipend through the end of August, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets.
12:34pm: Most of MLB’s 30 organizations agreed a ways back to pay their employees through the end of May. There were instances of lengthier commitments, but May 31 was broadly used as an initial endpoint, at which time fiscal matters would be reassessed. Minor league players have been receiving $400 weekly stipends during this time, but that arrangement is also only promised through the end of May. As you’d expect, clubs have begun to inform employees (both on the business and baseball operations side) and minor leaguers of their next steps. And, as you’d expect, in some instances it’s not pretty.
Yesterday was a particularly dark day in the Athletics organization, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the team informed minor league players they will no longer be paid their stipend as of June 1. Robert Murray of The Score shares the email that was sent to Oakland minor leaguers — one which was signed by GM David Forst rather than managing partner John J. Fisher. (Forst, of course, is being asked to play the messenger in this instance and is not the one making the decisions.)
Minor league players are generally undercompensated as a whole, and the $400 weekly stipend they’ve received over the past two months will now seemingly go down as the only baseball-related compensation they’ll receive in the calendar year. Their contracts, which are in a state of suspension but not terminated, bar them from “perform[ing] services for any other Club” and also render them ineligible for unemployment benefits, per The Athletic’s Emily Waldon (Twitter link).
As for the operations side of the equation, Athletics front office personnel will be either furloughed or see their pay reduced effective June 1 and running through the end of October, The Athletic’s Alex Coffey reports (Twitter thread). She adds that the maximum cut is 33 percent, and those determinations are based on seniority. Scouts aren’t considered front-office personnel, but they’ll be hit hard as well; USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that A’s amateur and pro scouts alike will be furloughed from June 16 through Oct. 31. Fisher did write a letter to the club’s fanbase confirming the dramatic cuts (Twitter link via the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser), emphasizing the pain that went into the decisions and his “deep commitment to the long-term future of the A’s.”
Those cutbacks are similar to the substantial cuts the Angels put in place earlier this month, but other L.A. club isn’t taking such rash measures. The Dodgers have informed all employees earning more than $75K that they’ll be subject to pay reductions beginning June 1, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter thread). The extent of the reductions is dependent on overall salary — larger salaries get larger percentage cuts — and will be capped at 35 percent for the most part, although that they could be greater for the team’s very top executives. Those measures are being taken in an effort to avoid the type of large-scale furloughs being put in place in Oakland and Anaheim.
Across the country, the Nationals have implemented a series of partial furloughs both in baseball ops and business ops, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports (Twitter thread). The Nats are still covering full benefits and haven’t made any layoffs, but they’re implementing a sequence of 10 to 30 percent reductions in pay and total hours. The Brewers, meanwhile aren’t making any baseball ops furloughs but are furloughing some business operation employees, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets.
It’s not yet clear how every organization plans to handle the minor league pay dilemma, but Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser has heard from at least three clubs that plan to continue varying levels of compensation. The Phillies will keep paying their minor leaguers through at least June, but likely at less than the current $400 stipend. The White Sox are paying $400 per week through the end of June, and the Marlins have committed to paying their minor leaguers the full $400 per week through August — the would-be conclusion of the 2020 minor league season. The Marlins already informed players earlier this month that about 40 percent of the baseball ops department will be furloughed on June 1.
as much as i think people pile on Oakland a bit too much for their finances, i can’t see any way to defend this.
They’ll find a way.
well they will, but i wolnt stand by them on this one, thats for sure.
Fisher sucks
Reality is, it’s not the owners job to hand out paychecks for people not doing their jobs. It’s a nice gesture or tax write off, however you want to look at it, to pay them during a crisis, but that’s not something owners should be expected to continue to do long term.
Government shutdown and government restrictions means they should be the ones sending relief. State and/or federal. You can pick.
Relief can come in many forms from government mandates such as relief for bills, relief for housing expenses, and relief for food.
Have you read a minor league U.P.C. ?
Have you realized teams have other employees besides minor Leaguers?
Mentioned a couple times in the article.
1st- Most of MLB’s 30 organizations agreed a ways back to pay their employees through the end of May.
2nd- As you’d expect, clubs have begun to inform employees (both on the business and baseball operations side) and minor leaguers of their next steps
Allows them to get (increased) unemployment until a return to business, some may even see more from unemployment than what they get usually
They’re ineligible for unemployment; I should have included that in the post. Will update now.
It’s astounding how much this particular group of players are exploited by the owners, and embarrassing how little concern MLBPA has shown them over the years.
edd.ca.gov/uibdg/Miscellaneous_MI_70.htm
for those in CA
like the Ports their single-A team
the provisions of Section 1253.4 to be applicable, the following criteria must be present:
2. The claimant performed “athletic” services in the prior season and is under contract to perform similar services in the succeeding season or has reasonable assurance of performing similar services the following season.
When an individual completes the season and his or her contract terminates, there is “reasonable assurance” so long as the individual affirmatively offers services as an athlete to the employer(s) and there is a strong indication that an employer(s) is intending to employ the individual.
Mike, minor league players are not members of the MLBPA.
baseball1010 – that’s the point. The MLBPA collectively negotiates away a number of their rights on their behalf, while not actually representing them in the first place. The MLBPA is more than happy to use minor leaguers at leverage, but do absolutely nothing positive when given the chance.
Both the owners, and the PA, are guilty of using minor leaguers as pawns, which is pretty disgusting.
Cam, What rights have they negotiated away?
Do you live in a minor league city? If the players were paid based upon the revenues earned by the team they play for, they’d get even less. If they don’t want to chase the dream, they can quit and get a real job. Many do, in all sports. Hopefully, those who went to college earned a real degree. Back prior to the 80’s, major league players used to have off-season jobs to supplemental their income and prepare for the end of their career. There was no expectation that a few years of major league ball meant you didn’t have to work for the next 50 years.
That being said.
Players and owners should agree to giving a % of player salaries to employees during the crisis.
Say players ultimately get 30% of their salaries instead of 50%. Mlbpa and MLB should agree to give say 5% of player salaries to laid off employees. That means owners foot the bill for 35% of the salaries. 30% to players, 5% to those laid off.
The percentages are just for the purpose of examples.
That’s assuming games are played. I can’t see owners continuing to pay employees if games arent played.
To me it’s a real surprise that a team like the a’s choose to not pay their minor leaguers, furlough half their staff and all their scouts and cut pay to all FO staff. After all, this is a franchise that skipped out on a recent lease payment to the city for their coliseum, and constantly whines about being a “small-market” team when in fact they share one of the largest media markets in the US. Shocking indeed. Wonder if Mr. Beane is taking a pay cut as well, afterall he was the “brains” behind drafting a football player with the number 9 overall pick!?!
Padres at least paying their minor leaguers through August that’s a good thing
Not surprised Oakland has not even made rent payment to stadium.
If the A’s didn’t have Beane and their GM they’d be in last every year
As a side note, cash is king. I wonder how many season ticket holders, for any team, are going to be selling them back to the team? I assume they can?? If so, does that create a projected cash crunch for teams? Refunding more and more tickets in general as the days go on and no baseball. There has to be some common sense business decisions here that has to do with managing cash flow. One would think anyway….
Rangers are not refunding season tickets. Just get it credited to our next years tab.
Unless there’s language in the agreement stating they have the right, that seems somewhat illegal. I’ve never bought season tickets, so I honestly have no idea. It’s shady, even if it is legal. What if you were moving out of state next year?
I agree. There was one case where the STH holder is moving. They requested a refund, and it was denied. The STH appealed to a local TV personality that is known to “handle those type of situations”, and he was able to effect a refund for them. Took quite a while though.
So far STL has refunded April and May games to season ticket holders. You can apply to next year if you like though. No word on June and on.
Little noted line here is “Their contracts, which are in a state of suspension but not terminated, bar them from “perform[ing] services for any other Club.”
So, they don’t get paid, but they can’t work for anyone who would pay them. Put that in a non-baseball context and ask yourself if you’d be happy with that.
Sounds like a typical non-compete to me
Non-competes generally have to be supported by consideration to be enforceable, and in many states, they are significantly disfavored (California is one). There’s no consideration being paid. That’s the point.
Curious if it’s a known fact that consideration is not provided at time of signing a contract? I don’t know, so I’m asking.
Usually, when we look at consideration, it’s something extra,..so, if you sold someone your furniture business and in connection with that sale they made it a term of sale for you to stay out of the furniture business for a two years, Or, an additional payment as part of severance.
What is so nefarious about that? Team A holds the rights to player player X. Should player X want to play for Team B, a negotiation for release of the rights would need to take place. Nothing too complicated or inherently evil about it.
I am sure you would be tickled pink if your employer fired you and didn’t allow you to get another job or file for unemployment. And they might bring you back next year if they feel like it.
Doesn’t particularly matter since no teams are playing so they don’t really have a way to make money anyway, it’s not like they can go play for Team B, if Team B is also shut down. Doesn’t mean they can’t go work at a car wash, just means they can’t play baseball anywhere else, but that’s pretty irrelevant right now.
Side note, it said player was contemplating playing in a country that was playing baseball, if they weren’t a good enough prospect in a team’s mind, I would anticipate them letting the player go.
That’s not what is going on here at all. I hope you are purposely misconstruing things to drive your narrative rather than being just that wrong. There are no other teams for them to play on, all are out of commission at the moment. If a borderline, non consequential major leaguer had an opportunity to play Japan or S. Korea they could work out their release so they could sign there.
That’s assuming he’s continuing to be paid. Rights without compensation was decided over 160 years ago.
I know of a lot of people who’ve been furloughed during this “crisis”…they still get benefit but no pay. If they went to work for someone else, they’d lose the benefits and no longer be an employee of their original employer. Why are baseball players different than other workers?
Who owns the Athletics? Why? Imagine how many titles Beane and Co could have won them with $125mm payroll?
He isnt much better than any other GM. For every decent move Beane makes a Donaldson move…
So the managing partner makes the GM sign the document? What a spineless coward. I bet Mr. Fisher is doing just fine though.
I’m still waiting for these ‘wealthy beyond imagination’ owners to do their patriotic duty and put on baseball at a loss. I’m sick of hearing how the players should do their patriotic duty while the owners sit in glass houses.
I just always believed baseball. Sure there was the dormant months. Still baseball is a belief. These owners might even take over. Run us all like dogs so hard we forget everyones just as good.
This is disappointing. Baseball is not gonna come through. Come on that yankee guy, bill murry, O’malleys, people with just slivers of percentages.
We play for each other we dont need you
Start a GoFundMe and put your money where your mouth is if you feel the minor league players are so abused. The owners are getting no revenue or cash inflow. They can’t continue to pay cash out if they can’t put a product on the field. The only way to fix the problem is to start playing again. If people can riot, they can attend baseball games.
A very stupid move. Why? The A’s have been trying for years to get a new ballpark in Oakland. This “Penny wise and dollar foolish” move may very well cost them the support they need to get the ballpark finished.
Option B: relocate.
Per Craig Mish, Marlins also have confirmed that they will continue to pay their minor leaguers through August.
I don’t see why clubs should be paying anyone right now. But I also don’t think they shouldn’t qualify to collect unemployment benefits. That’s BS
The fairest approach is to let the players be free agents. This way the A’s do not pay them but those eligible l can collect unemployment
Because UI rules state you cannot be under contract (employment) and draw unemployment .
That is not true I have a W2 employee working PT and she is collecting unemployment through the State, things changed during the pandemic
So we’re talking about 150 players $400/week for 13 weeks…or about $800,000…..it’s not nothing, but is “eat-a-ble” by teams that have been raking in millions (many. many millions is some intsances) a year the past two decades. And it’s a deductable cost of sales.
Bottom line: it’s chintzy…….and shows the kind of folks we’re dealing with here. Understandable? Sure. Defensable? Nah………And it’s really lousy PR.
that’s exactly my thinking, but explained more eloquently than i woulf likely have put it.
Well said, Bob!
is it tho? It’s easy to spend other’s money. With nothing coming in, every penny is a loss. Eventually they have to not have a season at all. Then noone gets paid. Jobs aren’t charity.
Not to mention the false idea many people seem to have that billionaires have all this cash piled up. It’s very common for over 90% of their wealth to be tied up in investments, real estate and other assets. Not to mention that the job of a business is to run itself, not be a drain on the owner’s personal finances.
It’s a multi-faceted issue. Most fans fail to realize for example that the last million fans that enter Fenway Park do so for no consequence to the Red Sox. All that profit on revenue goes to the Rays, the A’s, the Pirates, etc. Actually, since the sytem is based on revenue and not profit derived from that revenue, it actually costs the Red Sox money. And it works the other way; it really doesn’t make any differance how many fans show up at the Trop.
No one denies the owners their profits. But as everyone whose ever owned anything knows, there’s short term gains and long term viabilities. Whatever gains these teams are gaining (or losses avoided) on ther 2020 leger, the negative PR is going to bite them in the butt.
In the end, that affects franchise value, the real profit engine (besides tax breaks) that powers MLB ownership. So unless these teams are so leveraged that they need the money today (and it’s hard to imagine any MLB team being in that posistion after the past 20 years), it’s self-defeating.
Regardless of whether or not it’s fair the players have 2 options:
1) Suck it up and play for far less money then they want
Or
2) Make no more money whatsoever this, damage the sport and thereby the value of free agents going into 2021, and then face the very real possibility of no season again for 2022 if cba talks fail. 2 work stoppages in 2 years would absolutely kill the sport.
ck1 I guess you don’t understand the function of a union.
Reading about minor leaguers from comments, they get a whole $400 a week at best, can not get unemployment, and can’t take their services to say Japan or Korea. Doesn’t sound American to me. You’re cutting my pay which normally would be under minimum wage and I have no option to shop my services????
they can collect unemployment under the revised pandemic program. I have an employee doing it now and there’s many others in CA also doing so. they just would not receive the full 100% ump. check.
this is actually kinda depressing
Baseball players have always been paid on the basis of performance, not gross income or net profit. It is not the players responsibility to fix the owner’s financial issues. In my opinion, the bottom line is this: If the owners are unable or unwilling to operate their businesses by the new rules of commerce in a pandemic world, they should tap out and put their franchises up for sale.
nah, they should run their business how they see fit and let the market decide their fate.
This would be the worse time to but a business like a team on the market, the value would be down by 20 to 25%
Or maybe the owners should just divest themselves for any responsibility for minor league baseball and let the system survive or fail on its own financial feet; letting the individual teams sign and pay players and then sell them off to the highest bidder when they develop? There would be a lot less minor league players employed in that system and the ones employed would be far poorer, as you wouldn’t have some 150 pound 17-year old Dominican, who’s projected to grow into a hitter,getting a $1M signing bonus and then not hitting his weight for 4 years.
Just waiting to see some A’s fan try and blame this on the Giants.
BTW. The Dodgers are NOT “the other LA club” as written in the article. Last I checked the Angels still played in Anaheim in Orange County.
Isn’t their name The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?
Wonder how this decision is going to affect their ability to sign good undrafted free agents come MLB Draft time?
I’d say many high school athletes will opt to go to college instead
I’d hope MLB looks at contracting at least 2 teams. I think the O’s and the A’s have self-identified as financially marginal and likely devoid any positive character. Given their actions the teams are also likely to lose a significant portion of their fan base.
The remaining A’s fans, after this unfortunate team decision, aren’t worth anyone’s time or concern.
DIsband the 2 teams and conduct a dispersal draft. I suppose the Nationals could be paid for the O’s TV decision from dispersed player proceeds. Perhaps a team with a terrible stadium could relocate to Baltimore.
At least this would put Pittsburg on notice. Some good anyway.
It is funny you talk about contraction. Because I wonder if teams actually could use the excuse of Coronavirus and no season to go bankrupt like the Orioles ( saddled with MASN and the contract of Chris Davis ), the A’s ( who can not afford minor leaguers) and the Rays ( to get out of their lease). Maybe that is the end game. Contraction: Bye A’s bye Birds and move the Rays to Baltimore? . It would solve three problems.
The Athletics are worth over a billion. they 100% can afford minor leaguers, just choose not to pay them. also Chris Davis’s contract is not bad enough to the point of bankrupting a team.
This puts a dark mark on baseball for sure. In this upcoming draft, when the playing field equals after the 5th round. How the heck do they expect to sign anyone, much less any decent prospect? I’d never sign with the A’s after this news. I’d go play anywhere even if it’s independent ball or overseas. Heck, I’ll go work the at the local gas station before signing with the A’s
We now understand why John J Fisher is a billionaire. He doesn’t spend money. He’s made a huge profit with the A’s and MLB. He expects us to spend money on the A’s but he’s just as tightfisted as Charles O Finley. Great strategy! Try to build up a club the cheap way by bringing talent up from the minors then alienate all the minor leaguers by not paying them.
$100 a week paycut? Well, what’s new? Reality check: corporations that are WAY WAY bigger than the Lerners/Nats are doing the same thing, whether it be slashing hours for $12 an hour workers, you name it. $100 a week pay cut? Bad PR move by the Nats and any MLB club. Winced when I first saw it. But teams are going to continue to take a knife to costs, this recession aint going anywhere soon. Baseball aint a sport that happens to be a business. Other way around.
So if you were furloughed and have no income coming in, yet still have your house and car, are you going to restaurants and giving money to your barber, doctor, dentist, even if you can’t use their services right now? You can borrow against the value of your home to pay them. How’s it different for the owners? They have zero cash flow right now with no end in sight. Why should they continue to pay for workers, most of whom can be easily replaced in minor league free agency next year?