collectAs we enter Day 1 of the MLB lockout, one key issue in the current labor negotiations is where the players’ minimum salary will land. Given the union’s stated goal to get players paid more when they’re younger and more productive, it stands to reason that they’re seeking a more significant increase than usual. The minimum salary was set at $570,500 in 2021. It’s not known how much MLB proposed raising it in their most recent offer. Here’s a look at how the minimum salary has changed with each new CBA.
- 1968: Minimum salary went from $6K to $10K, a 66.7% increase
- 1970: $10K to $12K, a 20% increase
- 1973: $13.5K to $15K, an 11.1% increase
- 1976: $16K to $19K, an 18.8% increase
- 1980: $21K to $30K, a 42.9% increase
- 1985: $40K to $60K, a 50% increase
- 1990: $68K to $100K, a 47.1% increase
- 1997: $109K to $150K, a 37.6% increase
- 2003: $200K to $300K, a 50% increase
- 2007: $327K to $380K, a 16.2% increase
- 2012: $414K to $480K, a 15.9% increase
- 2017: $507.5K to $535K, a 5.4% increase
In the free agency era, the minimum salary had always increased by at least 15.9% until the just-expired CBA. There is historical precedent for a leap as high as 50%, which would mean $855,750 for 2022. An increase of 16% would be more in line with the ’07 and ’12 CBAs, which would set the minimum at $661,780. It should also be noted that the minimum salary typically increases each year within a CBA, with the ’20 and ’21 rates involving cost of living adjustments.
It absolutely needs to go up again. It is impossible for these athletes that don’t even hit the field to live off of the paltry 507k salary that they are forced to take. The humanity!
If you’re thinking about the revenue they bring to the clubs, how much they mean to the teams, and how much teams value them, they’re worth way more than 507k. Just because it’s a big number to the rest of us doesn’t mean that it’s not a small amount of money compared to what they’re worth and how much revenue they bring to the club.
Ryan Lavarnway brings in excess of $600k in revenue to the ball club he appears in 5 games for each year?
@Elmedius that’s not how the MLB league minimum works. Of the 1200 players on 40 man rosters, half are on split contracts – they pay out at a pro-rated salary. As is Ryan Lavarnway yearly. For example…say Lavarnway signs a minor league contract that pays him 80K$. He plays 3 months in the minors before having his contract purchased by the big league club, he then plays 5 games in the majors, and this is ourighted again back to the minors. In that example he’d get paid ((5/172) x 600,000)) on top of his minor league contract. He doesn’t get paid 600K for one week of service as you’ve just stated.
Additionally, the average big league career is about 3 years (service time speaking). So of the ~240 or so players who debut in the bigs yearly, the vast majority never, never, never make more than league minimum for a few years. Only about a quarter of the guys who debut ever reach the minimum 6 years of service required for FA.
I didn’t buy a new Braves hat last year because of Acuna or anyone currently on the team. If anyone that revenue came from my fandom of Ron Gant, Dale Murphy, and Ryan Klesko to name a few. It’s about fandom of the team and history.
Btw: I like the Ohtani example and you’re stretching just as far to make it not work for you is he is to make his point.
*** sorry, that’s in the wrong place.
It isnt about how much revenue they bring to the club, they dont take the risk in promising to pay ~150mil a year to 25 guys. They dont pay the stadium bills, the staffing costs, insurance costs, etc… they show up to play a game and then act like they have some claim to the potential profits of the business.
Without the MLB logo, these guys would be playing in beer leagues trying to show off to their friends. The simple fact teams like the pirates, orioles, diamondbacks and rangers, who all lost over 100 games, can continue to draw fans tells you a little about how much fans care about the overall skill of the players on the field vs the logo on the hat. Its fun to watch Ohtani, but no one was turning on the Nippon Ham Fighters games.
Do they have a veterans league minimum in baseball? In some sports players who have been in the league 10 years or more have a higher minimum than players who haven’t. I think one sport got rid of the higher minimum for veterans because the vets themselves complained. I think some teams were choosing the players who weren’t veterans just to save the extra money and some of the older players who would have signed ended up being stuck without a job.
Baseball players pay there agent, their accountant, their “patron” (if they are from the Caribbean or South or Central America), federal taxes, state taxes in every state they play in, etc. etc. $570,000 doesn’t go as far as you might think.
They don’t need to raise minimum. They need to find a way of to pay minor league players more. Never happen because they are not in union yet.
I agree. The minor league players’ situation is MLB’s most flagrant mistreatment for which a union can be justified. It’s unfortunate that the only TRUE need for a union isn’t being addressed BY the union.
I agree with minor leaguers being paid more but you are delusional if you think the mlb minimum salary shouldn’t increase. Get out from under your rock Patrick and speak to Squidward
Poor Hermosillo… possibly leaving money on the table with a 1 year / $600k contract. Lol
The absolutely need to find ways to get the major league minimum up. The number of players who only get a few years of major league time, and never hit even arbitration eligibility, is very high. That means guys who may have years in the minors have only a small window to make some decent money.
Perhaps increase the minimum, but also have a “pay for play” element that gives each player on a minimum deal (or a deal below a certain threshold) $1-2k for each game played would make sense. That way guys play 150 games on a minimum contract get a boost.
If you don’t like how much players get paid, stop feeding the machine! Stop buying tickets and merchandise, stop watching broadcasts, stop voting for taxpayer funded stadiums, stop paying attention.
The players are the attraction. It’s the players that sell tickets, increase viewership, sell hats/jerseys/cards, etc. They should be compensated.
Is it the players or is the the franchise/ logo on the hat? Very few players actually sell jerseys, but a lot of team gear gets sold.
No one was watching Ohtani when he was with the Nippon Ham Fighters. On the flip side, the 100+ loss rangers still had 2 million fans go through the turnstiles last year so the skill on the field isnt the only thing people are paying for.
You keep being up the Ohtani thing, but that example doesn’t illustrate what you want it to. Plenty of people in Japan were watching Ohtani when he played there. People in the US weren’t paying attention to him for the same reason that they weren’t paying attention to politics, film, music, etc. in Japan: because it wasn’t happening in their country. Get a new example.
I think this is a chicken/egg type of conversation. I would argue that people buy team logos because of the players (past, present, and future) that wore that logo.
I’ve never followed Japanese baseball all that closely, but my understanding was that Ohtani was already a superstar before he came to the US. Sure he has a bigger platform now, but I would argue that the reason for the bigger platform is the payers in the game. People care about baseball because of players like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Cy Young, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Derek Jeter, David Oriz, Mike Trout, Ohanti….
Agreed that your point about Ohtani, or players in general, not bringing in revenue is wrong. The Angels went from having a half dozen Ohtani items to 6-7 dozen in a year’s time. There’s a booming market for his (Angels) items in Japan, not to mention tourists buying it here. I could also make examples of US stars like Trout, Judge, and others, but since you insist on mentioning Ohtani I’ll stick with him. And sure, people will still go see a losing team, but do you really think no one is going to buy their favorite player’s jersey, bobble head, etc?
Imagine that, commenters in here that possess very little skills that anyone wants or needs, complaining about elite athletes that millions pay to see and spend billions to follow, being paid too much.
Baseball should get together and lower ticket prices across board for fans so families can afford to go see their teams.. but that will never happen cause players will say collusion and it’s right but that’s only way it would ever happen.. greed everywhere and this battle will be who can be forced to screw over the other side more
You’re right. Prices are ridiculous to see an MLB game. Not like the NFL where the prices are also ridiculous but there are a lot fewer contests.
Ticket prices are based on supply and demand. Player salaries play little if any roll in determining ticket prices. Stop going to games, prices will fall I GUARANTEE IT. An owner will raise ticket prices as long as folks will pay it. That hasn’t changed since the beginnings if baseball.
Not necessarily. Not sure about where you live but I’m in Toronto and have seen a massive spike in leaf ticket prices the last 10-15 years to a point now where face value (which you can’t get) is the same as a weekend trip for a family.
The fallout of the cost is simply that the tickets have gone corporate, it’s all businesses that can afford the seats which drastically changed the demographic of fans at the game. Now if you’re a life long fan, you may not go to games, but you’ll watch at home. No big deal to the team.
But the true detriment is that families can’t afford to take their kids. Without kids at games they don’t fall in love with the sport. There is more choice for entertainment than ever before, if baseball doesn’t find a way to get kids interested in baseball early and get them to games, the bottom will eventually fall out. It’s not an immediate impact but eventually all the current season ticket holders will die out and there may not be a younger generation who cares to take their spot
I’ve been hearing the “kids” argument for decades and still baseball sets attendance records yearly? I’ve been a football fan for 50 years and attended maybe 5 games in person. Maybe physical attendance is vastly overrated? You either like the sport or you don’t. Physical attendance might help but I highly doubt it such a major determinant.
It could be overrated, I doubt it but there is nothing wrong with watching the game at home or a bar.
I would argue that for kids it is not overrated, it’s a key part of becoming a life long fan. Attendance records are not important if the tickets have gone corporate and are not in reach for the average families
I’m of the opinion that kids learn to follow a sport from parents and siblings and like a sport after they try it and enjoy it. Watching a sport on tv like baseball has become tiresome and dreary. Speeding up and improve the play of the game would go a long way to enticing young fans to follow. Here’s a few suggestions:
1. No stepping out of the box while batting
2. Pitch clock
3. No team meetings on the mound
Those 3 things alone should knock 30 minutes off each game.
@Dusty that depends on where you are. In Cincinnati for example, they only have about 8K season ticket holders. Meaning a tiny portion is “corporate”.
The Reds definitely want to sell to families. But it’s never been easier or more comfortable to watch a game from home and we’ve never had so many other entertainment options than we do now.
I also see no reason minimum shouldn’t be a million dollars at this point.. the top heavy players are getting ridiculous now… when top players are getting over 40 mill a year there is no reason it shouldn’t be a little more evened out so lesser players already get a bigger share.. teams are only going to spend X Dollars on payroll.. it just gives thrm to spread it out a little more fairly
There should be salary tiers based on performance for players under their initial 6 years of team control. Maybe 15 million is the ceiling,1million is the floor. That way a player who is awesome from the jump can bank 90 million before hitting free agency. But if you suck you will get paid as such instead of getting a raise via arbitration just because you played another year. Obviously the luxury tax formula would need a rethinking.
Wonder how much of the minimum salary a player receives? Agents get their slice, union gets their cash. Hmmmmmmmmm…….
Union dues are actually very small – it’s listed in the agreement somewhere online (I think it’s like 100$ per day of service – a full season player would pay 17K max). Most of those dues then go to the endowment in charge of retirement.
As far as agents, most only take about 3 or 4%, and most agents only charge players making more than the league minimum for their services, the rest pay 0%.
My salary as an actuary followed this progression but was always about one iteration behind. $13K in 1979, over $100K in 1999. You have to pass exams which are a pretty effective deterrent to those who don’t have the ability. The population size is not terribly different, there are a certain number of Fellows and a much larger number of students in the pipeline. But those students earn good money for their work. That’s important.
The problem with baseball is that it’s an all or nothing situation. I think that the minor leaguers should get a decent wage as they are providing the avenue for the future major league players.
They need to raise the salary of minor league players quite a bit. These kids go in all or
nothing and most don’t ever sniff the big leagues. A lot of them blow their arms out and end up starting over from square one. If anyone needs to get a raise it’s them in my opinion.
I’ve had a thought that there shouldn’t just be a minimum salary applicable to all pre-arb players, but instead have a set of minimum salaries based on years of service.
For example, the minimum for players in their 1st year of service could be $600,000, in their 2nd year, it would increase to $700,000, and in their 3rd year, $850,000.
That would provide more money to younger players at the start of their careers and do a better job of rewarding at least a little those players who are good enough to stay on MLB rosters for multiple years.
I don’t care how they cut up my baseball allowance, but it would be nice if minor league players, and minimum wage players could get a better piece of the action.
Another parallel could be the music business. You either make almost nothing or you become famous and make millions. The key difference is that you can hold a day job while you’re gigging your way up to stardom. Of course those day jobs might be pretty mundane and not pay well. But if you start a good career while you keep playing you can support yourself and still leave the door open to musical fame and fortune. Again, it’s an all or nothing proposition but at least your day job could be well paying.
I love the comment section here. Guys insulting one another when they don’t even know each other over a sport that clearly doesn’t care about us. Guess what? NONE of our opinions matter. Because mlb only cares about the bottom
Owners would rather kill the season rather than negotiate service time and pre-arb pay.