Toiling minor leaguers deserve living wage
PORT ST. LUCIE — Zack Wheeler sat in the Mets dugout, elbows on his knees and his head hung. It might have been better that the right-hander wasn’t watching Seth Lugo likely pitch his way into sealing up a roster spot Thursday night while Wheeler’s hold on one is slipping away.
Wheeler faces demotion to the bullpen, but also the possibility of being optioned to the minors to try and find himself.
“I still think we have a decision to make. Not quite ready to make it yet,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “I think we have to continue to evaluate all the pieces we have. You saw Lugo come in. Lugo was probably supposed to go one inning today, we have to adjust as well.”
Lugo pitched four scoreless out of the bullpen Thursday after Wheeler went just two. Wheeler allowed five runs, three earned, on seven hits. He struck out three. He needed 58 pitches to get that far.
One start is not a great gauge, but this is the second straight one he has struggled.
“We’re evaluating every night. It’s not fair to the player to evaluate on one game. I think that we need to talk to Wheeler tomorrow. Get back to work and continue with the plan and then make a decision at some point in time,” Callaway said. “No decision has been made tonight after what he probably felt was a poor performance. We will never make a decision that way. Come back tomorrow, talk to him, see what we need to improve on, throw a bullpen, have him pitch again.”
PORT ST. LUCIE — Thursday afternoon, as the Mercedes and Range Rovers of the Mets players were carefully being loaded onto two car haulers in the parking lot at First Data Field, three big wardrobe boxes appeared inside the clubhouse. As the players cleaned out their lockers and prepared to break camp, they were encouraged to throw in used cleats, clothing or equipment to be donated to the minor league players.
It was a nice gesture, but a better one would be for teams to actually pay minor leaguers a living wage.
Instead, MLB has spent $2.6 million over the past two years lobbying Congress, and it looks like very soon they will get their payoff: an exemption to the federal minimum and overtime wage laws.
After failing to even get a vote on it two years ago, Congress has slid the provision into the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that must be signed by Friday to keep the government open. Buried in the 2,232-page bill is the “Save America’s Pastime Act,” which would basically take away minimum wage rights for minor-league baseball players, making them “apprentices.”
That would also likely squash the lawsuits by players against Major League Baseball
That will likely be in a minor league or simulated game as Callaway said they will keep Wheeler on a five-day schedule now. So in five Grapefruit League starts this spring, Wheeler has not gone further than three innings. It was his second straight start against the Nationals (and the second straight he allowed five runs on seven seeking a living wage. MLB declined comment, but sources said they see this as a way to maintain the status quo, that minor leaguers are apprentices and minor league baseball is not a career.
But burying this provision in the spending bill means at this late point that to keep the government going, we have to take away the living-wage rights of non-40-man roster players. For the Mets, that would be P.J. Conlon, Matt den Dekker, Ty Kelly and spring training hero Phil Evans.
The idea was initially introduced to Congress by Representatives Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and Cheri Bustos of Illinois. They pitched the bill as protecting minor league baseball by shielding the teams from devastating cost increases, but major league teams are responsible for the salaries of their minor leaguers.
“We’re just talking about basic minimum wage laws here — the same laws that McDonald’s has to comply with, the same laws that Walmart has to comply with,” said Garrett Broshuis, a former player and now a St. Louis attorney representing several players in a lawsuit seeking coverage under the laws. “And so surely if Walmart or McDonald’s can find a hits). He has allowed nine earned runs in 10 innings of work this spring. He’s walked two and struck out 14.
“I am highly disappointed,” Wheeler said. “I’ve got to keep my head up though. Like I said, feeling healthy, feeling good, but maybe just off a little mechanically, hopefully I can get that fixed quick.” way to comply with those laws, then Major League Baseball can find a way to comply with them, too.”
Bustos took her name off the bill and H.R. 5580 never even got a vote. So now, Congress is sneaking it through with the spending bill, which President Trump must sign before Friday or risk a shutdown.
The provision, which the Washington Post reported first and says is backed by Majority leader Mitch McConnell (a Nationals fan), has been pushed by MLB. According to Opensecrets.org, MLB has spent $1.3 million lobbying Congress over the last two years. The provision is said to have support on both sides of the aisle. Minority leader Chuck Schumer, whose office did not return a message Thursday on this provision, received $10,000 in donations from political action committees or people associated with MLB, according to OpenSecrets. org.
MLB is a $10-billion industry, according to Forbes. Minor league baseball is a prime example where trickle-down economics just doesn’t work.
A first-year player in Class-A ball makes $1,100 a month and does not start collecting paychecks until the regular season starts.
Wheeler said he will get another chance to pitch again, but has no idea what the plan is for him heading into the season.
Wheeler was headed to the bullpen when the Mets signed Jason Vargas last month, a front office source said. With Vargas having had surgery Tuesday, he will likely begin the season on the DL. Wheeler seemed like the obvious choice to take that spot. But his last two starts have to give the Mets pause about that plan.
They also have alternatives in Lugo and Robert Gsellman, who pitched a scoreless inning Thursday.
The Mets have to decide what to do with Wheeler soon. Callaway wasn’t ruling out relegating the righty to the bullpen.
“I think we need to take our best pitchers and pitch them where they need to be,” Callaway said. “The thing that would be hard right now, he hasn’t been prepared to pitch out of the bullpen, so we’d have to keep that tidbit of information in mind.”
Wheeler, who has said in the past he doesn’t want to go to the bullpen, realizes that may be his best option right now.
“Yeah, I am up for anything. Other guys have been pitching great, trying to concentrate on me right now,” Wheeler said. “Get myself in the right position so I can hopefully help the team and not go out there and just give two innings.”
Wheeler does have an option left and there has been some consideration about sending him to Triple-A. That was something he was not ready to think about yet.
“That’s a tough question,” Wheeler said. “Like I said, just concentrating on staying healthy, get innings up and figure it out.” That means a minor leaguer who is cut in spring training accrued both the cost of spring training and no pay.
Paying their minor leaguers a living wage would cost major league teams an estimated $7.5 million more a year, but even some in player development view it as money that would be well spent. Several minor-league players declined to comment, fearing backlash from the Mets or MLB. Mets GM Sandy Alderson also declined comment.
But off the record, you hear stories of the sacrifices players make to chase their dreams. Thursday, I heard stories about how one minor-league player, who was making an impression on the organization, was asked to work out at the Mets’ endorsed Barwis program over the winter, but even subsidized by the team he couldn’t manage it financially. Or I heard about several players who play without contact lenses because they cannot afford them. elson Figueroa, a former player who spent many years working his way up, remembers trying to get by on $20 per diems.
“They take $13 a day from you for clubhouse dues, so you get one meal there and then you are trying to get two on $7,” the current SNY analyst said. “It’s a $10-billion industry. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
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