It’s good news for Giants’ prospects

Minorleaguers will get stipends through Sept. 7

The Giants have joined a growing list of majorleague teams that have agreed to pay their idled minorleague players through the end of their season.

The team announced Wednesday that it would continue to provide the $400 weekly stipends through Sept. 7. The money is designed to help players survive the coronavirus shutdown. Until now, the stipends were guaranteed only through June 30.

The money goes to roughly 270 players in the Giants’ system in the United States and those playing in the Dominican Summer League, which means this extension will cost the organization about $1 million.

The Giants join the Twins, Royals, Astros and A’s in extending the payments through season’s end. The announcement could boost the Giants’ organization in the eyes of amateurs who are not drafted and can choose to sign with any team as early as Friday for bonuses up to $20,000.

Oakland originally told its minorleaguers the payments would cease May 31, but A’s owner John Fisher reversed course amid a public outcry after the team told the players they neither would be paid nor be allowed to seek work with other teams.

The roster of Giants prospects shrank by 20 last week after the club joined most other organizations in a mass release of prospects amid the lost minorleague season, and ahead of the draft, which began Wednesday night.

The Giants already had made 17 sporadic cuts since March. Those included players with significant bigleague experience who were invited to spring training on minorleague deals, including pitchers Jerry Blevins and Matt Carasiti, and outfielder Brandon Guyer.

The $400 weekly stipends are equivalent to the salary the Giants announced they would pay their rookielevel minorleaguers, and $110 more than a new minimum for that level established by Major League

Baseball in March.

Prospects have become more vocal about what they consider substandard wages. A classaction lawsuit on behalf of as many as 10,000 current and former minorleaguers reached the U.S. Supreme Court last week, with MLB and 22 teams — including the Giants and A’s — named as defendants asking the high court to decertify the class action.