Even if there’s no season, minor leaguers deserve to be paid
Imagine being a multibilliondollar business owner and hanging your employees out to dry during a pandemic.
Or, just take a gander at Tuesday’s nonsense from the Oakland Athletics, who informed their minor league players through an email from General Manager David Forst that they can go kick rocks at the end of the month.
“Unfortunately, considering all of the circumstances affecting the organization at this time, we have decided not to continue your $400 weekly stipend beyond May 31,” Forst wrote in the email, according to Sports Illustrated. “This was a difficult decision and it’s one that comes at a time when a number of our full-time employees are also finding themselves either furloughed or facing a reduction in salary for the remain
der of the season. For all of this, I am sorry.”
Translation: “We might not make as many millions of dollars this year, and you’re our most expendable performers. This was an easy decision. Sorry, not sorry.”
Here’s the dilemma: Back in late March, after Major League Baseball was suspended indefinitely, all 30 teams agreed to pay minor leaguers at all levels $400 weekly stipends through May 31 or until the start of the season — whichever came first.
It’s become increasingly doubtful that there will be any form of a minor league season because fans won’t be allowed in masses any time soon, and without gate revenue, stadium operations can’t function.
But every team should make sure every minor leaguer is taken care of anyway.
Think about how painless that would be for every wealthy owner in the league. Since each team has about 200 farmhands, paying all of them $400 per week from June until the end of August
— when minor league seasons typically end — would cost just north of $1 million.
John Fisher, Oakland’s owner who could potentially be setting an awful precedent, has a net worth of $2.1 billion, according to Forbes.
“I know that many of you will wonder why the A’s are cutting costs now,” Fisher said as part of a letter to fans and team employees Tuesday. “Nobody knows how this pandemic will evolve over the long term. What is clear is that our revenues will be dramatically reduced this year. None of this diminishes the pain of today’s actions, but it is an honest acknowledgement of the circumstances of the moment.”
Please, stop trying to hoodwink people. The reality is that since you’re not required to pay players through May 31, and evidently feel no moral responsibility to do so, you’re going to be as cheap as possible. That’s pathetic.
Even the Miami Marlins, who Forbes estimates is MLB’s least wealthy franchise, told Baseball America on Wednesday that they intend to pay their prospects through August. It would be laughable for anyone else to do otherwise.
It’s been well-documented for years now that minor leaguers are exploited. They work heavy overtime hours during the season, often having only two off-days in a given month, and yet don’t even make a living wage.
They get nothing during the offseason, other than allowances for food and housing while working for a month straight at spring training complexes.
They also experience harsh living conditions throughout the season, traveling everywhere on long bus rides and often working on little to no sleep.
Continuing to pay them stipends throughout the summer wouldn’t solve any of these problems, but it would at least prove that the franchises have a shred of empathy and care for their prospects.
And again, the costs are completely trivial in the grand scheme of these businesses — regardless of whether there’s an MLB season or how much revenue rolls in this year.
The sad part, too, is that even from a selfish point of view, it’s beneficial for teams to keep providing minor leaguers with financial support. The whole point of affiliates is player development, so why not help ensure that young prospects stay healthy and safe?
This idea that players should simply be grateful for the opportunity to play the sport they love while having a path to the big leagues is shortsighted. Yes, it’s labor. Yes, it’s a ‘real job.’
At the end of the day, there’s no reason why minor leaguers should be getting kicked to the curb in a multibillion-dollar industry.