Leading OFF
MLB camp opens for jobless; will it last the whole spring?
PHOENIX – They start arriving this week in the desert and Florida, with more than a thousand players getting ready for six weeks of spring training in 30 major league camps, but this spring could be the oddest in two decades.
The attention won’t necessarily be on teams trying to unseat the World Series champion Houston Astros, Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani or even Yankees teammates Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, but rather the unemployment line in Major League Baseball.
Baseball’s most intriguing camp will be in Bradenton, Fla., where former Astros manager Bo Porter will conduct workouts for the unemployed masses. It’s open to more than 80 unemployed ballplayers at press time, keeping them in shape if someone does call.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” veteran agent Joshua Kusnick says. “This is not like anything we’ve gone through in our lives, at least since the (1994-95) labor stoppage. I haven’t had a single conversation with a front office this entire winter about player skills or stats or ability. Only money.
“I’m supposed to believe that every single team in the same offseason organically all decide that the money should be the same for every player for the same amount of years. How did everyone come to the same decision on their own?
“Players that should be getting major league deals are getting minor league deals. Guys that should be getting minor league deals aren’t getting any calls.”
Players will report to the union’s job showcase or to bigleague camps on minor league deals knowing their chances of making the ballclub could be upended at any time by a late signing.
“I had one guy take a minor league deal,” Kusnick says, “and was told, ‘Either take this or you’ll be sitting out all spring.’ Had I known this camp was going to happen, he would have gone here instead.
“I just wish it didn’t have to be like this. Not one player wants to be there. Not one.”
Porter’s coaching staff was scheduled to feature Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, former All-Stars Chris Chambliss, Tom Gordon and Brian Jordan and former executive Reid Nichols. Porter has no idea how many players will show up.
The doors will stay open at least until March 4, says Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, but if necessary, they could leave the facility open all spring.
“I did not think this was going to be a possibility,” Porter told USA TODAY, “but as the offseason went on and you saw an unprecedented number of MLB free agents, we thought it was necessary.
“The players that end up coming to our camp, they are going to be preparing for the championship season just as if they were in spring training with one of the 30 teams.”
Yet as long as the union camp stays around, it’s an embarrassment to the entire baseball industry.
It’s like building a homeless shelter in the middle of Beverly Hills.
In a sport that generates at least $11 billion in annual revenue, how in the world can there be more than 80 unemployed players, including stars such as 2015 National League Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, World Series hero Eric Hosmer, NL saves leader Greg Holland or slugger J.D. Martinez?
The easy villain would be high-powered agent Scott Boras, who represents all four players among his stable of 15 unsigned free agents, but he says he simply is seeking what his players deserve.
Arrieta, after all, could have had a six-year deal from the Cubs, too, but he was seeking at least $26.5 million a year annual salary, which would have pushed the deal to at least $159 million. The Cubs instead signed Yu Darvish to a six-year, $126 million contract.
Hosmer, 28, has two sevenyear contract offers in the $140 million neighborhood from the Kansas City Royals and San Diego Padres, but he wants at least an eight-year deal.
Teams are offering plenty of contracts, with the Padres and Royals willing to sign Hosmer to the richest deals in franchise history, but simply not players’ liking.
In a sport in which 24 teams are generating at least $150 million more in revenue than player salaries, according to Boras’ analysts, payrolls are dramatically shrinking. Team payrolls, which were $4.1 billion on opening day last season, are expected to decrease for the first time since 2004. Team payrolls have since increased by about 6% annually, according to FanGraphs.
Teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers are shedding nearly $150 million in payroll this season, and payrolls are declining or staying flat virtually everywhere outside Milwaukee and Arizona, despite each team receiving $50 million checks in their cut from Disney’s $1.58 billion equity purchase of MLB Advanced Media.
“If the game was losing money, then the players would expect to lose money, too,” Porter says, “but that’s not happening. There’s so much wealth in the game, but the players’ salaries are decreasing.”
The union is struggling to garner fan sympathy. It’s as if the players are the bad guys for being unsigned, and even if the offers are grossly undervalued, they should be grateful for being paid to play the sport.
“It reminds me so much of the rhetoric in politics,” Kusnick says. “Why is a player called greedy waiting in line for his services, but any ownership group getting $50 million from MLBAM and not spending it, that’s not worse?
“There’s this false correlation that players’ salaries are correlated to ticket prices. That has nothing to do with it. If a team has a $12 million payroll, are the tickets suddenly free?”
Will there be four more seasons of hostility and resentment before the next labor agreement comes up?
“I don’t know will happen,” Kusnick says, “but I’m currently saving every penny I get, and I’m advising my clients to do the exact same thing.”