Price gives US$1K to every Dodgers minor-leaguer
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher David Price will gift US$ 1,000 to each of the players in the team’s minor-league system, MLB writer Francys Romero reported.
Major League Baseball agreed to pay each minor leaguer $ 400 for May as teams coped with the financial losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Price’s gesture comes amid a report from ESPN’S Jeff Passan, who reported on Thursday that teams released “hundreds” of minor leaguers. It’s widely expected the minor- league baseball season will be cancelled as Major League Baseball attempts to figure out how to play a partial 2020 season.
In April, Rangers designated hitter Shin- Soo Choo made a US$ 1,000 donation to each of the minor- league players in Texas’ farm system.
Choo, 37, spent three seasons in the minors before he broke into the big leagues.
“I came here with nothing, but baseball has given me a lot since,” Choo told Naver Sports of South Korea. “Minor- league players are the future of our organization. I just hope that they can fight through and overcome this difficult time.”
The Dodgers acquired Price, the 2012 American League Cy Young Award winner, along with outfielder Mookie Betts in a trade with the Boston Red Sox in December. Price has three years remaining on a seven- year, US$ 217 million deal he signed with Boston in 2015.
MLB’S five- round draft to start on June 10
Major League Baseball finalized plans for a fiveround draft starting June 10.
The first night of the draft will encompass the first round, which includes 37 picks including competitive balance selections.
The Detroit Tigers have the No. 1 pick.
A typical MLB draft lasts 40 rounds, but the NCAA’S decision to offer repeat eligibility for spring sport college athletes due to the coronavirus pandemic led to a revised agreement with the players association. The length of the draft is just five rounds this year and 20 rounds in 2021.
Rounds 2-5 will take place on June 11.
The Baltimore Orioles pick second in the 2020 draft, followed by the Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels.
The Orioles also have the 30th pick — the first competitive balance selection.
The Houston Astros lost their first- and second-round picks as part of their penalties for illegally stealing signs, with the Boston Red
Sox losing their secondround selection in the scandal.
The Angels, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets and New York Yankees forfeited their second- round picks as a result of signing qualified free agents.
Former teammate rips Tebow
Former second- round pick Andrew Church was released by the New York Mets on Thursday and a certain former NFL quarterback in the minor- league system is still standing.
That didn’t sit well with Church, who posted a statement on Instagram.
“When I told them I couldn’t ( pitch while recovering from UCL surgery), I was made out to be the bad guy. They made a mockery of our team by putting a celebrity on it to sell more tickets. I saw players lose their jobs because of it. We weren’t playing to win, we were playing to make everyone else money. Not the players. We never saw a cut. Well, allegedly that one player did,” Church wrote without directly naming Tim Tebow.
Tebow, now 32, joined the Mets in 2017 and has been at every level of the team’s minor-league system. He started with the Mets in 2017 in St. Lucie, then Class- A Columbia and moved to Triple- A Syracuse last season.
The former Heisman Trophy winner as a quarterback at Florida also played in the NFL after being a first-round draft pick by the Denver Broncos.