MLB commits to paying minor leaguers
Major League Baseball responded to the financial impact of their league-wide coronavirus shutdown with a compensation plan for minor leaguers left indefinitely without an income.
The league will pay all minor leaguers according to a uniform compensation plan until the original start of the season, which was set for April 9. Also, players will receive their team allowances lost during the shutdown in a lump sum. The coronavirus pandemic forced baseball to pause the season until at least mid-May.
MLB said they would continue working with each team to identify additional ways they can support their players during the delayed season.
Until now, the suspension left players twisting in the coronavirus-infected wind, without any clear timeline for when they would begin to play baseball, and thus, earn their typically sub-poverty wages.
Additionally, minor league spring training per diems were put on hold for most players, save for players with the Mets, Rays and Dodgers.
As teams began instructing their prospects to leave camp, farmhands who had not signed six or seven-figure signing bonuses before joining affiliated ball were especially vulnerable to the financial fallout while baseball waits for a safe time to resume play.
However, the league made an exception on their compensation plan for players who weren't planned participants in spring training, or were already receiving bigleague allowances, as well as housing and food from their teams. Though each team typically set their own compensation plans, players in a dormitory supplying housing and food can earn per diems as low as $10 a day, a minor leaguer told the Daily News.
“MLB takes the community impact of this crisis seriously,” the league said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor ongoing events and undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts to protect fans, players and ballpark workers, and we urge all baseball fans to follow suit.”
This is the second financial relief package for league employees announced by MLB. On Tuesday, all 30 teams committed $1 million each — $30 million in total — to pay ballpark workers impacted by the coronavirus shutdown.