San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Complications from lockout dampen excitement of making 40-man roster
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — About a week after Major League Baseball’s owners locked him out, Joe Perez received a text message. A strength coach in the Astros system asked Perez his body weight and for an offseason status report. Perez ignored it.
Another week passed and Perez received another message. The same coach asked the same questions. Perez debated his next move. Snubbing a staff member is no way to start his tenure on the Astros’ 40man roster. Engaging in conversation could bring punishment for the entire organization. Perez opted for a brief response.
“I’m sorry I didn’t answer you,” Perez said, “but I don’t think I’m allowed to text you.”
Members of 40-man rosters are not allowed to communicate with any team personnel during the sport’s lockout. Perez believes the coach had a memory lapse. It’s understandable. Perez had only been rostered for two weeks.
The league had a Nov. 19 deadline to protect players from selection in the Rule 5 draft. Houston added four players to its 40-man roster that afternoon. Thirteen days later, the lockout began, leaving the quartet in a sort of limbo only few can understand.
“Right when we got put on the 40-man, it’s like super hyped and everything,” righthander Shawn Dubin said. “I was on cloud nine, basically, finally getting that shot, only to be put on hold.”
None of Perez, Dubin, shortstop Jeremy Peña or lefthander Jonathan Bermudez have a day of major league service time. Their presence on the 40-man roster is only for protection from a process that, now, may not even happen. Multiple reports this week said major league executives are in favor of skipping the Rule 5 draft this season.
Yet the four men Houston protected are subject to the same strict rules governing the sport’s most notable names. It tames the excitement of news all ballplayers seek.
Reaching the 40-man roster is one of every minor league prospect’s most practical aspirations. All dream of a major league debut. Getting to the 40-man makes it feel more realistic. It offers stability and signals that, if injury or ineffectiveness befalls a big leaguer, you’re next in line. It carries an automatic invitation to major league spring training, too.
Making the 40-man roster makes days of dreadfully small minor league salaries disappear. The salary at Class AAA last season was around $700 per week. Minor league players on the 40-man roster made a $46,000 minimum salary last season, according to the Associated Press, and get an extra month of pay in September.
Whether a new collective bargaining agreement could alter that remains to be seen. The two sides have already agreed to raise the major league minimum salary, but differ on the final amount. In its last proposal, the league submitted $700,000 with an escalation to $740,000 throughout the six-year life of the CBA. Players asked for $725,000 in 2022 before a $20,000 escalation in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025. Baseball had a $570,500 minimum in 2021, lower than any of the four major sports.
Throughout the lockout, the union is providing monthly stipends to all 40man roster players regardless of major league service time. They started around $5,000 in February and March, according to multiple people familiar with the situation. Should the lockout continue into April, the amount is expected to increase.
“Last year, after the season, I just saved up all my money,” said Dubin, who received just a $1,000 signing bonus after Houston selected him in the 13th round of the 2018 draft.
“(The lockout) hasn’t really affected me too bad financially. Obviously it is a little straining, that 40-man money is a little different than minor league money. That will come in clutch once it finally hits, but it’s not too bad yet.”
Dubin faced far more trouble trying to train. He’s an Allegany, N.Y., native and endured, by his estimation, “one of the worst winters” in the state’s history. He and his girlfriend already planned an offseason move to Nashville, Tenn., but hurried the process once the lockout dragged on.
The couple moved to Nashville last week and, according to Dubin, he’s “already gotten outside more here than I did at all in New York.” Dubin connected with a group of Vanderbilt alums training on campus, including former Astro Tony Kemp, and plans to throw live batting practice at the school soon. Dubin missed time last season with elbow inflammation, but has suffered no effects this winter.
“Arm-wise, this is the best I’ve felt in a while,” said Dubin, a viable major league bullpen candidate who can reach the high 90s with his four-seam fastball and has one of the organization’s best sliders.
Both he and Perez are among the organization’s most intriguing prospects. Perez played both ways in high school, but settled in as a third baseman in Houston’s system. He underwent Tommy John surgery after he was drafted in 2017 and suffered a shoulder injury in 2018.
Prior to last season, Perez had only 209 professional plate appearances. He posted an .849 OPS across three affiliates in 2021, breaking onto Houston’s radar as an offensive threat.
Perez now must follow it up. His preparation has been unusually solitary. Perez’s offseason is predicated on virtual instruction from Astros coaches. He’s used to sending most of his swings to Rene Rojas, the hitting coach at Class A Advanced Asheville, and his infield work to developmental coach Dai Dai Otaka.
“I got used to taking videos when I did everything. Like, a couple weeks in, I’m taking videos and (realized) I’m not even able to send them,” Perez said. “(It’s) not necessarily that I don’t trust what I do on my own, but it’s always good to have someone look at your videos, especially the guys that I work with. They know what it looks like perfectly when I do it right and, when I don’t, they know exactly what it is. It’s been a little different just having to do things on my own and fix my own things.”
Perez lives in Fort Lauderdale, about an hour from the Astros’ spring training facility in West Palm Beach. Ordinarily, he’ll drive up once or twice a month to get work in with organizational coaches. He’s now not allowed in the front door.