MLB managers are grossly underpaid
LOS ANGELES — They are the face of the franchise.
They’re the voice of the team, the representative of the organizational brand, the messenger to their fanbase, the ones who ultimately are responsible for the actions of every player who puts on a uniform.
They are the Major League Baseball managers.
There are 30 of them, and not a single one escapes the constant abuse, scorn, ridicule and second-guessing.
They also have something else in common that’s an embarrassment to the sport.
They are grossly underpaid.
It was 15 years ago when Joe Torre was earning $7.5 million a year as manager.
This season, the winningest manager in Los Angeles Dodgers history, Dave Roberts isn’t even making half that salary at $3.25 million.
Brian Snitker won Atlanta’s first World Series in 26 years in 2021. His salary that season? $1.2 million.
There are six managers this year earning less than $1 million and 15 managers earning $1.75 million or less.
If those same managers went to college baseball, they’d get a pay raise, with 10 collegiate managers earning $1.2 million or more , according to USA TODAY Sports’ research, with Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin topping the list at $2.47 million.
“That’s just an embarrassment,” one MLB manager said. “How can the college coaches be making more than us? It’s just wrong. No wonder guys are leaving our game and going to the college ranks.”
Oh, and don’t even get managers started comparing their salaries to collegiate football coaches.
Alabama coach Nick Saban is earning nearly three times the salary of future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy of the Texas Rangers with his $11.4 million salary. Dabo Swinney of Clemson has
a 10-year, $115 million contract. Why, 25 head college coaches earn in excess of $6 million, about twice the amount of World Series champion Dusty Baker’s contract.
“What’s going on is the sabermetric boys are taking away from our salaries,” one manager said, “because they think they can manage.”
While MLB had a record $10.8 billion in revenue this past season, manager salaries have plummeted by 50%, according to agents who represent managers.
“I can not think of an industry in this country,” said one veteran agent, “where their CEO, CFO, president or whatever has their salary go down by 50%.”
There are only six managers in the game who are scheduled to earn at least $3 million in 2024, led by Padres manager Bob Melvin’s $4 million salaries, according to USA TODAY’s research: Bochy, Melvin, Buck Showalter (fired), Dave Martinez, Roberts and Alex Cora.
Managers are losing leverage every year. If they ask for a nice raise, and the teams resists, they’ll threaten to find someone else who’ll take the job. If a rookie manager is hired, they’re supposed to be grateful just to have a job, even if they’re earning less than the major-league player minimum of $800,000.
“These young managers will accept almost anything,” one manager said, “just to get on the pension program.”
It leaves Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell with the responsibility of raising managerial salaries once he signs a new contract.
Counsell, who’s the hottest managerial free agent when his contract expires Oct. 31, earned $3.5 million last season with the Brewers.
He knows he was severely undervalued, and would like to be paid accordingly, if not with the Brewers, somewhere else.
He should get a bump in pay to at least $5 million a year, if not at least $6 million. If the Brewers don’t want to pay it, there’s a certain team in Queens, N.Y., that will.
Counsell definitely wants to keep managing, and most likely will stay put in Milwaukee with the New York hype being overblown, but friends say it is important to him to help reverse the course of managerial salaries.
If teams want their managers to take all of the hits, if they want their managers to take all of the blame when the front-office decisions go terribly astray (yes, we’re talking about Blue Jays manager John Schneider for simply following the script of their analytic department taking out Jose Berriors in Game 2 against the Minnesota Twins), then it’s time for teams to start paying them what they’re worth.
Oh, and while you’re at it, can you let these guys manage too?
Can you let them make out their own lineup cards?
Can you not script every little thing before the game starts?
“When you’re managing against certain teams and certain people,” Baker said, “you’re managing more against the computer than you are that person.”
And when those decisions go wrong, hey, who ever blames a computer?
Besides, you don’t have to pay a computer, and as teams are proving, they’re not paying that computer operator a whole lot either.
“I call them drone operators,” one manager said, “a human joy stick for some of these front offices. They take away their dignity, and now their money. It’s a damn shame.”