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For each AAA team that is an increase of around $120,000 per YEAR. A little more than one month of Major League minimum for one player. The MLB team can easily offset that cost by keeping the AAAA players in AAA a few extra days a year.
The added cost is much less at the lower levels.This place is like a Bernie field office.
Some of you are perfectly fine with the team not being able to take on Arenado’s salary unless they dump salary to offset it, but when they have been forced to add $13 million in minor league expenses, they are greedy a-holes for looking to offset those costs. Titans of industry here.
The Cardinals can expand it they want to. Im not in the camp that thinls they should offset costs when DeWitt is rolling in money. Pay the minor leaguers a fair wage and give them a living stipend for spring training.
Some of you are perfectly fine with the team not being able to take on Arenado’s salary unless they dump salary to offset it, but when they have been forced to add $13 million in minor league expenses, they are greedy a-holes for looking to offset those costs. Titans of industry here.
For the record, I’m in the camp that entertainment is entertainment and would prefer the best product possible. Dewitt’s profits mean nothing to me, although I understand that he’s going to run the team as he sees fit either way.
BREAKING: Minor League Baseball releases statement supporting increased player salaries by MLB, while continuing to be critical of contraction plans. pic.twitter.com/aajWYwf5nr
— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) February 15, 2020
Printing money… $100 MM in incremental revenue annually for MLB for the next 10 years. Can they afford $13 MM of it for the minor league “interns”?
Random point to consider. Per Forbes, the Nike contract (putting swooshes on jerseys starting this season) will net each MLB team $3 million per year – for the next decade. https://t.co/1q1GfG8Oa2
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) February 15, 2020
My God that wouldn’t even meet Michelle Obama’s standards for kids lunch.
This place is like a Bernie field office.
Obviously the moderators of this board are going to tolerate political comments as long as they are right wing nonsense so I guess us of the more moderate persuasion should be able to comment also. I am confident that President Bloomberg will straighten this mess out next year.
As for the milb salary issue goes, of course the MLB owners can afford to give them a raise but the hypocrisy by some on here to rail against the owners on this issue but turn right around and claim the owners should be able to run their organizations the way they want is amazing. If the Cardinals need to make a significant FA acquisition or trade to firm up the team then it is “no way the dumb fans on the internet should tell DeWitt how to spend his money” but if DeWitt wants to contract a couple of minor league teams that he doesn’t need then all we hear is wailing and gnashing of teeth. What a crock.
Actually the moderators try to let minor transgressions pass – until they are escalated needlessly.
No political comments, everyone – as anyone knows who read the rules.
gscottar, here is my take on the inconsistency point you raise.
On MLB player salaries. This is a matter of preference. We all know that every MLB owner could spend as much as they wish – but most choose not to. The amount of money involved can be fairly considerable. All the social media complaining is not going to alter this situation. Many agree the best way to effect change is for unhappy fans to stop spending on the teams.
On minor league player salaries. There is at least one class action lawsuit moving ahead in federal court alleging these players are paid unfairly low. MLB has used congressional means to avoid paying players a fair wage like all other industries in our country are required by law. The actual money needed to fix this properly is relatively small.
Now, MLB is trying to take minor league baseball away from 42 cities to pay for salary increases that they should provide no matter what. Fan pressure here could actually result in change. Congress and municipalities are getting organized and passing resolutions. Where it goes from here is TBD, but there seems more fight ahead.
Wanting your MLB team to spend more money only has one motivation – for “my” team to have a perceived better chance to win more games. The MLB players certainly don’t need any more money. Good for them if they can get more. They have collective bargaining that ensures they are treated fairly.
That is very different from wanting all minor league players from all 30 organizations to make a fair wage. They have no collective bargaining. They are treated unfairly with no one to protect their rights.
I don’t think the MLB and MiLB situations should be confused. The only similarity, IMO, is that MLB owners could address neither, one, or both if they so choose. I think they could be pressured into increasing minor league pay without eliminating teams – and I think they should.
These “minor transgressions” are becoming more than annoying when it comes to political commentary.
As for the other issue, I think it comes down to how you perceive minor league baseball and what its purpose is. Personally I only see minor league baseball as a vehicle to serve and assist the major league teams. I really don’t care how many games minor league teams win. I only care how many games the team in St. Louis wins.
I don’t have a problem with minor league players being paid a fair wage, whatever that is, but I guarantee you that most baseball fans could care less about this issue because their focus is on the majors.
While my interest in the Cardinal farm system has increased by reading this site it is only because I want to see what players might help St. Louis in the future and that is the only reason I have interest. Obsessing over minor league baseball more than major league baseball seems strange to me but perhaps I am in the minority on this site. It wouldn’t be the first time.
gscottar said:
Obsessing over minor league baseball more than major league baseball seems strange to me…
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but hopefully you understand others may not feel the need to pick favorites. To many of us, baseball is baseball, whether attending a high school game or being one of 45,000 people at Busch Stadium.
P.S. I am guessing you have never lived in a town with minor league baseball. I have.
P.S. I am guessing you have never lived in a town with minor league baseball.
I live 5 miles from the stadium where the NW Arkansas Naturals play. I usually go watch a couple of games when Springfield is in town, but mainly to see the Springfield players in person. Who wins the game is irrelevant to me.
Right. You want to see minor leaguers play. Families participate in fun entertainment. And your community benefits from the jobs created and donations that follow. All goodness.
Just because I feel fans should not try to tell owners they need to spend more on major league salaries that does not change the fact that minor league players are underpaid. Do I feel they need to be paid $100,000 per year? No. But I do think they should not be paid at extreme poverty levels. All major league clubs could afford to pay every minor league player an additional $10,000 per year without blinking an eye. That would only be a maximum of $4 million out of their pocket. There is a way to make that happen without cutting minor league teams. At that point, minor league players will still be paid very little but not be forced to sacrifice things like food to eat.
While many are not concerned about minor league teams or the number of minor league teams, each team eliminated could be reducing the chance that another Tommy Pham or Jose Martinez or Rangel Ravelo makes the major leagues. That is the type of player the Cardinals have always seem to come up with from their minor leagues. When you eliminate 3 minor league teams, there is not enough openings to carry some of those types of players. In addition, you are eliminating jobs from the communities where minor league games take place.
Forsch, there was always a trade off, whether you agree with the trade off or not. I’m in the camp of wanting more jobs and opportunities. While living in poverty isn’t the greatest thing in the world, all of those guys doing it are free to pursue other employment opportunities. I know plenty of guys who made the choice not to play for poverty wages, so it isn’t like it doesn’t happen.
FWIW, unless you are a bonus baby, it is financially better to play major college baseball than it is to play in the low minors. I’m not sure these changes are going to swing that the other way. One positive of all this will be an improvement in college baseball. There is a lot of bad baseball being played in college right now, and I expect that to improve when the teams are eliminated (or maybe even a year sooner – how many players get drafted and signed this year is going to be very interesting).
The game will adjust and be just fine.
Well that 3 million per year per team for 10 years should give some leeway to increasing minor league salaries and benefits without any trouble. At least it could cover some of the club expenses in supporting their minor league teams. But if I had to wear a swoosh from Nike I would smear it with mud as soon as I could because of how they let Colin Kapernik dominate a couple of their ad campaigns.
gscottar wrote:
These “minor transgressions” are becoming more than annoying when it comes to political commentary.
Good grief, it that short one sentence post I made about kids lunches considered a political post? How ridiculous. One of the earlier posts had a photo of a minor league players lunch for a road game and it was nothing more than a hamburger bun with a piece of baloney and cheese. A few years back there was a lot of joking about how the Presidents wife had directed the Department of Education to put out ‘guidance’ on what school lunches should consist of. The list was not really that bad but kids were throwing food away left and right and it became rather a joke to allude to her list of school lunch contents. That is all I was referring to. If someone here is so thin skinned that a President’s wife’s name cannot be mentioned, I better head to a place that is a bit more open minded and not set off by such a innocent mention. I am a very political person but I do not bring it here. If annoyed maybe it’s time to seek a safe space like a lot of our college kids seem to do. JMHO.
While living in poverty isn’t the greatest thing in the world, all of those guys doing it are free to pursue other employment opportunities.
What an apologetic and cockamany excuse. No other sporting league, even minor leagues, treats their players as terrible as the MLB treats their players. You don’t see the NFL teams paying their scouting team players poverty wages and use the excuse: well they’re playing for their dream.
But if I had to wear a swoosh from Nike I would smear it with mud as soon as I could because of how they let Colin Kapernik dominate a couple of their ad campaigns.
I’m pretty sure Nike designed that ad with Kap and the demographic that he is markable toward, meaning to say I doubt you’re the person they were marketing toward nor do they care if they lost you as a customer.
the thing is the minor leagues are the building blocks for the majors. I think the other major sports are stupid for not having something like it. they have mini versions but they aren’t nowhere the same thing. I don’t follow their scores or really worry about whether the cardinals minor league teams win but because im a fan of the history of the game and itself, not just the cardinals, I want the system to continue. mlb needs to pay a living wage to those guys and keep the teams as is. they may be living a dream but to have a chance to succeed they need to be able to put full effort in that without having a lot of money worries.
Good grief, it that short one sentence post I made about kids lunches considered a political post? How ridiculous.
You make your share of snide political comments. This wasn’t the first time. Maybe you should take the Sean Hannity schtick somewhere else or keep it to yourself.
Just because I feel fans should not try to tell owners they need to spend more on major league salaries that does not change the fact that minor league players are underpaid.
If Bill Dewitt really thought that State College and Johnson City were so vital to his organization he wouldn’t be so willing to let them go. If we shouldn’t criticize his wisdom in being cautious and conservative with his major league operation then we shouldn’t criticize his wisdom with his milb contraction stance.
Per BW the Cardinals said goodbye to 48 players from last year. When I looked over the list, I didn’t see a single one of those 48 players that had a reasonable likelihood of reaching the major leagues. So then you have to wonder why they were even in the organization. I would think that if some of the minor league teams were dropped, there wouldn’t be a place for them. I think that would be good for the organization and good for the players because the organization wouldn’t have to waste their resources on these players and the players would be forced to get on with their lives rather than wasting their best years on an impossible dream. Keeping minor league teams that are not needed by the organization, but serve their communities, would seem to be a good thing. But if they are being kept to serve the community, rather than the organization, that would be a charitable cause and it should stand alone as a charitable cause, and it should not be considered a part of the player development apparatus of MLB.
IMO, what is motivating the conversation about players’ salaries and their general care is the lawsuit(s) that are moving along. Our judicial system almost always favors the poor underdog which, in this case, is the minor league players. The owners can see the handwriting on the wall so they’re taking a proactive approach and doing what they think they will be forced to do before being forced to do it.
FWIW, most people say that baseball is a business. I disagree with that. I think it is something other than a business, especially the minor leagues. The name the US Supreme Court gave baseball is ‘America’s Pastime’ but they could have given it any name they wanted to. The point is that it is something other than a business and should not be treated specifically as a business.
I’m pretty sure Nike designed that ad with Kap and the demographic that he is markable toward, meaning to say I doubt you’re the person they were marketing toward nor do they care if they lost you as a customer.
Very true. I am white and old but they do make other products that may be of interest to me.
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