Does MLB need to change way minor league players live?

[Trov]

First, this is not an either or, the answer could be neither.  Over the last few years there has been a lot of talk of how badly the minor league players have been treated.  I read a good article on ESPN last night that brought up some interesting things.  

One thing is that there is no uniform way for minor league players to be treated, other than pay.  The pay is not much, even though it went up lately.  There are still stories of players living in cars, or packing motel rooms, or players spending more on rent then they make to play so needing families to help pay their rent.  

In my opinion, players should have to basically just survive to play in the minor leagues.  Yes, should they make the majors they may earn life changing money, but the amount of players that play for years earning little money and may end up leaving baseball in great debt is crazy.  As the major league teams make more and more money that does not trickle down to the minors, but why not? 

In the article I referenced it was referenced to another article that for each team to pay every minor league player 50K a year, it would increase cost by about 3 to 4 million over the year.  For a team worth a billion dollars, that not much.  Even if MLB wanted pay to the same, giving furnished apartments would be about 1.5 million per team.  This at minimum makes sense for the amount of moving between teams up and down, players are always left scrambling to find a place to sleep.  If teams would just get apartments for the players to live in that would be one less worry, and then they could save their money and not spend it all on rent.  MLB could also give stipends for food for the players too.  The fact is to make the lives for minor league players just a little bit better would not be hard.

Now, should the fans help force this change by letting the MLB teams know they want that change?  Maybe, because if players stop willing to play minor league ball it will hurt the MLB product in the long run.  Should the MLB players demand more money gets put to the minors?  Maybe, but would it come at the cost of paying the players?  I bet the players would balk at that but, with 26 man rosters, if you took at least the 1.5 million from player pay, That is nearly 60K per player over the year.  Some players have already donated money last year to minor league players, and Houston has already got furnished apartments for players.  

Other teams have done small things to try and make the life for a minor leaguer a little bit better.  However, the MLB teams still dump millions into prospects that never make the majors while letting the rest of their workforce struggle with finances and mental health issues from it.  There are several areas the MLB teams could pull from to get the money to either pay more or get apartments.  It would hard to ask any single player, or employee to shoulder the full amount, but taking small amounts from many sources is reasonable.  Maybe taking money from the luxury tax fees could help, it would not cover full bill for all teams.  

I do not know all the finances of MLB teams, but am certain they could find a way to increase money going to minor leagues by a few million to either pay a living wage, or give room and board for players.  Without minor league players moving on up to majors the major league product would struggle.  

[tony&rodney]

What MLB should do or will do are different animals. An employer who needs a profit to continue in business balances all of their numbers to continue operations. Big business is much more complicated. Using your numbers of $3-4 million per year to pay each milb player $50,000 seems like a small line item for the industry. MLB doesn't pay milb players a living wage because they don't want to. The minor leagues cannot exist without role players willing to chase the dream of reaching The Show and thus these guys are exploited due to their willingness to play for nothing. I guess actors do much the same. The NCAA acts as the development league for football. The drastic reduction of minor league teams this season and the move towards corporate names for the leagues eliminated a long stretch of milb history. Perhaps baseball only needs development programs at their spring training facilities to teach the skills necessary to be major league players. Will the minor leagues be phased out in favor of NBA and NHL style development leagues? The cost is certainly something discussed and owners will do whatever they want to do, but it does seem a little silly for an industry to pinch the bottom for such a minimal cost of a utility infielder like  Leury Garcia. I took his name because he is from the club that is midway in team payroll. 

 

[Vanimal46]

Yes, the MLBPA should take in MiLB under their umbrella and negotiate for better pay and living conditions on their behalf. Will they? Probably not.  
 

It’s insane that the most valuable commodities in the organization are living in cars, and don’t have money for basic grocery needs. I posted this next bit on another thread in the past:

For less than the price of one JA Happ, all teams would be able to pay every player in the minors more than enough salary to live and focus on baseball year round. 

A/A+ : $50k salary x 60 players = $3 million

AA : $60k salary x 28 = $1.68 million 

AAA : $75k salary x 28 = $2.1 million 

$6.78 million in this particular example. A literal drop in the bucket for MLB owners. Imagine the ROI improvement producing MLB talent if they invested just a little bit on the front end. 

And think about how many hundreds, if not thousands of players who gave up their dream of playing MLB baseball because they needed to make more money to pay the bills. They could have been one tweak or mechanical adjustment away from living their dream… 

[DJL44]

I'm sure MLB would agree to increased minor league pay if they were allowed to decrease the signing bonus pool to cover it. 

[Cap'n Piranha]

41 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Yes, the MLBPA should take in MiLB under their umbrella and negotiate for better pay and living conditions on their behalf. Will they? Probably not.  
 

It’s insane that the most valuable commodities in the organization are living in cars, and don’t have money for basic grocery needs. I posted this next bit on another thread in the past:

 

For less than the price of one JA Happ, all teams would be able to pay every player in the minors more than enough salary to live and focus on baseball year round. 

A/A+ : $50k salary x 60 players = $3 million

AA : $60k salary x 28 = $1.68 million 

AAA : $75k salary x 28 = $2.1 million 

$6.78 million in this particular example. A literal drop in the bucket for MLB owners. Imagine the ROI improvement producing MLB talent if they invested just a little bit on the front end. 

And think about how many hundreds, if not thousands of players who gave up their dream of playing MLB baseball because they needed to make more money to pay the bills. They could have been one tweak or mechanical adjustment away from living their dream… 

I am not aware of any players on an MLB roster living in their car; for most teams the most valuable commodities are in the majors.

I do find it interesting how "little" it would cost to pay all MiLBers, which to me, raises a question; why isn't an analytically-inclined team seizing that opportunity to grab an advantage against their competitors?  The Rays or A's, for example.  It would seem to me that the logical answer is that organizations don't believe paying MiLB players the amounts you've highlighted above would move the needle.  Are they wrong?  Perhaps.  But I think those organizations are probably better able to make informed analyses of that question than we are.

[Cap'n Piranha]

1 hour ago, Trov said:

First, this is not an either or, the answer could be neither.  Over the last few years there has been a lot of talk of how badly the minor league players have been treated.  I read a good article on ESPN last night that brought up some interesting things.  

One thing is that there is no uniform way for minor league players to be treated, other than pay.  The pay is not much, even though it went up lately.  There are still stories of players living in cars, or packing motel rooms, or players spending more on rent then they make to play so needing families to help pay their rent.  

In my opinion, players should have to basically just survive to play in the minor leagues.  Yes, should they make the majors they may earn life changing money, but the amount of players that play for years earning little money and may end up leaving baseball in great debt is crazy.  As the major league teams make more and more money that does not trickle down to the minors, but why not? 

In the article I referenced it was referenced to another article that for each team to pay every minor league player 50K a year, it would increase cost by about 3 to 4 million over the year.  For a team worth a billion dollars, that not much.  Even if MLB wanted pay to the same, giving furnished apartments would be about 1.5 million per team.  This at minimum makes sense for the amount of moving between teams up and down, players are always left scrambling to find a place to sleep.  If teams would just get apartments for the players to live in that would be one less worry, and then they could save their money and not spend it all on rent.  MLB could also give stipends for food for the players too.  The fact is to make the lives for minor league players just a little bit better would not be hard.

Now, should the fans help force this change by letting the MLB teams know they want that change?  Maybe, because if players stop willing to play minor league ball it will hurt the MLB product in the long run.  Should the MLB players demand more money gets put to the minors?  Maybe, but would it come at the cost of paying the players?  I bet the players would balk at that but, with 26 man rosters, if you took at least the 1.5 million from player pay, That is nearly 60K per player over the year.  Some players have already donated money last year to minor league players, and Houston has already got furnished apartments for players.  

Other teams have done small things to try and make the life for a minor leaguer a little bit better.  However, the MLB teams still dump millions into prospects that never make the majors while letting the rest of their workforce struggle with finances and mental health issues from it.  There are several areas the MLB teams could pull from to get the money to either pay more or get apartments.  It would hard to ask any single player, or employee to shoulder the full amount, but taking small amounts from many sources is reasonable.  Maybe taking money from the luxury tax fees could help, it would not cover full bill for all teams.  

I do not know all the finances of MLB teams, but am certain they could find a way to increase money going to minor leagues by a few million to either pay a living wage, or give room and board for players.  Without minor league players moving on up to majors the major league product would struggle.  

I read the same article, and the thing that struck me was that it seems like a lot of these MiLB players make pretty poor decisions on their finances.  The main subject of the article, for example, played this year for a team based in Madison, AL.  A quick rent.com search showed multiple listings of 3-4 bedroom places for around $300/br a month.  For someone making $600-$700 a week, that is perfectly affordable, particularly if roommates are brought in (which would reduce the cost to $150-$200 a month).  No one is getting rich playing MiLB ball, but that's true for just about every entry-level position in any industry, particularly one where supply far outstrips demand.

Would a smart organization do more to provide for its MiLB players?  I personally think so, but as I've previously said, the fact that every smart organization has to this point declined to do so suggests that the wisdom of providing more for MiLB players as not so obvious as it might appear.

[bean5302]

The majority of MiLB players earn big bonuses. Slot values for bonuses are above $100,000 for all players signed in the first 10 rounds, and while some players sign without getting a bonus, it's not super common. Looking at all the Cedar Rapids Kernels position players this year:

• 4 of 23 received at least $1,800,000
• 9 of 23 received at least $483,000
• 13 of 23 received at least $90,000
• 3 of 23 I wasn't able to find data for, but were International Free Agent signings (IFA)
• 7 of 23 received bonuses of $10k or less.

1. Sabato = $2.75MM
2. Steer = $575k
3. Severino = $2.5MM
4. Julien = $493k
5. Cabbage = $760k
6. Morales = Unknown IFA
7. Wallner = $1.8MM
8. Snyder = $1k
9. Helman = $220k
10. Cabrera = None? Empire League
11. Smith = None? Round 33
12. Prato = $275k 
13. Isola = None? Round 29
14. Keirsey = $600k
15. Camargo = Unknown IFA (Dodgers)
16. Javier = $4MM
17. Gray = $483k
18. Maciel = $90k
19. Ozoria = $125k
20. Schmidt = $1k
21. Williams = $10k
22. Encarnacion = Unknown IFA
23. Hall = None? Undrafted FA

I find the bonuses are rarely included in the conversations about MiLB income. Players drafted in the very late rounds rarely sign unless they're college seniors and they want to take a shot at baseball, knowing they have a short window to prove it and they have a degree to fall back on. A Low/High A player earns a minimum of $500/week, which isn't much, but most of those teams are based on smaller cities where costs of living are low. Cedar Rapids, IA is 30% cheaper than Minneapolis, for example. MiLB players are often college age and rent in Cedar Rapids typically runs $300-500/mo based on what I was finding on Craigslist. When home, teams provide 1 meal per day. When traveling, MiLB teams cover the cost of travel, hotels. and a $25/day per diem for meals.

They can make ends meet if they're responsible. Lots of people, including myself, have made ends meet under similar budget constraints.

[Squirrel]

fyi ... I think this is the article @Trov referenced above (correct me if I am wrong):

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32172108/can-union-fix-minor-leaguers-say-poverty-level-pay-poor-housing-driving-mental-health-crisis

[TheLeviathan]

There is no reason these guys are eating fast food, living in bunk beds in some random person's house, and unable to afford the basic necessities to live a quality life.  Baseball is starving these guys, literally and figuratively, and they are investments in their future product.  A meager increase is all it would take to correct this and yet the MLBPA and Owners constantly exploit these guys for their own leverage.

This isn't about sound financial planning or any of that....it's wondering why a multi-billion dollar industry pays peanuts to players.  A drop in the bucket changes this whole narrative and yet stubborn greed rules the day.  There is no justifying that behavior.

[Unwinder]

58 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

They can make ends meet if they're responsible. Lots of people, including myself, have made ends meet under similar budget constraints.

Sure, but is it really good for baseball if only the most financially responsible players can make it through the minors?

[Trov]

4 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

I read the same article, and the thing that struck me was that it seems like a lot of these MiLB players make pretty poor decisions on their finances.  The main subject of the article, for example, played this year for a team based in Madison, AL.  A quick rent.com search showed multiple listings of 3-4 bedroom places for around $300/br a month.  For someone making $600-$700 a week, that is perfectly affordable, particularly if roommates are brought in (which would reduce the cost to $150-$200 a month).  No one is getting rich playing MiLB ball, but that's true for just about every entry-level position in any industry, particularly one where supply far outstrips demand.

Would a smart organization do more to provide for its MiLB players?  I personally think so, but as I've previously said, the fact that every smart organization has to this point declined to do so suggests that the wisdom of providing more for MiLB players as not so obvious as it might appear.

One of the things in the article that was pointed out is that many players cannot get normal leased apartments.  Specifically because they do not know how long they will be there.  When you may be at a city for maybe a month or two, no place will rent at those prices for only knowing it is rented a month or two.  Most apartments require full year leases.  Why would a player pay a full year lease when they are only there at most a few months during the summer, because most likely they will be expected to go back to training facility or back overseas during winter months.  The article address their ability to rent short term. 

[Trov]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

The majority of MiLB players earn big bonuses. Slot values for bonuses are above $100,000 for all players signed in the first 10 rounds, and while some players sign without getting a bonus, it's not super common. Looking at all the Cedar Rapids Kernels position players this year:

• 4 of 23 received at least $1,800,000
• 9 of 23 received at least $483,000
• 13 of 23 received at least $90,000
• 3 of 23 I wasn't able to find data for, but were International Free Agent signings (IFA)
• 7 of 23 received bonuses of $10k or less.

1. Sabato = $2.75MM
2. Steer = $575k
3. Severino = $2.5MM
4. Julien = $493k
5. Cabbage = $760k
6. Morales = Unknown IFA
7. Wallner = $1.8MM
8. Snyder = $1k
9. Helman = $220k
10. Cabrera = None? Empire League
11. Smith = None? Round 33
12. Prato = $275k 
13. Isola = None? Round 29
14. Keirsey = $600k
15. Camargo = Unknown IFA (Dodgers)
16. Javier = $4MM
17. Gray = $483k
18. Maciel = $90k
19. Ozoria = $125k
20. Schmidt = $1k
21. Williams = $10k
22. Encarnacion = Unknown IFA
23. Hall = None? Undrafted FA

I find the bonuses are rarely included in the conversations about MiLB income. Players drafted in the very late rounds rarely sign unless they're college seniors and they want to take a shot at baseball, knowing they have a short window to prove it and they have a degree to fall back on. A Low/High A player earns a minimum of $500/week, which isn't much, but most of those teams are based on smaller cities where costs of living are low. Cedar Rapids, IA is 30% cheaper than Minneapolis, for example. MiLB players are often college age and rent in Cedar Rapids typically runs $300-500/mo based on what I was finding on Craigslist. When home, teams provide 1 meal per day. When traveling, MiLB teams cover the cost of travel, hotels. and a $25/day per diem for meals.

They can make ends meet if they're responsible. Lots of people, including myself, have made ends meet under similar budget constraints.

First, bonuses are discussed and some do very well with the bonus, but they are limited.  You point out that at least half got 90K signing bonus.  Okay, that is for 1 time only, and they are taxed on that, having agent fees taken out as well.  Many players spend several years in the minors.  So how far are you expecting the 50 to 60K after taxes and fees go?  How many years will it be there?  Also what about the 10 guys that got 10K or less, can you play the games without them?  Yes, some guys are fine because they get huge sums up front and can be good with it.  But they make up only a few members of the team.  The point is that half the team is struggling to get by and you need them to play or decrease the number of teams.

In terms of the rent, yes rent is cheaper in may of the smaller towns.  However, based on the movement of players and limited time they play in that city, it is hard for them to find rooms to rent.  Most apartments want longer leases, and the players will not want to have a 12 month lease when they are only going to be there for about 5 months out of the year, at most.  

The apartment issue was addressed in the article.  It talks about how when a player gets moved up or down then the rest of the roommates are scrambling to find their rent too, unless they can get the replacement player take the space, but what if that replacement player is one that got the huge bonus and does not need to share?  

[Unwinder]

6 minutes ago, Trov said:

One of the things in the article that was pointed out is that many players cannot get normal leased apartments.  Specifically because they do not know how long they will be there.  When you may be at a city for maybe a month or two, no place will rent at those prices for only knowing it is rented a month or two.  Most apartments require full year leases.  Why would a player pay a full year lease when they are only there at most a few months during the summer, because most likely they will be expected to go back to training facility or back overseas during winter months.  The article address their ability to rent short term. 

Correct, I've said it before, a "living wage" assumes you only need one place to live. If you still have to pay rent on your old apartment because your lease isn't up yet, being able to afford a 2nd apartment isn't just a matter of buying less Starbucks.

[Trov]

4 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

I am not aware of any players on an MLB roster living in their car; for most teams the most valuable commodities are in the majors.

I do find it interesting how "little" it would cost to pay all MiLBers, which to me, raises a question; why isn't an analytically-inclined team seizing that opportunity to grab an advantage against their competitors?  The Rays or A's, for example.  It would seem to me that the logical answer is that organizations don't believe paying MiLB players the amounts you've highlighted above would move the needle.  Are they wrong?  Perhaps.  But I think those organizations are probably better able to make informed analyses of that question than we are.

Pay for players in minors are equal across the board, only signing bonuses are different.  In regards to the giving apartments or the like teams can do that, but being most players are locked into what ever team drafted them, or signed them originally for 7 years or until released, they have little say as to what team they are on.  Only 16 year-old international players will have a say and my guess they will not look much into the perks in the minors when they decide what MLB team they sign with.  Drafted players could say no and go back into draft for next time around, but that is the little power they would have. 

[Unwinder]

5 minutes ago, Trov said:

In terms of the rent, yes rent is cheaper in may of the smaller towns.  However, based on the movement of players and limited time they play in that city, it is hard for them to find rooms to rent.  Most apartments want longer leases, and the players will not want to have a 12 month lease when they are only going to be there for about 5 months out of the year, at most.  

Plus you get moved around without much warning, and you need to keep playing baseball most nights of the week. Sure cheap apartments are out there if you shop around, but more than likely you've got to lock down a place fast or sleep in your car until you do.

[Cap'n Piranha]

34 minutes ago, Unwinder said:

Sure, but is it really good for baseball if only the most financially responsible players can make it through the minors?

You don't have to be the "most" financially responsible, you just have to be reasonably financially repsonsible.  I don't think it's crazy to suggest that we should expect adults (by and large) to be able to handle their finances--if the vast majority of MiLB players are so financially illiterate that they can't do that, that is a society problem, not a baseball problem.  MiLB pays above minimum wage, so this is not an issue of players not being paid enough to live, it's a problem of too many MiLB players not understanding how to budget.  Therefore, simply increasing their pay is unlikely to fix the issue.  If someone is irresponsible with $20k-$25k a year, they are not likely to all of the sudden become wise stewards of their money when given $50k.

[Cap'n Piranha]

22 minutes ago, Trov said:

One of the things in the article that was pointed out is that many players cannot get normal leased apartments.  Specifically because they do not know how long they will be there.  When you may be at a city for maybe a month or two, no place will rent at those prices for only knowing it is rented a month or two.  Most apartments require full year leases.  Why would a player pay a full year lease when they are only there at most a few months during the summer, because most likely they will be expected to go back to training facility or back overseas during winter months.  The article address their ability to rent short term. 

I would think it would not be too hard to get a 6 month lease for not that much more than a one year--even if it was a 25% kicker, the cost would still be only $165-$375 a month in the example I provided.  Renting an apartment at the beginning of the season for one year is also an option--if 5-6 guys from a team are doing that, with the understanding that if a guy gets promoted, he's off the hook, and they simply bring in whomever takes his place, it wouldn't be that difficult.  While that might not work during spring training or instructs, the 6-8 month lease is still an option.

[Cap'n Piranha]

12 minutes ago, Trov said:

Pay for players in minors are equal across the board, only signing bonuses are different.  In regards to the giving apartments or the like teams can do that, but being most players are locked into what ever team drafted them, or signed them originally for 7 years or until released, they have little say as to what team they are on.  Only 16 year-old international players will have a say and my guess they will not look much into the perks in the minors when they decide what MLB team they sign with.  Drafted players could say no and go back into draft for next time around, but that is the little power they would have. 

Not sure how this relates to my post.  My point was that if paying $7M a year for the entire MiLB player roster would be a huge enhancement to the performance of MiLB players, and correlate to them being better upon hitting the majors, why wouldn't the Rays or A's, two teams that value analytics, and need to save money wherever possible, have already done this?  I'm not saying this proves increased pay for MiLBers does not move the needle; I'm just saying if it was such and open-and-shut case, some team would have already done it, not because they'd attract more talent, but because the talent they get would be improved, and would be better players at the MLB level for that team, and better trade chips as well.

[Mike Sixel]

6 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

I am not aware of any players on an MLB roster living in their car; for most teams the most valuable commodities are in the majors.

I do find it interesting how "little" it would cost to pay all MiLBers, which to me, raises a question; why isn't an analytically-inclined team seizing that opportunity to grab an advantage against their competitors?  The Rays or A's, for example.  It would seem to me that the logical answer is that organizations don't believe paying MiLB players the amounts you've highlighted above would move the needle.  Are they wrong?  Perhaps.  But I think those organizations are probably better able to make informed analyses of that question than we are.

Then you aren't actually reading the stories out there. 

[PseudoSABR]

7 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

I read the same article, and the thing that struck me was that it seems like a lot of these MiLB players make pretty poor decisions on their finances.  The main subject of the article, for example, played this year for a team based in Madison, AL.  A quick rent.com search showed multiple listings of 3-4 bedroom places for around $300/br a month.  For someone making $600-$700 a week, that is perfectly affordable, particularly if roommates are brought in (which would reduce the cost to $150-$200 a month).  

This is whackadoodle thinking.  It's recommended that people spend no more than 30% on rent.  And you think 8 adult men living in a 4 bedroom house is reasonable?  

Maybe you should campaign on that slogan; don't raise the minimum wage, just get someone else to live in your actual bedroom.  

 

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, Trov said:

First, bonuses are discussed and some do very well with the bonus, but they are limited.  You point out that at least half got 90K signing bonus.  Okay, that is for 1 time only, and they are taxed on that, having agent fees taken out as well.  Many players spend several years in the minors.  So how far are you expecting the 50 to 60K after taxes and fees go?  How many years will it be there?  Also what about the 10 guys that got 10K or less, can you play the games without them?  Yes, some guys are fine because they get huge sums up front and can be good with it.  But they make up only a few members of the team.  The point is that half the team is struggling to get by and you need them to play or decrease the number of teams.

In terms of the rent, yes rent is cheaper in may of the smaller towns.  However, based on the movement of players and limited time they play in that city, it is hard for them to find rooms to rent.  Most apartments want longer leases, and the players will not want to have a 12 month lease when they are only going to be there for about 5 months out of the year, at most.  

The apartment issue was addressed in the article.  It talks about how when a player gets moved up or down then the rest of the roommates are scrambling to find their rent too, unless they can get the replacement player take the space, but what if that replacement player is one that got the huge bonus and does not need to share?  

Limited? 56-70% of the players who batted for the Kernels received a $90k+ signing bonus (there were 3 IFA's I didn't find numbers on and an Empire League player as well). Also, the payments should never be a one and done. The payments are usually structured over at least 2 tax years. Let's assume we take the absolute minimum significant bonus I used and do some quick math. $90k signing bonus payable over 2 tax years is $45k per year. The player is going to have taxable income of maybe $30k so figure $3.5k annually in federal tax and maybe as much as $1k in state tax. Grand total income tax bill? $9k, max. Net compensation, $81k, not $50-60k.

Next step, I expect the player to use the bonus as supplemental income, not try to live off it if they can't afford to live off it. In other words. If you can't find a job which pays $15/hr right now in the U.S. you are probably not trying. Assume the player doesn't want to work during the baseball season so they only work 6 months out of the year. So that's $15k more income annually (basically tax free). How much does it cost to do subleases or rent a room out in a house while covering 1/2 your food costs? Any MiLB player should be able to make ends meet at a net of $30k/yr. So if we assume the $90k signing bonus is used as a sinking fund, the player could make ends meet, responsibly for at least 5 years. This is basic financial stuff and any player signing a contract has an agent who knows this stuff.

So what about the players who got no signing bonus? They are the long-shot players who've graduated from college or already had the financial resources to not need a signing bonus. If you want to follow a dream as a long shot hoping something good happens, you should be willing to invest in the sacrifice. It very likely won't work out, you'll be a 11th+ round pick as a college graduate and you'll probably know where you stand very quickly. In a year or two, it'll be obvious if you potentially have what it takes. If you do, you get a loan/advance from an investment company for that $15k a year you need.

This is not rocket science. 

[TheLeviathan]

No, not rocket science. These guys are being woefully underpaid.

Only the elite draft choices are going to overcome this kind of pay with their signing bonus.  Especially when you take agent fees out as well as taxes.  

There is no justifiable reason for baseball to be this cheap about their pay.  None.  Morally or financially.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

No, not rocket science. These guys are being woefully underpaid.

Only the elite draft choices are going to overcome this kind of pay with their signing bonus.  Especially when you take agent fees out as well as taxes.  

There is no justifiable reason for baseball to be this cheap about their pay.  None.  Morally or financially.

I just did the math and explanation on how to overcome this above. It's easy.

 

[TheLeviathan]

13 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

I just did the math and explanation on how to overcome this above. It's easy.

 

And your math included no agent fees and as rosy a picture as possible and still left them 30k.  My link puts that into context of professional sports along with a litany of issues you didn't consider.  

You are defending poverty on the basis of "slightly better than homeless and living off happy meals".  For what purpose....I have no freaking clue.

[PseudoSABR]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

If you can't find a job which pays $15/hr right now in the U.S. you are probably not trying.

Totally baseless statement.  Frankly, this kind of misinformation and judgment of the poor shouldn't stand around these parts.  

So the only people who work for under $15/hr don't try? Can you even hear yourself. 

[Vanimal46]

I thought minor leaguers being laughably underpaid was a universal thought. But here we are with, I guess, a debate that budgeting better is the solution? Yikes. 

[DJL44]

Being a baseball player should pay at least $15/hr. That's $600 a week.

Minor league player don't need to live off a bonus for multiple years. Most don't make it past year 2 in the minors.

[Rosterman]

The life of a minor league player is one to three years for many. Some advance to stay in an organization for 4-5-6 years and then can sell their services as minor league free agents, hopefully making a bit more for the six/seven months that they need to be playing in the summer. Players get paid more if on the 40-man roster. 

 

I'm not saying they are underpaid. Yes, they are...and you have to keep an apartment (shared) that you only use half the time.

 

I keep thinking of the Twins Ft. Myers complex. I believe they have a substantial dorm facility where players share rooms (or some have private rooms), and there is food service, and the facilities as a whole have workout centers.

 

It still exists in some minor league cities where families house players for a modest fee, but in all likelihood players mass 3-5 in a room. They need a place to basically sleep, spending the rest of their time at the stadium. And AT LEAST MAJOR LEAGUE BALL IS PUSHING FOR AA/AAA FACILITIES TO BE TOP NOTCH. I believe players get a meal now at the high level parks, more than just a sandwich spread.

 

I always wondered why the sponsoring major league team doesn't just buy or rent out a motel or the floor of a decent hotel to house staff. 20 rooms or so. Again, if facilities at the stadium are workable, players need a place to sleep, and live at the stadium, working out, having a food service at the facility, working out, playing ball.

 

They get money for road trips, but, yes...they should get decent pay for the time involved in their daily training and play.

 

Someone mentioned actors. I spent a summer in a no pay, and we rehearsed up to 12 hours a day mounting ten shows in ten weeks. I have worked in summer settings where got a certain level of pay, but it also included lodging and food. I still need money to send home, pay for the car, whatever. But it was especially nice to get union touring wages as well as room and board. You are working all the time, so you rally don't spend money, as you develop your craft in search of a dream that many never reach.

 

I also think of what a team like The Saints were in indy ball. Talk about really get paid little. And, again, the need to find temporary housing that you aren't using every other week. Sure, you can find an apartment, but you also have to furnish it. I always wondered how it works when guys jump around a system. You notice that only a small percentage of players do actually play at two levels in a season.

 

Before Ft. Myers got re-developed into a super complex, how many players crashed the Mauer Family townhome with the pool table in the dining room during the minor league season?

 

[a-wan]

Wow, just wow. Blaming the poor minor leaguers for bad budgeting. Why do billionaire owners get such a pass from fans? For the cost of a rule 5 drafted player or two, an MLB team could help subsidize a huge chunk of rent for their players.

[Whitey333]

I am just astonished at how many of you are blaming the milb players for being on " poverty" wages.  If the greedy owners and major league players are so hell bent on squeezing out every nickel of monies, then why not dump the minor leagues like other pro sports?  I'm not advocating that, just saying.  It's sad that people are ripping the very players they are hoping get promoted to a major league team.  Whatever happened to empathy and compassion for others?  You obviously won't find it hear with many of the commentators.