MLB Players Association Negotiates Deal to Get Minor Leaguers Paid

It is a black eye to MLB that it took them so long and protracted litigation to treat these young men fairly.  Glad it is finally accomplished, and also glad MLB players chose to support and negotiate on behalf of the younger, less accomplished brethren.

Aaron Senne was a terrific high school player and has made quite the contribution to minor league baseball. I hope the players are all sending him a "thank you".

7 hours ago, mrtwinsfan said:

Good to see,  Way overdue!!!!!!!!!!

Fully agree. Way overdue and I'm sure the players are happy with those higher salaries. But the biggest shock may have been the big jump for players in the "complex league." Frankly, I'm not sure what the means? Is the short-season league for newly drafted players?

This is how it works folks. A campaign contribution and it is quietly slipped into a massive spending bill and just like that... it's reality.

But half the country doesn't understand that the expenses are now higher...., then ticket prices are higher,   The same people will complain about the higher ticket prices.

The only difference is that when the government does it........they raise our taxes.....instead of the ticket prices.

I am not worried at all about spending Pohlad's money.......but you need to see the other side of the coin of...."hey, everybody gets paid more....."

13 minutes ago, miracleb said:

This is how it works folks. A campaign contribution and it is quietly slipped into a massive spending bill and just like that... it's reality.

But half the country doesn't understand that the expenses are now higher...., then ticket prices are higher,   The same people will complain about the higher ticket prices.

The only difference is that when the government does it........they raise our taxes.....instead of the ticket prices.

I am not worried at all about spending Pohlad's money.......but you need to see the other side of the coin of...."hey, everybody gets paid more....."

 

Wow, not sure where you're going with this one.  Campaign contribution?  Quietly slipped into massive spending bill?  By who?  We're all reading about this now...in a public forum.  History has shown that when everyday people make more money, they end up spending more money in the communities in which they live and work.   Minor League baseball will still be the best financial deal in professional baseball for fans, even after its players earn a liveable wage.

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News continues to come in on the monumental achievement for minor leaguers. The CBA will also allow players signed at 19 years old or younger to be under team control for just six seasons as opposed to seven. This is big news for many international free agents and players drafted out of high school. 

I believe this is written backwards.  I understood the tweet as impacting players who are signed at 19 years old or older will now be under team control for 6 years going forward instead of 7.  So it won't impact too many international free agents, but will impact college players and older high school students.

Here is the quote from the Athletic article.
 

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Players who sign at age 19 or older are going to be under club reserve for six years, rather than seven, which is the blanket number that previously applied to all players. This policy is not retroactive to players who previously signed at age 19 or older.

That was a copy/paste from immediately above.  Just saying "players should make more money" without understanding the other side...is the problem.  When MLB eliminates "A ball" in 3 years as a cost cutting measure, these same people will be complaining about it........

The housing and transportation changes are also pretty big.  Glad it also has an additional statement about spouses and children as well.  Quote from the Athletic article below. https://theathletic.com/4360686/2023/03/29/minor-league-bargaining-cba-mlbpa/

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Players will have their own bedrooms at home at Double A and Triple A. Players are going to either receive a bedroom or be allowed to opt out and instead receive a stipend at Low A and High A. Spouses and children are going to be accommodated in club-provided housing. Housing is free for players except those who make a higher amount.

The problem is not how much teams spend on Milb players.  The problem is that two-thirds of the money goes to 10% of the players.   Last year MLB team paid out $291,408,490 in draft bonuses and as we all know most of those players fail.  There is an alternative.  If they made the max bonus $1M and dropped the bonus just 1 percent per draft slot, they could increase the average pay to Milb players by 48,706.53.  If they made the max bonus $500K, the increase would be 69,228.29 on average.  In other words, AAA players would get paid roughly $100K not the proposed $38,500 assuming AAA players would get paid a little more than A/A+ players.

Obviously, this could be tweaked.  If you prefer to have a 2M top bonus, the pay increase would be $36,594.33 at all levels.  If you make the increase $50K at AAA and $22K at A ball you end up with roughly a $67K salary for AAA.

This is absolutely a good thing but it looks like it was paid for by cutting 450 spots for minor league players (15 per team).

MLB does seem to want to shrink the minor leagues further, though I'm optimistic MLB expansion will bring baseball back to many communities.

6 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

Agreed on the draft bonuses with one exception. Sometimes the elite athlete has other sport options so baseball does have to try and be competitive with the other sports in that occasional circumstance. 

My concern with minor league compensation hasn't been with the bonus baby 1st and 2nd rounders. Those bonuses are big and a little financial discipline and they can ride out the low compensation. My concern has always been with the later round low bonus guys who has to have a young wife or girlfriend working two jobs just so he can chase a dream and afford a roof, sandwich, maybe even a car so she can get to work at those two jobs.    

Every CBA I keep looking for someone either ownership or the players union to speak up for the minor league players. It never happens because it hasn't been in anybody's interest to concern themselves with what I'm concerned about.  

This announcement is big... It makes me happy on this fine opening day of baseball in 2023. 

 

I thought about the guys with other options.  Is the game really going to suffer in 1 guy every couple of years elects to go to the NFL?  Consider the tradeoff.  The reason I came up with this model is I was wondering how we could pay every single Milb player a good wage.  The guys that earn the big bonuses are obviously the guys that become great players but those guys are going to make generational wealth and retire in their 30S.  Why is the system all about them while ignoring the other 95% of players.

The model I am talking about pays every player after round 6 a $50K signing bonus and more than double the current proposed system.  Just to be clear, not the existing system but would double the proposed system.  AAA players would make close to $100K.  It would be very easy to take compensate every Milb player quite well.  The players and owners have elected to pay a select few a lot and the rest very little.  All they need to do is reallocate.  

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

I don't think the game would suffer in total. MLB already can't compete with the NFL when it comes to the immediate pay out to Kyler Murray. It will suffer in little corners of the game such as when Oakland wastes a number one pick on Kyler Murray. 

I'm OK with your model in its basic form but I still think the real problem had always been above the minor leaguers heads at the CBA negotiation table where you have two big boys fighting over as much of the pie as they can get with no room to care about minor league conditions.   

the owners should see what Major League Ready is proposing as a win-win for them. 

• they reduce the risk of over paying for a draft bust.  same as what the nfl did when those first round QB bonuses got ridiculous.
• minor leaguers are paid much better and it gives owners the deepest possible depth to leverage because little to no players are quitting from economic hardship and they can hang in there a few more years.
• competition increases because players see that at least they won't live in poverty so more will take a chance and it may pan out for them.  Think Caleb Theilbar type players.

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

This is the worst idea ever for so many reasons.

What top athlete will ever choose baseball again, if they have an option?

The best players should be paid like the best players?

This would 100% drive down baseball participation and pay overall. Awful idea. 

Really, how many top athletes can get drafted high enough in another professional sport that this would matter.  We are talking about maybe one person a year and a signing bonus of $3-7M is not necessarily going to sway the few guys that get drafted that high because they have a good shot at making two or three hundred million.  Most are still going to go wherever they think they have the best shot a enormous wealth. 

Beside that fact, this has absolutely nothing to do with what "the best players" make.  We are talking about signing bonuses before a prospective player every plays one inning of Milb much less what they make as MLB player.  This would not impact one iota the compensation for MLB players. 

Quit paying guys like Mark Appel $6M before they earn a thing and you could afford to play EVERY player a decent wage. 

1 hour ago, heresthething said:

the owners should see what Major League Ready is proposing as a win-win for them. 

• they reduce the risk of over paying for a draft bust.  same as what the nfl did when those first round QB bonuses got ridiculous.
• minor leaguers are paid much better and it gives owners the deepest possible depth to leverage because little to no players are quitting from economic hardship and they can hang in there a few more years.
• competition increases because players see that at least they won't live in poverty so more will take a chance and it may pan out for them.  Think Caleb Theilbar type players.

I always assumed the players association promoted the current system because why would the owners care if the money was distributed more evenly?  They also get rid of the PR problem associated with low Milb wages.  

4 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

We already have HS players saying they don't choose baseball for this reason.....they can make so much more in football or basketball (not that it is realistic for the vast majority of them), and make it day one without 5 years riding buses and losing money (though your plan fixes the money losing issue).

Really, they can afford more than they are now paying....no issue. They choose not to, which is their right, of course. 

Economics is the thing we'll never agree on when it comes to baseball.....I'm ok with that.

I would advocate that a larger piece of the pie goes to Milb players regardless of how they fund it but make no mistake where that money would come from.  Like every other business, if the spend more in one area, they will spend less in another.  The owners are not going change their total spending level.  They would reallocate MLB salary expenditures.  That's why the players association has not made higher Milb pay a priority.    

The big bonuses for top draft picks are because those players are perceived to be worth much more than the bonus. Why take money away from the players perceived to be the most talented and give it to less talented players? In order for the union to work you need to take care of the star players as well as the scrubs.

Top talent has choices. Some will play a different sport. Some will go to college and get paid through NIL endorsements. Some may go overseas. Some will play independently until their draft rights expire and sign a free agent deal. Some will choose to play another year of college instead of taking the bonus.

‘bout time.

was never going to get better until the mlb players made it a priority.

16 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The big bonuses for top draft picks are because those players are perceived to be worth much more than the bonus. Why take money away from the players perceived to be the most talented and give it to less talented players? In order for the union to work you need to take care of the star players as well as the scrubs.

Top talent has choices. Some will play a different sport. Some will go to college and get paid through NIL endorsements. Some may go overseas. Some will play independently until their draft rights expire and sign a free agent deal. Some will choose to play another year of college instead of taking the bonus.

How many are going to play another sport?  This is a hyperbolic argument.  We hear about every top prospect that could be drafted into another sport and they are a tiny percentage of the players that are actually top prospects in 2 sports.  Name 5 from the last 10 years.  Then, how many of those players with the potential to earn hundreds of millions will decide based on their draft bonus.  If they are not in the top half of the first round, the money is not that consequential especially if there is any indication they are more likely to succeed in baseball.  Their perceived relative ability to succeed in one sport over the other is more likely to influence their decision.

What difference does it make if a player stays for another year of college or plays independent ball.  How does that impact the product we pay to see?  How does it change MLB at all?

Why should players get paid on perceived value?  They are going to make an insane amount of money if they actually live up to the perception so why should they be paid on perception.   How is it fair that Mark Appel get's $6.35M to fail and many prospects get less than $100K to succeed?  This union is totally focused on stars and the rest get the scraps.   If the money paid to perceived stars that fail was allocated to all players, Milb players would be well compensated.  It sure seems to pay the enormous money when players actually earn it while taking much better care of all the other players who make these league possible.