Seattle Mariners: make the right move in paying minor league players
With the uncertainly surrounding the minor league season, the Seattle Mariners took a step in the right direction by securing payment for minor league players through the 2020 season.
As the Player’s Association vehemently rejects the latest proposal from the owners, minor league players who are not protected under the Association remain in limbo. The Seattle Mariners made a move to guarantee money to their minor league players through the end of the season.
This move may seem like the right thing to do, and all major league clubs would be following suit. Not the case, however. In the past week two organizations, the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox made a move to release more than twenty minor league players.
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The Oakland Athletics chose not to continue paying minor league players the agreed-upon $400, ending payments at the end of May.
The business of baseball is in flux right now and money is not at the premium it once was. However, when baseball does get back to business as usual, fans will remember these little nuances, much like they did after the strike year of 1994.
Teams who support their minor league players are not only doing right by the youngsters in their system, they are sending a message to their fan base. These are the types of decisions that either turn fans off or connect fans more deeply with their franchise.
The Mariners owner John Stanton has a net worth of $1.1B so carrying a few minor leaguers for a few months at $400 a week shouldn’t be too tough. Good to see this franchise is good about putting money back into the team.
With close to forty million people out of work right now it will be hard for minor leaguers out of work to find anything else as a means to pay the bills. The $400 weekly base is meager, though it can provide some stability until other work is found.
Next. Player's Union right to not make counter proposal. dark
Good for the Mariners for ensuring this pay when it would be easy to follow suit of other teams and release players or end payments.