Pick value for each player in the first 10 rounds was set at over $100,000 for 2014. Now, not everyone received that much and some received more, but after taxes and paying an agent, there might not be much left.charlieoscar said:What percentage of the minor league draftees receive 6-figure plus bonuses? They may be paying for things out of their own pockets but some can afford to.
They have pretty enormous incentives, personal and financial, to spend it the right way. Are there lots of minor leaguers who don't have the overall goal of reaching the majors?OfTheCarmen said:The problem is you cant guarantee that's how they're going to spend that extra money.
Yeah, and while it's not a whole lot for a young guy with a family, my guess is that in the offseason a lot of the 19, 20, 21 year old American draftees go back and live with their parents in the offseason, where it would stretch a lot further than if you're maintaining an apartment.Toe Nash said:They have pretty enormous incentives, personal and financial, to spend it the right way. Are there lots of minor leaguers who don't have the overall goal of reaching the majors?
Combine increased pay with education and access to nutritionists, personal trainers, etc., and the vast majority are going to take advantage.
It seems to me like the 10 million number is extremely high, and the $5 million number is too high as well. Giving a $10,000 a year raise to approximately 175 minor league players (7 affiliates X 25 players per affiliate) is just $1.75 million. Providing better nutrition for lunch and dinner in the clubhouse probably can't run more than an extra $2,000 per person, so $350k, and hiring 2 strength and conditioning coaches per affiliate is maybe another $150,000 in pay and benefits tops. So, it seems like it would run the whole organization an extra $2.25 million, which pretty much means you get your money back if it helps a Tommy Layne beat out a Craig Breslow, or a Daniel Nava beat out a Grady Sizemore reclamation project, or a Brock Holt beat out a Nick Punto.Boggs26 said:If we assume that increased pay, better nutrition, and better training programs would run a team 5-10 million dollars a year (is that super high? Low?) then the question is whether this expenditure would be likely to create (on average) 1 additional win per year for the ML team.
Hell, if you thought there was at least a 50% chance of getting a Daniel Nava level player you wouldn't have gotten otherwise that alone should make it worth a 10 year test run of putting more money into the minor leagues.
Am I missing something here? It seems like a no-brainer to toss a few extra million toward better player care in the minors.
HriniakPosterChild said:
Most of them are just there to provide live BP for the real prospects, so the MLB clubs don't care about their nutrition. Or anything else.
Plympton91 said:Yeah, and while it's not a whole lot for a young guy with a family, my guess is that in the offseason a lot of the 19, 20, 21 year old American draftees go back and live with their parents in the offseason, where it would stretch a lot further than if you're maintaining an apartment.
And, while probably 1/3 of the draftees got $100k or higher bonuses, most of the kids from Latin America got a plane ticket and uniforms by comparison. So, the increase in salary would be far more consequential to those kids than to the Bryce Harpers of the world.
This is still the same lawsuit filed last year. MLB is hoping to move the case from California to Florida.charlieoscar said:Lawsuit seeks better pay for minor-league baseball players--A class-action suit argues that minor-league players often make less than minimum wage. From Portland Press Herald:
http://www.pressherald.com/2015/02/13/lawsuit-seeks-better-pay-for-minor-league-baseball-players/
Don't people go into debt often, to follows their dreams?Surely, he said, in an industry that generates $9 billion per year, there is enough money for minor leaguers to eat properly, afford a reasonable rent and not be forced into debt in order to follow their dream.
Yup, 6 minor league teams at 25 players per team = 150 playersRough Carrigan said:I don't see why a smart, well financed organization like the Red Sox doesn't pay their minor leaguers much better. It would cost them next to nothing and they would likely get at least a bit of organizational loyalty from players. Imagine the Red Sox being known as the team that doesn't shit on its minor leaguers like the other 29 teams. Yes, most of those minor leaguers would never have valuable services to bargain into a free marketplace. But some would. On top of which all that is legal is not right. It's not right to take advantage of minor leaguers to pay them as little as possible even if you can't get arrested for doing so.
I'm sure it varies a little but the fact that I've never seen an article about this issue remark that Team X or Team Y is known for being much better about paying its minor leaguers leads one to the conclusion that any variation in pay is a difference of degree but not of kind.bosox79 said:You're assuming they don't. I bet it varies from system to system.
Where players have the ability to negotiate better deals, some teams give them to them. For instance http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-yankees-found-another-way-to-outspend-every-other-team/. 99% of minor leaguers never get that chance to successfully get through their indentured servitude to the team that drafted them or offered them a contract at 16 with enough value left for teams to consider bidding up their contract at that point. It's pretty clear from links earlier in this thread that the Sox and Yankees, and probably we can guess now the Cubs and Dodgers as well offer considerably more perks that translate to more financial as well as nutritional and training support. Wages don't vary from team to team because they are essentially in the CBA- the minimums are there and that's enough of a guideline to keep everyone in line to hold labor costs down for all of the teams. There aren't any other costs that Selig doesn't want all of the teams working to hold down, so it's not exactly a surprise that a group without any actor really working on their behalf gets squeezed.Rough Carrigan said:I'm sure it varies a little but the fact that I've never seen an article about this issue remark that Team X or Team Y is known for being much better about paying its minor leaguers leads one to the conclusion that any variation in pay is a difference of degree but not of kind.
Frank said:Teenagers spreading money over four years? Surely you can't be serious.
I was picking those numbers out of a hat, but even $5,000 more per player in the minors would likely at least get them off of food stamps and only cost an organization at most $750,000 a year (150 players X 6 affiliates--but many of those 150 players would be on minor league free agent contracts that already reflect a bump up from the slave wages of the first 6 years, so it would be less than that).Papelbon's Poutine said:
First, how have I made back the whole investment? You and I obviously disagree on what the expenditure would be, but let's use your figure of $2.5M. If I drop $2.5M a year into this program, in hopes of producing someone to replace a Nick Punto, I'm paying that roster slot $500K instead of $1.5M, saving me $1M. So I've still spent $1.5M I otherwise wouldn't have spent. So i'm not making anything back, I'm spending more to fill that roster slot. And I'm filling it with an unheralded prospect as opposed to an established veteran. Would you have been content with the Sox using Dan Butler as the backup catcher this season as opposed to spending $3.5M on Ryan Hannigan? Because I wouldn't.
My guess is that what keeps a team from breaking ranks on minor league salaries is the same thing that keeps teams from putting in claims on optional assignment waivers or claims on players who are waived so they can sign with a Japanese team. The "Gentleman's agreement," which is less polite company is called "collusion."Papelbon's Poutine said:
If you want to talk about whether there is a discernible competitive advantage to it, sure, let's talk about that. Because I'm not seeing where it exists. Logically it seems like it would help, at least in the nutritional component discussed. But I will resort to the very simple question of "then why has no one done it yet?". And the logical answer -to me at least- is that teams do not believe it produces the results that make the expenditure worthwhile. Because I assure you that we here were not the first to think of it.
A poster above said the minimums are set forth.charlieoscar said:Regarding all this discussion about teams breaking rank on minor league salaries, isn't the salary structure spelled out in the MLB-milb agreement?
Last year former minor leaguers Aaron Senne, Michael Liberto and Oliver Odle filed a putative class action lawsuit against Major League Baseball alleging that minor leaguers are underpaid and exploited and that the Uniform Player Contract unfairly takes advantage of them. Now you can take the “putative” off of that as the court handling the case has ordered conditional certification for the labor action.
What this means is that, rather than defending against these cases individually — as Major League Baseball would much prefer — the plaintiffs and any others they add to the case can now sue collectively. This is sort of like regular class action lawsuits in a non-labor context, but rather than the named plaintiffs including every possible plaintiff in their case with those plaintiffs being able to opt out, here the minor leaguers who wish to be part of the suit must opt-in.
Regardless, this now makes the case against baseball much more formidable, and the merits of the case have a much, much greater chance of being heard. Those merits address the claim that Major League Baseball often pays minor leaguers less than $7,500 for an entire season and requires mandatory overtime in violation of state and federal wage laws. That the Uniform Player Contract players are required to sign binds them to a team and keeps them from shopping their services elsewhere. That, though players are only paid during the season, they are required to perform duties such as training, meetings and the like all year long and their duties and obligations to the club extend on a year-round basis too.
http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2015/10/20/minor-leaguers-unfair-labor-practices-case-against-mlb-goes-forward/“This step is an important one for the thousands of underpaid minor leaguers toiling in MLB’s minor league system. This case seeks to change that. As a result of the Court’s order, current and former minor leaguers will have the opportunity to participate in this lawsuit and recover minimum wage and overtime for their work. Minor leaguers will receive notice via mail and email in the coming weeks.
Cabin Mirror paid off pretty well.Plympton91 said:My guess is that what keeps a team from breaking ranks on minor league salaries is the same thing that keeps teams from putting in claims on optional assignment waivers or claims on players who are waived so they can sign with a Japanese team. The "Gentleman's agreement," which is less polite company is called "collusion."