Minor league pay

http://www.yougoprobaseball.co...s-make-get-paid.html

Minor League Baseball Salary Scale

Players are paid only during the season. 

 

My opinion: Minor league baseball is structured intentionally to feel like an obstacle course. Front offices would prefer that players "self-select" their way out of the system rather than release players, and the combination of low pay and challenging living conditions/lifestyle cause many to do so once they see the dream of making The Show slipping away. Meanwhile, as long as they stay, they're playing the game they love and trying to fulfill a dream for which they've worked very hard for quite a few years.

 

Separately, the Major League Players Association shows no inclination whatsoever to improve minor league conditions. After all, why should they? Every dollar that gets sent to the minor leagues reduces the amount available to the players who "really count." 

 

Welcome to the business that is professional baseball.

Yes the pay should equate to minimum wage. But can they not factor in a bonus spread out of the life of the contract. That may take their pay to minimum wage.

The guy in the story got a $25,000 signing bonus....and played 3 years....so that's roughly $8000/year...for 8 months work/year   That's $1000/month plus the $1150 salary....puts him at $2150/month....already above minimum wage even with a 50/hr work week.  Add in another $1000 or so in per diem pay...and he's making the equivalent of $35,000/year for 8 months work...not gonna get rich.....but also not horrible for a kid who may be coming directly out of HS with no college education...and certainly no where near below minimum wage.  Even if his signing bonus was pro-rated over 7-years...he's still close to $30k/year.

If your not drafted in the couple of rounds with a signing bonus it's a financial struggle.

".... it does rub me the wrong way when people start suing over a contract that they signed (unless the employer did not follow the contract)."

 

In this case I would disagree.  The draft and restrictions in the standard contract forces players to essentially accept the less then minimum wage "offer" if they want to pursue professional baseball as a career, There is no abiltiy to negoiate the terms of the contract let alone select another team/employer to negoiate with.  I would argue there is no "meeting of minds" and the minor league contract is a contract in name only.  The vast majority of minor league players are financially abused by the clubs. 

 

Some clubs deduct club house "dues" and season tickets for host families from the pay!!....Players need host families because they don't make enough to pay rent, make car payments....  

 

 

http://www.thinkbluela.com/ind...n-the-minor-leagues/

An interesting article on Life In The Minor Leagues, and an interesting little fact, that I just learned about our 2013 son's 81 yr. old Grandpa (Hero) & my Dad.

Last Fall, my Dad had heard that his sister was in the hospital, and from there life flighted to a hospital in the city, that he graduated from College. It was a long drive, and I offered to ride along with him. Just the 2 of us. Couldn't remember ever having a day like that alone with my Dad, since I was a little girl. Coming from a family of 5 girls, those opportunities were rare. Anyways, I learned alot that day. Heard stories that I had never known. Dad drove me all around his old College Campus, and old haunts, at least the ones that were still there. Knew that Dad had played all sports, but had never known that he'd been given the opportunity to play for a Minor League Team, right out of High School, and that the MiLB Team played at / used the same Ball Park, as the University in a neighboring city, where our son was recruited as a RHP, and attends now. When Dad learned of the pay scale, way back then, he turned it down to go to College and get his degrees instead. But, ironically,  he still played on Summer College Teams, at that same Ball Park. So, I just think that the fact that Grandpa and Grandson will have played on those same grounds, is pretty cool!

That is VERY cool!!

Nice story Shelby.

 

Our son grinded his way over 5 years through the minor leagues and got a total of 6+ weeks in the big leagues last year.  Don't know what the future holds including this year.  He signed as a college senior for not much at all.  His salary, until last year when he was put on the 40-man roster, was next to nothing.

 

I have never heard a single word of complaint from him about the pay or lifestyle.  Ever.

 

He knew what he was getting into and as a college graduate from Stanford he had other options all along.  It was not only a drain on his bank account (we have not subsidized it...thats how he wanted it), but to some degree its been a drain on his personal life as well...hard to start an 'outside' career, very little time with his girlfriend, basically lives out of a personal locker better known as his 6-year old car...which he still doesn't fully own.

 

As a player, you know what it is going in.  You make a choice to start it, stick with it or not.  These players knew or shoulda known what they were doing before doing it and continuing it.  I am not very sympathetic to their lawsuit.

I couldn't agree more. For the player who has dedicated himself to the pursuit of the dream, it's a path that is a privilege to pursue; regardless of how challenging and unremunerative it might be. However, it's also one that every player should enter with as realistic a set of expectations and as much advance knowledge of what awaits him as he's capable of having before taking the step.

 

Like justbaseball's son and many others, mine NEVER complained and felt that he was exactly where he should be until a shoulder injury cut his career short. He'd also tell you that he soaked up a ton of invaluable baseball knowledge and made many lasting friendships. For him it was a rich experience in a lot of ways that didn't necessarily aid the bank account at the time.

Just some clarification, milb players do not have to purchase tickets for family and friends, that is for MLB players.

 

Clubhouse dues do not come out of checks (you may be thinking milb dues which are minor), they are calculated daily and includes meals you get per day, usually 2. These dues have to be paid on road trips as well out of the 25 per day diem. Then there are clubby tips on top of that if they guy does extra stuff for you. Teams also give raises per year to players, so those amounts change year after year.

 

Keep in mind the following: Players get health insurance for free.  They get all their medication for free. Their transportation to and from wherever they travel is free.

First year players usually get hooked up with families, who will charge per week.  Most organizations have arrangements with apartment complexes and guys share apts, which usually is all inclusive.

 

Do I believe that milb players should get paid more, absolutely. Is suing over something after the fact the right thing to do, no. 

 

What I think should be done is make the contract shorter, so that after 4-5 years they could get FA pay.  Free agent pay for milb guys is negotiatable and can be good.  The problem is the years of control the organization has over each player. Too long. If a player doesn't get to the 40 within those contract years, its either release or retire mostly due to financial reasons.  Once they reach FA, they can make well up to  or over 100 especially if they ever had a call up to the big leagues.

 

This (the pay) can be a very big consideration for the player who is signed late, with little or no signing bonus.  New draftees don't need to spend their money on new cars, etc when they sign, mine got a nice signing bonus and still driving his truck he got in HS.

You have to love this game to play it!  I agree with Prepster, on what he has said, IMO what is learned from the experience is pricless, but be prepared and understand before you sign on the bottom line.

 

 

JMO.

Good for your son ! Very practical.Unlike a 2013 1st round draft pick from San Diego who bought one of these with some of his signing bonus :

 

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/...el/class-S/model-S63

 

Another well known San Diego 1st round draft pick from a few years back squandered all of his very large signing bonus. He has nothing left to show for it.......

Instead of buying an expensive brand new veh, I would think a small travel trailer/truck combo would be more prudent for some of these guys

That's about 5% of his signing bonus…nothing extravagant about that.

I think the most poignant discussion that can stem from the article is the issue of an MiLB specific union. I find that concept very interesting. Even more interesting is that one of the plaintiff attorneys mentioned, Garrett Broshius, is an old friend of us here at HSBBWeb:

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/c...dio-garrett-broshuis

 

 

Have to admit if son was a #1 definetly a new car would have been his first purchase!

I was thinking about the other guys that should keep their money for a rainy day!

MiLB for a position player is a 12 months a year job, in season, its 7 days a week 8-12 hours per day, not counting travel or appearances.  The per diem is used to buy food etc while on the road only. Even with a 25k bonus, you can't prorate this into a 30k a year job!

CollegeParent is right you can't figure calculations like that.  And it is a 12 month job. The player  has to train in the off season to be able to compete.
It was brought to my attention some clubs do charge the player for tickets. This never happened to son.  For the teams that do charge milb players for tickets shame on them.

The Milb contract and the pay for playing in Milb is an intriguing issue.

For those who have not seen it, it binds the player to the team for six full championship seasons, so long as the player wishes to play, unless the player is released. If he is traded, it is actually the contract which is traded and the player continues to be bound for the term. The team is not.

What is a bit surprising is that  there is no criticism of the fact that every player on every team in every organization is classified within the pay scale which Prepster posted above.  Every player at one level is paid the same, but there is no union and not a hint of collective bargaining? This is what you get paid, take it or leave it and it does not matter if you play in the Yankees or Dodger organization or the Marlins or Royals. My sense the origins and ability exist because of the Anti-Trust exemption which has been afforded to MLB.

On the minimum pay issue, I think these players in the lawsiut have a real challenge.  Being professional players, there are very strong legal positions that they are to be classified as exempt employees and not covered by the minimum wage requirements of Federal and State law.

Also, a few years back, the MILB contract was changed in some ways, one of which can address the point which Buckeye raised about the bonus providing more income when measured over 3 years.  If the player was not released and decided not to continue his baseball career, the contract now provides that the team has the right to seek pro-rated reimbursement of the bonus.  It is not required, but a team does have an option, in the situation described, to seek reimbursement from the player for what looks like 50% of the bonus, if the decision to stop playing was his and was not medically mandated.

In looking at this entire thread, I think it is equally correct that players can be thrilled to have the opportunity and not trade it for anything(ours did and does feel that way) and for the compensation and overall  conditions  to appear harsh and perhaps unfair.  Unfair can also be in the eyes of the beholder when a first round pick on a short season team is being paid the exact same amount as the 40th rounder, who is is not seeing any playing time.

Because of the anti-trust exemption and the pretty solid chance the professional player will be considered exempt rather than covered by the minimum wage laws, it might also be that the situation is entirely lawful.

 

Here is another recent article.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/arti...in-the-minor-leagues

Whether or nor not you feel these young men would do it for free just for the opportunity (my would have), it's still no reason to exploit them. This is very telling...

 

"Maybe nowhere else is that more evident than in the maximum wage of $1,100 per month for low-level guys. Bob Stanley told Baseball America he made $500 per month in his first year in pro ball at the Low-A level in 1974. You'll cringe when you realize that, yeah, that was 40 years ago."

 

I don't necessarily think the wages need to be increased drastically however I have a real disconnect when players are asked to attend fall instructs, mini camps, and spring training for FREE.  When you add all of the days for these events together it might only represent an additional 1 1/2 to 2  months of wages for the teams to cover. .

 

Even if they paid the players half their salary for those camps it would make more sense than what happens now.  I can't imagine any other job where your company would ask you to go on the road for a month and do it for free, just doesn't seem right to me.  At the end of the day it might cost the club $200,000 to $400,000 more a year however in most MLB operating budgets I have to think this would be nothing more than a rounding error.  

Nice to see my son featured in that article

One can make the argument that this is an apprenticeship of sorts in which the employer provides lots of training, etc. and offers very little pay (at least until the employee becomes productive in the revenue-producing sense) in exchange for a potentially lucrative career opportunity.  Stock broker, medical doctor are two fields that come to mind.  However, MiLB seems to be extreme in that the "apprenticeship" is lengthy and the pay scale, as compared to the "productive MLB employees", is so low (average MiLB salary is less than 0.5% of the average MLB player).  And clearly, MLB can afford to pay more - the average MLB payroll is $80M while the club's total minor league payroll obligation is only $3M.

 

Why would employees agree to this type of deal?  From a purely economic standpoint (ignoring love of the game, etc), it's really not a bad proposition when considering total career earnings potential and the probabilities of achieving them.  With an average MLB player salary of $3.2M and average career of 5.6 years, the "average" MLB career earnings opportunity is $17.9M.  With 14% of MiLB players (on average) advancing to MLB, the expected value of a MiLB player's career earnings is $2.5M.  Even with little or no signing bonus, this is a pretty good career earnings opportunity.

 

In some respects this is the model that employees of a high-tech start-up face when evaluating a job opportunity - should I take a low salary and work long hours to pursue a potentially huge stock payout that has low probability of coming to fruition?

My son has had varied spring training experiences. Last season he lived on the Tigers "campus", in a dorm with three meals per day served in their cafeteria, he never had to pay for anything except the extra food he wanted in the late evenings.  He actually liked this concept over the other experiences he has had.

IMO, the teams take care of their players pretty well.

I really think that the teams budgets for their milb teams are much larger that the picture getting presented.  It has to cost millions to keep just one team funded for 6 months.  If you go to some of these games, especially in the beginning of the season, the stands are empty.

Fanofgame is correct, watch out for those Dominicans, latins, etc. they will take that money in a heart beat with no questions asked.

Interesting story, son told me about a ML player who pays for one milb team latin players' dues for the entire season. He does this so the guys will save their money and send it home to their families so they can live better. They look out for each other.

 

CD, nice pic of TB!

 

We pay starting accountants 55k at our CPA firm.  They are not financialy productive at the begining.  We pay them 55k because we have to compete with other accounting firms and companies for their services.  They can leave us for another CPA firm at anytime.    Major league teams don't have to compete for minor league players nor do they need to treat the ones they have respectfully. The result is a ridiculous wage scale that the vast majority of players can never escape.

 

 

Bingo!

Now you see why free agents are asking for so much money. They aren't greedy in my opinion.Many only get that big pay day once. Players need to do what's best for them,many are one injury away from being finished.

 

With that said these kids dreamt of being in the big leagues their whole lives. Top percent in the world to even play at the minor league level. They don't know until they are there what its like. With that said, most would not trade the experience for anything.

Players are worth whatever the market will bear. The Angels are trying to figure out if Trout is worth 30 or 40 million per year. Why? Because if they don't pay it the Dodgers or Yankees will. Then the Angels will be left with an empty stadium and a lot of red ink.

If I was Trout I would ask for the world!!

 

       
       

Update...at the risk of offending or bragging... This Daddy's girl, just learned more of the facts to my 81 yr. old Dad's Baseball story, that I had only just recently learned about on our day together. Spring Break...our 2013's first Spring Break. Where did he make arrangements to go? To go spend almost a week with his Grandparents! A lot of Cribbage,  Poker, and Chess games with Grandpa & Grandson. Grandpa ended up one win ahead! But, Grandpa elaborated on his Baseball days, and shocked in the realization that the Team, that Grandpa was talking about was ~ The New York Yankees!  Guess this is what they mean by, someday you'll get to share these stories with your grandchildren!