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MLB Offseason 2018-19: SIGN KIMBREL AND KEUCHEL YOU FUCKS

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That's not enough, apparently.

MLB is very polarized in earnings. The vast majority of drafted baseball players will never make any real money. Only a small portion makes it to the MLB, and of that portion, only a small amount will have good raises in arbitration, and even fewer will have a big free agency.

Almost all the top-ranked prospects in NFL will make decent money in their initial contract. It's the same with the NBA. Even mid-rate free agents in NBA get paid high as fuck now.

Unless you are betting on yourself to have a long, all-star baseball career (and hope you end up with an A-Rod level contract), it makes financial sense to try for NFL or NBA 100 percent of the time if you are similarly skilled at either sport.

Edit: And the MLBPA needs to go on strike. Like Robin Roberts said, the only reason the players had the benefits that they did was because of the sacrifices made for them.
 
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I always thought baseball players got paid more. No salary cap and players play longer and unlike the NFL if you get cut you still get paid because they have guarnteed contracts. Not to mention more jobs overall. NBA and NFL doesn't have a system of minor league teams on the scale of the MLB. Even if you end up being Crash Davis it's still better than having to go get a regular kind of job.


Jason
 
I always thought baseball players got paid more. No salary cap and players play longer and unlike the NFL if you get cut you still get paid because they have guarnteed contracts. Not to mention more jobs overall. NBA and NFL doesn't have a system of minor league teams on the scale of the MLB. Even if you end up being Crash Davis it's still better than having to go get a regular kind of job.

North American professional teams have minor-league systems in the form of the NCAA and the draft. It's an inherently anti-worker construct.
 
I agree that minor league baseball players should be paid more. How much more, I don't know and seeing as how so few of them actually make it to the bigs, that makes it problematic. I understand why MLB teams don't want to sink big money into players who will likely never sniff the majors but certainly they could cough up a little more at the very least.
 
I agree that minor league baseball players should be paid more. How much more, I don't know and seeing as how so few of them actually make it to the bigs, that makes it problematic. I understand why MLB teams don't want to sink big money into players who will likely never sniff the majors but certainly they could cough up a little more at the very least.

Do minor league team earnings pay for their own costs, or is it all tied together with the major league team?
 
Do minor league team earnings pay for their own costs, or is it all tied together with the major league team?

Depends on whether or not the player is on the 40-man roster. Because so few MiLB teams are directly owned by MLB teams (the only one I can think of off the top of my head is the Reading Fightin' Phils, the Phillies' AA team), they're generally responsible for all their own expenses.
 
Depends on whether or not the player is on the 40-man roster. Because so few MiLB teams are directly owned by MLB teams (the only one I can think of off the top of my head is the Reading Fightin' Phils, the Phillies' AA team), they're generally responsible for all their own expenses.

I was thinking a major leaguer sent down to rehab or whatnot is still paid by the major league team, but wasn't sure about how it went otherwise and where the $$$ for MiLB salaries came from.

The Peoria Chiefs were affiliated with the Cubs twice, the Cards twice and the Angels originally. So it seems they aren't owned the the MLB team. I really should research this, it's kind of interesting.
 
I was thinking a major leaguer sent down to rehab or whatnot is still paid by the major league team, but wasn't sure about how it went otherwise and where the $$$ for MiLB salaries came from.

The Peoria Chiefs were affiliated with the Cubs twice, the Cards twice and the Angels originally. So it seems they aren't owned the the MLB team. I really should research this, it's kind of interesting.

If the player is on the 40-man, the MLB club is responsible for his salary. This is why press releases use language like "The Chicago Cubs have purchased the contract of pitcher Bazooka Kaboom from the AAA Iowa Cubs."
 
Weird that they AREN'T all owned by the team, as the big league team can make decisions that make or break the minor league club and ruin their product without a vote in the matter.

If the MLB club makes a bad signing and dumps them in the minors, yes, MLB team is paying for them (unless outrighted), but miLB team is the one that's stuck playing that guy, not like the miLB team can cut or trade him. Or you may have a star player in AAA, but then MLB decides they need a 7th inning guy, so you just lose him.

It's an odd construct...
 
Weird that they AREN'T all owned by the team, as the big league team can make decisions that make or break the minor league club and ruin their product without a vote in the matter.

If the MLB club makes a bad signing and dumps them in the minors, yes, MLB team is paying for them (unless outrighted), but miLB team is the one that's stuck playing that guy, not like the miLB team can cut or trade him. Or you may have a star player in AAA, but then MLB decides they need a 7th inning guy, so you just lose him.

It's an odd construct...

It's very much an odd construct, and you can thank Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Branch Rickey's feuding over it.

Also, this conversation had me wondering if my memory was off, and I looked up the baseball rulebook provided to people wishing to take the exam to become a player agent, and it turns out I was. Rule 56(g)(5)(a):

Salaries and Other Compensation. The Major League Club is responsible for the payment of all obligations to or for the benefit of all players assigned, transferred, leased or loaned to, or otherwise directed to play for, or otherwise assigned to any list of, the Minor League Club, including all salary and other compensation, responsibility for all benefits, payroll taxes, worker’s compensation coverage, unemployment insurance coverage, and any other benefits or taxes associated with players’ employment.

56(g)(5)(d):
Uniforms. The Minor League Club shall furnish a sufficient number of uniforms for all on-field team personnel assigned, transferred, leased or loaned to or otherwise directed to play or perform services for the Minor League Club. The uniforms shall be of at least the same quality as were provided during the 1997 season. The Commissioner’s Office and the Minor League Association may establish minimum uniform requirements for Minor League Clubs. Major League Clubs shall receive reasonable notice of changes to a Minor League Club’s uniforms. The Minor League Club shall keep its uniforms in good repair and shall have them cleaned when needed. Inventory of uniforms existing in 1997 shall become the property of the respective Minor League Clubs.

56(g)(5)(E)(iv):
All costs (bats and balls actually used and equipment managers) shall be split between the Major League Club and the Minor League Club. The Major League Club shall invoice the Minor League Club for the percentage of total costs due to the Major League Club. The Minor League Club may offset the appropriate percentage of costs it incurred for equipment managers. The cost of shaggers used, if any, shall be the sole responsibility of the Minor League Club. The Minor League Club shall reimburse the Major League Club for its share of total costs on or before October 31 of each year. For costs relating to each Class AAA and Class AA Club, the Major League Club shall pay 66.7% and the Minor League Club shall pay 33.3%. For costs relating to each Club in Class A and in lower classifications, the Major League Club shall pay 75% and the Minor League Club shall pay 25%.

Rule 56(g)(5)(a) is why MLB spent so many years lobbying to exempt minor league players from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements with the "Save America's Pastime Act" and finally got it put into law via the last tax "reform" bill.
 
I have a hard time seeing a player who makes more than I could ever make to do something he loves as underpaid.

The mean salary for minor-league baseball players is in the neighborhood of $11,000 a year.

Beyond that, without labor, there's no Major League Baseball. And the labor made MLB about $10.3 billion in revenues last year. Explain to me why it's justified for the rank and file to have the lowest share of revenue, percent-wise, since the 1970s?
 
Ok, then they should make more, just not the ones in the MLB. Isn't $11,000 below the national minimum wage? When I was making $12.50/hr for around 30 hours/week, my salary was like $16,000. If minor league players aren't even making that they should be, plus benefits.
 
Ok, then they should make more, just not the ones in the MLB. Isn't $11,000 below the national minimum wage?

It is.

MLB successfully lobbied to have minor-league players exempted from minimum-wage requirements under the FLSA.
 
The mean salary for minor-league baseball players is in the neighborhood of $11,000 a year.

Beyond that, without labor, there's no Major League Baseball. And the labor made MLB about $10.3 billion in revenues last year. Explain to me why it's justified for the rank and file to have the lowest share of revenue, percent-wise, since the 1970s?

How many "employees" are getting paid out of that $10.3B? There are big corporations making way more than that, but maybe with more paychecks going out and certainly their higher level people are making a lot. Maybe not $15M+ a year. Then there's operating costs, stadium maintenance, etc.
 
Yankees more interested in Arenado instead of Machado?

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...-trade-for-rockies-nolan-arenado-report-says/

Meanwhile, people briefed on the Yankees thinking say that GM Brian Cashman -- who did not respond to a request for comment -- has internally discussed the possibility of trying to trade for Arenado either now or during the season. One source said that the teams have likely talked already, but neither Cashman nor Rockies GM Jeff Bridich have confirmed this.
 
It's all "cost control" bullshit, same reason the Cubs hung on to Russell, simply because he doesn't hit free agency for another three years.
 
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