Minor League Baseball Is Being Dismantled

[Matt Braun]

MLB has had quite the struggle recently regarding its own short-term future. The players and owners remain in a stalemate for the time being and each new day brings seemingly worse news for the potential of a season actually starting. During all of this fuss, the minor leagues have been thoroughly picked clean on a daily basis.Over the last few days, major league teams have announced their decisions regarding the future of their minor league players. 28 of the 30 teams have publicly committed to paying their minor league players at least through the end of June. Many of these commitments however were also met with a grand exodus of roster cuts. News of the roster cuts naturally came after the teams gained some goodwill from their announcements as they saw opportunities to bury the more unpleasant flip-side of their promise.

 

It would be foolish to categorize all of these roster cuts as purely evil. In any normal year, minor leaguers are released after spring training and before the draft consistently as teams decide who is worth keeping around beyond the short term. Yet, the timing of the cuts in conjunction with the uncertainty surrounding the general economic apprehension at the moment does turn these roster moves into something beyond a standard activity.

 

Many of these players have been hyper-focused on baseball alone over the majority of their lives and now will have to pivot toward finding a new income source for the near future. For many, this will signal the end of their careers as a whole. At $400 a week, it costs just $6,000 total to keep a minor leaguer on payroll until the end of the minor league system. Multiply that by the number of players being dropped and you'll find that every team is saving about half the cost of the major league minimum salary. Evidently, that is too much for some teams.

 

This gutting of the minors isn’t coming completely out of the blue. MLB was already set on cutting 40 minor league teams before the season and the loss of revenue from games put MiLB in a position of even less power. MLB under Rob Manfred has been dead-set on eliminating anything fun that holds inherent benefits that can’t be tracked by a dollar sign. They do not care for the impact that these teams have on small communities, or the alienation of fans who use these games as a cheap alternative to MLB, or for the hundreds (maybe thousands) of players and coaches who are supported by these teams.

 

Granted, not every single minor league player will become a future major league player or provide the needed depth for an organization. But is the potential for a player figuring it out not worth the incredibly low cost of keeping them around? Randy Dobnak was found from the depths of independent baseball, eventually started a playoff game, and now looks to be in contention for a starting rotation spot. Max Muncy was given a second chance by the Dodgers and is now one of the better hitters in baseball. Mike Piazza was taken in the 62nd round of the draft as a favor and eventually became one of the best catchers of all-time. What if none of those players got their shot because the team deemed them to not be worth it?

 

This gutting of the minor leagues destroys the great infracture of MLB. They’ll claim that these moves make the system more efficient because pure productivity is all they care about. To them, these aren’t teams, or players, or coaches who all have identities; they are just numbers. Numbers that can be eliminated or tossed away with the snap of a finger. It’s an unfortunate tragedy that will likely get lost in the greater discussion currently surrounding baseball but will be just as important to baseball’s professional future in North America.

 

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[mikelink45]

This ranks right with the old contraction talks that almost cost us the Twins.  MLB needs to expand its support not pull out the rug from under the players, smaller towns, and future of the game.  Less draft choices, fewer minor league teams, a terrible image in negotiating to bring the season back, and baseball wonders why it is no longer referred to as the National Pastime.  Now they cut the pay for minor leaguers and it is just big business, which is always was, but it is big business that seems to lose its way when it comes to raising the public's interest and support.  They need more than the loyal fans that come to a site like this. 

[Matt Braun]

I also wanted to add that I'm proud of the fact that the Twins are not going to cut any of their minor leaguers at this time. Giving their players stability is exactly what teams should be doing and it brings my joy to know that the Twins care.

[Doctor Gast]

I too share sadness over the possibility of losing valuable  baseball communities due to this fiasco. We need more positive influences not less in communities to fight the breakdown of our society

[MN_ExPat]

I can't help but feel that some current MLB owners view the minors as competition to their product rather than the resource and bloodline that MiLB is.

 

Although, current established/veteran players and the Union really aren't publicly supporting the minor league players much (at least that I've seen, so I readily admit that I may have missed some headlines).   In this facet they are doing little (publicly) to help those who follow them.   Do they have to do this or are they required morally? No, but it would make the game a better place if they did.

[Trov]

The culling of the minor leagues is about the teams cutting costs.  There are so many independent college minor leagues out there that owners make enough to keep operating.  Here was the Northwoods league that has grown over the last 15 years. 

 

In terms of the cutting the players, I do not know how accurate the claim that many would have been cut after spring training anyways.  Not that it makes it any better.  I wrote in another minors post that many of these players are not doing it for the money.  However, to keep them on only to cut them in this situation, not knowing was it skill or payroll they were cut for.  No way of getting signed by other teams at this point.  Too late for any independent teams to jump onto, if they decide to try and have a season.  I know many leagues are trying, but need the governments to allow it.