Should young players make more?

[Troll Daddy]

McDonald's is a $30 billion corporation and employees don't get signing bonuses. I'm guessing they start at/near minimum wage, too

Key word here is employees ... think about it.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Troll Daddy

[arch stanton]

I guess I could be Captain Obvious and point out that in the eyes of an owner a player's worth is measured not necessarily by performance but by his ability to bring value and revenue, however that may be.

Edited December 18, 2014 by arch stanton

[Lou]

Supply & demand. Anyone could work at McDonalds, while few can play professional baseball. The salaries are only so low in the minors because of MLB's anti-trust exemption which doesn't allow players to auction their skills off to the highest bidder, and forces them to negotiate with just one entity.

 

and, yet, they are free to do something else 

[Lou]

Key word here is employees ... think about it.

 

baseball players aren't employees?

[Lou]

You always start out low at entry level, but when the base salary is unjustifiably low and the expectations are so high, it's ridiculous. There's no reason a MiLB player who basically completely gives up his life from April to September and is in a very physically demanding field should be making less than the guy at Costco. They should at least be giving these guys a living wage. Making sure they have an annual salary of say $25,000 or $30,000 instead of $7500 would be a step up and would really not be unreasonable IMHO.

 

A comparison for me would be Big Bang Theory salaries vs. what a day player makes on a TV show or film. If you're working on a TV show and you only have a few lines, right now you get between $100 and $500 per day based on what type of production it is. You're not making anywhere what the principals who have put in their time are earning, but you're getting something fair. 

 

you really think a minor league player works harder over the course of one year than a guy working 40+ hours/week in a costco warehouse?

 

i'd say it's not even close

[AngelsSurfer]

you really think a minor league player works harder over the course of one year than a guy working 40+ hours/week in a costco warehouse?

 

i'd say it's not even close

 

 

It's apples and oranges. Of course Costco workers work their butts off, but they probably face far less disruption and have far more of a work-life balance than the MiLB players. Costco employees have days off. Their likenesses aren't used to sell products at the store without compensation to them. People aren't buying tickets to see them work. They're not training for hours every day (and yes, I know working there is very physical). They're not relocated to cities they don't know, that they aren't given any time to actually see.

 

And unlike a retail employee who sells products- the players are the product that makes money for the owners. The fans buy tickets to see them play and sometimes buy merch and programs with their likenesses.

 

I'm not knocking Costco or any other retail work; I've done it myself. I used Costco as an example, but my point remains that a MiLB player should have a living wage just like any other job. And it shouldn't be the case that when the season is over and they go to work at Costco, they're making substantially more money than they were in a very specialized field. And the salary I suggested is still actually less than Costco - someone working 40 hours there @ $20/hour is earning $800/week or $41,600/year. The salary I suggested for MiLB was $25,000 - $30,000. They should at least be getting five figures. Right now they're making less than some kids get with internship stipends. 

Edited December 18, 2014 by AngelsSurfer

[Tank]

I like this idea but what if a guy gets injured? What if the coaches don't play him in certain situations to save $$$?

 

thanks. i think injuries and playing time would have to be addressed in the CBA. i can certainly see playing time becoming an issue for some players and managers (and probably a few agents, also).

[Blarg]

People don't go to McDonald's or Costco to see the employees - they go to buy things.   Fans go to ball parks to watch baseball players and be entertained. 

 

If you've ever been to a minor league park the attendance is so low that if the players got paid through gate receipts they would starve to death.

[AngelsSurfer]

If you've ever been to a minor league park the attendance is so low that if the players got paid through gate receipts they would starve to death.

That depends entirely on the team and the area. There are some minor league teams, like the Cyclones and the S.I. Yankees in NYC, that do very well.

[moccasin]

I kind of like what the Japanese baseball league does. In the first round of the draft, all teams choose one player, but do not reveal it to the other clubs. If no other team has picked the player, they get the guy. If more than 2 teams pick the same guy, it goes to a lottery, and the coaches picking out names from a box becomes the most exciting moment in Japanese baseball.

The second round goes just like MLB.

As far as salary goes, every player gets arbitration from their second year, but both raises and cuts are limited to a certain percentage, and they have to wait 8 years to become a FA. Also if a club gives a pay cut over 40%, the player can choose to become a FA immediately.

 

Just for comparisons.

Edited December 19, 2014 by moccasin

[Lou]

That depends entirely on the team and the area. There are some minor league teams, like the Cyclones and the S.I. Yankees in NYC, that do very well.

 

and i go to certain businesses because of the good service i get from the employees

[AngelsLakersFan]

and, yet, they are free to do something else 

 

Everyone is, so why is that a good thing? If you were suddenly forced to make minimum wage in your line of work would you still share the same opinion?

[AngelsSurfer]

and i go to certain businesses because of the good service i get from the employees

 

I am not sure what that has to do with what I said.

[AngelsSurfer]

Everyone is, so why is that a good thing? If you were suddenly forced to make minimum wage in your line of work would you still share the same opinion?

 

 

ITA. And the thing is, if enough of those MiLB players do go elsewhere - if they go to play in Japan, Korea or South America or simply quit baseball and work in some other type of job- it has a deleterious effect on the sport, in the long run, because the talent will be drained from the farm system and MLB.

Edited December 20, 2014 by AngelsSurfer

[AngelsSurfer]

There are a lot of jobs that are underpaid. My family's Navy and yeah, they were worked hard for what they were paid.

However...I still maintain that when the pay is untenably low and people go elsewhere, it means that the sport (or any job) misses out and loses quality players.I was actually reading about this in relation to both science teachers and pilots. A lot of really good people in the sciences won't even consider being high school teachers because they can get paid so much more by private companies. And another article was mentioning that there's a shortage of pilots because of the wages. The pay is so low that some pilots live in trailers near their home base airports. Prospective new pilots see this, and look at the exorbitant cost of flight school and getting the hours needed, and decide to do something else.

 

So I think if you want quality you have to pay for it, at the end of the day. The more MiLB players defect to Japan/Korea/etc. in search of decent wages, the less MiLB players there are to infuse fresh blood into MLB teams.

[Lou]

Everyone is, so why is that a good thing? If you were suddenly forced to make minimum wage in your line of work would you still share the same opinion?

 

yes.

 

and i would choose a different career

[Lou]

ok guys, i live in Rancho.  I've seen how "hard" these players work 

 

not very. they do like alcohol, however.

 

 

 

a lot

[AngelsLakersFan]

yes.

 

and i would choose a different career

 

So then, what if every career was artificially held down to the minimum? There would be political outrage, riots in the streets, maybe even revolution. But since it's just baseball players we tell then to go do something else? 

[Lou]

So then, what if every career was artificially held down to the minimum? There would be political outrage, riots in the streets, maybe even revolution. But since it's just baseball players we tell then to go do something else? 

 

i don't play impossible what-if games....

 

i'm not telling them to do anything.  I just said they have other options if they are unhappy

with their conditions of employment.  As far as i know, not one player had a gun pointed at

them when they signed their contract.

[ten ocho recon scout]

i don't play impossible what-if games....

i'm not telling them to do anything. I just said they have other options if they are unhappy

with their conditions of employment. As far as i know, not one player had a gun pointed at

them when they signed their contract.

well there was that puig story a few months back

[Blarg]

And the Ralston Schmidt incident but he was holding a gun on the GM of the Pericos de Puebla to sign Ralsty to a contract. After about a 4 hour standoff they decided to go drink tequila instead.

 

With Lou.