As you may have heard, a wave of minor league roster cuts have descended on MLB this week, as big league organizations (who pay their salaries) face substantial revenue hits and even more financial uncertainty with the 2020 regular season still on the line. As you may have also heard, these decisions aren’t entirely atypical – teams make cuts like this before the regular season every year – but the volume is generally accepted as much greater than usual. The upcoming contraction of upwards of 40 minor league teams in the near future, as well as the expected loss of the entire 2020 minor league season played a role in these cuts, as well.
But even if you were among the players who’ve so far avoided unemployment, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll continue to be paid. MLB previously agreed to pay all players through this week, but as this deadline comes and goes, some teams are being more generous than others.
Listed below are all 30 MLB teams, with a link explaining how much and how long they’re promising to pay their Minor Leaguers at least $400 per week. This post was updated Friday, May 29th around 5:00pm, so please forgive any updates to the information below. Let’s go by division, starting with the National League.
Eight teams (Nationals, Pirates, Rockies, Yankees, Blue Jays, Indians, Tigers, and Angels) have not committed one way or the other yet, but I’m sure that news will drop shortly.
Before we jump in, note that some teams/reports have been purposefully vague on the amount they will pay their minor leaguers, even if they have revealed the duration of those payments. I’ve tried my best to get the most accurate information below, but changes are possible.
National League
East
• Atlanta Braves – $400/week through June
• Miami Marlins – $400/week through August
• New York Mets – $400/week through June
• Philadelphia Phillies – through June (amount TBD)
• Washington Nationals –
Central
• Chicago Cubs – through June (amount unclear)
• Cincinnati Reds – $400/week through Sep. 7 (end of MiLB season)
• Milwaukee Brewers – $400/week through June
• Pittsburgh Pirates – $400/week through June
• St. Louis Cardinals – $400/week through June
West
• Arizona Diamondbacks – $400/week through June
• Colorado Rockies
• Los Angeles Dodgers – $400/week through June
• San Diego Padres – $400/week through August
• San Francisco Giants – $400/week through June
American League
East
• Baltimore Orioles – $400/week through June
• Boston Red Sox – $400/week through August
• New York Yankees –
• Tampa Bay Rays – $400/week through June
• Toronto Blue Jays –
Central
• Chicago White Sox – $400/week through June (includes players they cut)
• Cleveland Indians –
• Detroit Tigers –
• Kansas City Royals – $400/week through August
• Minnesota Twins – $400/week through August
West
• Houston Astros – $400/week through August
• Los Angeles Angels –
• Oakland Athletics – suspending pay
• Seattle Mariners – $400/week through “the season”
• Texas Rangers – $400/week through June
Another way to look at this …
• Unclear: Nationals, Pirates, Rockies, Yankees, Blue Jays, Indians, Tigers, and Angels
• No pay from here on out: Athletics
• Guaranteeing at least *some* pay through June: Braves, Mets, Phillies, Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Orioles, Rays, White Sox, Rangers
• Guaranteeing at least some pay through August/End of Season: Marlins, Reds, Padres, Red Sox, Royals, Twins, Astros, Mariners
The White Sox (who are paying even the 25 players they recently cut), plus the Mariners and Reds (all the way through the season) deserve a little extra love for going the extra mile. The Phillies are apparently planning to pay their minor leaguers through June, but the amount is expected to be less than $400/week. And the A’s are deserve the bad kind of shout out.
We’ll update this post as things change, but that’s the gist for now.
A note from Brett here at the end:
Losing these minor leaguers from baseball is about a lot more than just players in your organizational pool, as Royals GM Dayton Moore put perfectly:
In a conference call with local media members today, Royals GM Dayton Moore said this about the club's decision to stand by their minor league players: pic.twitter.com/8ZfWWx95Jh
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) May 29, 2020
Having more people truly invested in the sport is good for the sport. Critical for the sport. I actually think most players and executives do see this. I wish I felt more owners did.