Over the past few years, I think a lot more people have become aware of how little minor-league players make. Part of it's because more players have ways of getting their stories out. Part of it's because Major League Baseball lobbied Congress to suppress the wages of the non-unionized players, which takes some of the romance out of the bus rides.
I include myself in that group, because Emily Waldon's detailed breakdown of minor-league payments -- or lack thereof -- for The Athletic fleshed out the picture even more. It's worth reading and sharing.
It'd be one thing if every prospect signed sizable six-figure bonuses that they were able to nurse into a sort of fixed income to supplement making $1,500 a month. But when some of those players get four-figure bonuses, then don't get paid for an entire month of work (spring training), I understand the sentiment of the headline:
“You know what sucks? If I don’t do well this year, I can’t afford to play anymore and I’m done,” an AL High-A player said. “I can’t stick it out an extra year. And it’s because of pay.
“I can’t afford to play this game,” he continued. “I put my body on the line and I work really, really hard and I show up early and I stay up late and I might have to end my dream, because I financially can’t afford it."
Spare Parts
Eloy Jimenez handled his demotion to Triple-A with grace, or at least with the understanding that he could've made a better case with his play.
“I tried to do too much,” Jimenez said of his pressing at the plate. “I think that’s why I didn’t have ... good results. But I’m going to keep working and I’m going to try and control that.”
Ivan Nova is throwing a cutter, a pitch he hadn't thrown since undergoing Tommy John surgery with the Yankees in 2014. Two things to note: 1) It wasn't Don Cooper's doing, and 2) his previous cutter was uncomfortable for both sides of the battery.
Nova hasn’t thrown a slider in any game over the past five seasons. He didn’t look comfortable throwing the it after having Tommy John surgery in April 2014. He also noticed the slider caused him to lose the feel for his curveball, which got flat and became as effective as a batting practice pitch.
“It was bad. Terrible,” Cervelli said. “That slider-cutter, no good. He knows I didn’t like it. The pitching coach (Rothschild) liked it.”
The White Sox were limited to $300,000 maximum bonuses as they served the second and final year of their penalty for blowing out the budget for Luis Robert. Ben Badler reviews the three biggest signings out of Cuba, along with two Venezuelan position players and a 16-year-old Dominican lefty:
One intriguing, lower-dollar signing the White Sox added last year was Ronaldo Guzman, a lefthander from the Dominican Republic who got $75,000 in October after training with Franklin Ferreras. He turned 16 on Aug. 23, so he's one of the younger players in the class. He's grown to 6-foot-1, throwing a fastball up to 89 mph with easy arm action and an athletic delivery that he repeats well to throw strikes with an advanced changeup for his age.
Baseball's rule changes are an attempt to strike back against specialization, which increases the chances of winning with little regard to watchability. I like how Ben Lindbergh draws upon John Thorn to summarize where the movement stands:
Last November, MLB’s official historian, John Thorn, summed up baseball’s on-field ills when he wrote, “The dilemma for owners and players and fans may be understood as The Paradox of Progress: we know the game is better, so why, for so many, does it feel worse? I submit that while Science may win on the field, as clubs employ strategies that give them a better chance of victory, Aesthetics wins hearts and minds.” In baseball, Science has scored a series of unanswered runs. But Aesthetics may have just gotten its leadoff man on.
The Mariners and Athletics are in Tokyo for a two-game season-opening series starting Wednesday, and all eyes are on Ichiro Suzuki. The 45-year-old will likely play the last two games of his career in his homeland, although previous profiles suggest he's never going to officially quit.
