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uofwi92 t1_jch2yv5 wrote

Good. I’ve worked in Minor League Baseball for 25 years.

Some of the players got multi-million dollar signing bonuses. Most did not, and were paid $1,000 per month during the season at A level.

They worked their asses off for very little money, and most of them never made the Major Leagues.

They were expected to work out in the off-season for NO money.

It was EXTREMELY exploitative. And with MLB making billions of dollars, they can certainly afford to pay their employees a living wage.

PS - the team in the thumbnail pic is the Savannah Bananas. They are an independent team, not MiLB. Their players will not see any of the money from the settlement or in their paychecks.

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orangutanoz t1_jchfml2 wrote

A friend of mine was smart enough to ask for a signing bonus when he was drafted. It helped having a cushion for those minor league years. They weren’t offering so he just asked and they coughed up a hundred grand. Pretty good money for 1990.

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ForceOgravity t1_jchtoiq wrote

Obviously I don't know the specific situation but as someone who has been drafted (middle rounds) this story doesn't track. A good friend was 3rd round with an agent in 2011 and got 300k. By the time I came through, unless you were a very early rounder and had an agent, you didn't get to negotiate. Take it or leave it. If you are in a position that you might be drafted you are almost always very well educated on the process. "Smart enough to ask" wasn't a thing.

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pattydo t1_jchwfwj wrote

Especially "smart enough to ask" and getting 100k in 1990. Chipper Jones got 250k...

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SmarterThanMyBoss t1_jci5os9 wrote

Absolutely. That's a pretty big signing bonus for 1990. I worked sports medicine for several years for a fairly high-level college wooden bat team. We'd have a couple guys get drafted each year. Some guys would play for us for a year or 2 and then go to the Cape Cod league and get drafted after that.

We had one kid once who had a pretty horrific, non-baseball injury. He was on track to be an early/mid round pick before the injury sidetracked him.

He rehabbed for 2 years, missed 2 seasons of college, and one season of summer. He went undrafted (because he hadn't pitched in 2ish years and no one knew if his limbs worked properly). He made his first start since the injury with us and did very well. He started 5 or 6 games before getting signed.

They gave him a $35k signing bonus but I'm pretty sure he only got that because he was highly thought of before, was stellar in 5 or 6 games, and most importantly, he was on the open market and held a bidding war that drafted players can't do.

All our other players, who I stayed in touch with or heard through the grapevine later, never got signing bonuses unless they were picked very early (like top 3-5 rounds or so). Most stick sryound for 1-3 years and then dissappear into selling insurance or working baseball clinics.

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sullg26535 t1_jcihpo1 wrote

After the 11th round currently 100k of signing bonus doesn't count towards the cap so I could very easily see them giving 100k signing bonus because you asked, especially if they like you.

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orangutanoz t1_jcj1gir wrote

I guess maybe they saw something in him. He was pitching over 100 mph. Maybe it does take a little more than asking.

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getjustin t1_jcknf0w wrote

> It was EXTREMELY exploitative. And with MLB making billions of dollars, they can certainly afford to pay their employees a living wage.

We have an acquaintance whose family owns a minor league team. Rich fucking cockbags doesn't even begin to describe them. They were so fervently against unioninize because they knew they'd have to — you know — fucking pay people.

Happy for the players, but almost as happy these shitheels didn't get their way. Pay up, you cheap fucks.

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uofwi92 t1_jckwgkp wrote

The owners of an affiliated minor league team do not pay the players.

The owners of the parent MLB team do.

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getjustin t1_jckwo0o wrote

Point taken. But look, as long as this guy's pissed, I'm happy.

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uofwi92 t1_jckyk47 wrote

I don’t see any reason why the rich fucking cockbag would be pissed at MiLB unionization - it doesn’t cost them a penny, but rather is very useful to them. It’s good PR, happy players more willing to do promotional events, etc.

Other than, of course, they’re opposed on general principles, because rich fucking cockbag.

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skaptastic t1_jckttfu wrote

this.

the bosses don’t want you to unionize because then they’ll have to treat you like a human and not an object that makes money for their wallets and not your own.

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CVogel26 t1_jcislsg wrote

There was someone drafted a few towns over from me and there was a quote from an interview with him basically saying he was told to stretch his signing bonus over five years.

His signing bonus was $500.

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