*Photo from the Spokesman-Review*
In the first few weeks of the COVID-19 Pandemic worldwide that halted the start of the MLB season, teams promised to pay their minor league players $400 per week until May 31. The 31st is in two days, so with that date near, MLB teams are cutting a very large number of minor leaguers to shed costs and save money in this time without baseball being played.
At least a dozen teams have begun cutting several minor leaguers, including the New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, St.Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Tampa Bay Rays, and Milwaukee Brewers to name a few. Hundreds of minor leaguers were released when this post was published and hundreds more will be released in the coming days and weeks. In total, upwards of 1,000 players are expected to be cut when this ends, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.
Player agents have been weighing in on these cuts, calling it a war zone. One agent told MLB insider Robert Murray that "Forty players per team just got whacked so the club could save $50,000 per month, this is the equivalent of trying to save money by cutting out your daily Starbucks trip but still driving a BMW X5 you can't afford." A different agent said that "Teams are cutting large amounts of players in order to claim they're still paying guys, but actually threw a third of the system overboard to save, what? Less than $300,000?"
Murray talked with several minor league players who have been cut, and who haven't been. He said that the minor leaguers he talked to are "terrified," "scared," and "nervous." Despite these massive cuts, some teams are still paying their minor leaguers, with the Minnesota Twins committing to paying players through August, along with the Miami Marlins, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, and Houston Astros. The Kansas City Royals took it a step further, having committed to pay all their minor leaguers through the entire season and not cut anyone.
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