/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66849192/1202364028.jpg.0.jpg)
Good morning folks! Here’s what you need to start your Wednesday morning.
In Mariners news...
- Corey Brock at The Athletic wonders what the Mariners roster could look like with a taxi squad included. ($)
- Andrew Baggerly at The Athletic wrote about the clash between Ichiro and Ryan Vogelsong. ($)
- The Mariners officially reopened their spring training facilities to a limited amount of players yesterday.
Around the league...
- Some really tough news for A’s minor leaguers yesterday...
The Oakland A's informed minor league players today that they would not continue paying them $400 a week after the end of the month, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2020
Other decisions from organizations should arrive in the coming days. A bad sign to start, though.
Just some rough math. Say there are 200 players in a minor league system. Paying each $400/week for July, July and August is $5,200 per player. To pay every minor leaguer would have cost the Oakland A's a hair over $1 million.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2020
Owner John Fisher is worth an estimated $2 billion.
- It’s not just the A’s players either.
Several Oakland #A's area scouts say they have been informed they will be furloughed after the amateur draft, beginning June 16 through Oct. 31.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 26, 2020
- A shrewd lawyer could, and possibly will, make this case.
If owners refuse to pay their minor leaguers, those players should have the option to declare themselves free agents.
— Levi Weaver (@ThreeTwoEephus) May 27, 2020
- Michael Baumann at The Ringer looks at the health conditions surrounding the proposed reopening of baseball.
- Matt Monagan tells the story of Manny Ramirez’s prodigious high school career.
- The two sides seem pretty far apart in negotiations over the start of a season still.
The MLBPA is very disappointed with MLB’s economic proposal today, source tells me and @Ken_Rosenthal, calling additional cuts proposed “massive." League offered to share more playoff revenue, but on balance, those dollars are small compared to what players give up, PA believes.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) May 26, 2020
- And this explains some of the outrage on the players’ side.
Potential salary cuts in MLB plan, sources tell @JesseRogersESPN and me:
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 26, 2020
Full-year Proposal
$563.5K $262K
$1M $434K
$2M $736K
$5M $1.64M
$10M $2.95M
$15M $4.05M
$20M $5.15M
$25M $6.05M
$30M $6.95M
$35M $7.84M
- David Schoenfield remembers the 10 biggest MLB draft busts of the previous decade.
Anders’ picks...
- For all of you Drake & Josh fans out there...
Drake Bell did the wipe it down challenge on TikTok. I am living for this. pic.twitter.com/HFpidmqONW
— Audra (@audruhhhh) May 26, 2020
- Trying to plan your summer around social distancing guidelines? NPR breaks down the health risks of individual public activities.