Texas Rangers: MLB Announces Plan to Pay Minor Leaguers Amid Delay

The MLB announced a plan that would financially assist minor leaguers for the Texas Rangers and the rest of the league during season delay.

On Thursday afternoon the MLB announced a plan that would provide financial assistance to minor leaguers who are being impacted by the premature ending of Spring Training and the delay to the start of the season. For the Texas Rangers, and the rest of the league, this will impact those in the minors who are not receiving any kind of benefits from the club currently and were expected to participate in minor league camp.

The topic of how to address minor league pay with the changes to the schedule in the start of the season is something that has been hotly contested this spring. The issue was escalated when Major League teams began shutting down their team camps as many of these minor leaguers were reliant on housing and food provided at the club’s setup. Prior to this announcement, a handful of clubs had made independent plans to address the pay of their minor leaguers which included the Dodgers, Rays and Mets.

This plan addresses the method in which minor league players will be paid through April 8th providing them with a lump sum amount that would equal what they would have received as allowances during Spring Training. MLB is also working with clubs to establish a plan that would sort out minor league compensation from April 9th to the start of the delayed season.

Based on the wording of the release, this does not come across as the final solution but rather a first step in trying to sort though the issue of minor league player compensation. As a whole, the form in which minor league players are compensated as well as the level of pay have gained more and more criticism from those around the league as players vocalize their inability to sustain a living off their minor league contracts.