Texas Rangers commit to keeping employees through end of May

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JULY 01: Texas Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels talks with the media following the announcement that the game between the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels has been postponed at Globe Life Park in Arlington on July 01, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. The game was postponed following an announcement made by the Los Angeles Angels that pitcher Tyler Skaggs had died. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JULY 01: Texas Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels talks with the media following the announcement that the game between the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels has been postponed at Globe Life Park in Arlington on July 01, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. The game was postponed following an announcement made by the Los Angeles Angels that pitcher Tyler Skaggs had died. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Texas Rangers joined the growing list of teams committing to paying employees through the end of May per multiple reports.

Throughout the past couple of weeks we’ve seen a number of reports keeping track of teams that are making commitments to paying their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of teams are making commitments to keep their employees through the end of May while they wait out the delay to the start of the 2020 season. The Texas Rangers were among the latest teams to address employment status as this delay continues.

On Tuesday, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported that the Rangers were planning to continue paying their baseball operations staff through the end of May, a similar policy held by a number of other Major League teams. In this report Grant did address the possibility of a pay reduction for staff after May 15 if the club’s financial standing dictates the need.

Jeff Passan of ESPN tweeted out Thursday addressing the Texas Rangers plans and laid out conflicting details which prompted some debate. Passan originally tweeted that Texas was the first franchise that was not committing to keep paying employees through the end of May instead only guaranteeing pay through May 15. Passan shortly followed up his tweet though relaying information from a source that said the Rangers will not furlough or layoff employees through the end of May, confirming Grant’s report, but that there could be reductions in pay after May 15.

The league continues to search for alternative ways to begin the season as the delay nears a full month since the originally scheduled start to the year. Among the ideas discussed have been the idea of a split year between the teams’ home facilities for Spring Training as well as a multi-state solution in which Texas was named as one of the potential areas for the season to take place. There is no time frame for the season to start but expectations are that it will be no sooner than the end of May/early June before the year begins.

dark. Next. Will 2020 MLB Draft changes impact the Texas Rangers draft strategy?