Texas Rangers to institute pay cuts beginning on May 15 per report

As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be spread, the Texas Rangers are planning to institute pay cuts for certain employees.

While the world and in particular the state of Texas look to edge their way back to a “normal” life in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact that the country-wide shutdown has had on the sports world continues to be felt. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported on Friday that the Texas Rangers were planning to institute pay cuts for some of their full-time staff beginning on May 15.

News of this cut comes not long after the club committed to not furloughing or laying off employees through the end of May, a commitment many teams across the league have made despite a delayed start to the season which is rapidly approaching two months. In their commitment though, the door regarding the possibility of pay cuts was left open and it seems Texas has elected to take these measures.

Grant goes further in his report to break down the reductions which are to range between 10% and 20% with employees who earn under a certain threshold exempt. These cuts are on top of the 20% reduction in pay taken by senior executives in the organization including General Manager Jon Daniels. The Rangers are certainly not an outlier among MLB teams making financial adjustments with a number of other teams leaving pay cuts on the table and a select few clubs furloughing employees for the time being.

The push for baseball to begin their season is not without heavy backing. Just a few weeks ago Commissioner Rob Manfred noted his expectation that the league would play in 2020. Echoing and perhaps trying to expedite that sentiment, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell mentioned in an interview that he had a phone conversation with Manfred in which he pushed for the league to start play as soon as possible.

It can be reasonably expected that when the season does start and baseball does return, it won’t look identical to what we are used to with baseball. A number of ideas regarding division realignment, neutral site contests and an adjusted playing schedule have been tossed around basically confirming the reality that once baseball is back, we’ll be looking at a “new normal” rather than just a return to the status quo.