The COVID-19 or coronavirus outbreak smashed any plans to have a normal MLB season. The quickness with which the virus is spreading around the globe forced lots of professional circuits of all sports, including MLB, to suspend their operations until further notice. That’s why the New York Mets and other MLB teams don’t know when the season will start again.
With the MLB minimum set at more than $500,000, most major leaguers won’t be severely affected by the halt, but minor leaguers are in a state of limbo, as The Score explains here.
MLB and the Players’ Association (MLBPA) are trying to come up with a plan to address every issue regarding major leaguers before moving to minor league stuff, as MLB officials told Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser.
However, some MLB teams are starting to attend their minor leaguers before an official MLB and MLBPA resolution. Such is the case of the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers, for example.
Minor leaguers, generally speaking, depend on a per diem instead of salary during spring training. They aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits because they remain under contract with their parent clubs.
Other organizations are taking the Mets’ way
Other MLB organizations that confirmed they would continue to pay minor leaguers the allowances they would have received during spring training are, in addition to the Mets and Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox and the Miami Marlins.
In the specific case of the Red Sox, they are paying the allowances through March 19 and are discussing how to proceed after that date.
As former Mets’ player Ty Kelly has said through Twitter, minor leaguers are extremely frustrated with their current status and compensation. Their salaries are significantly lower than those of big leaguers to begin with, and their realities are not the same, as well.