A majority of minor league baseball players have voted to unionize and allow MLBPA to represent them at the bargaining table.
With that in place, Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged Friday that MLB will voluntarily recognize the new union.
The union had asked for voluntarily recognition in a letter sent to the league Tuesday, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.
MLBPA received signed union authorization cards from more than 50 percent of minor leaguers after sending them out Aug. 28, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic.
That paved the way for the aforementioned letter to the league that was sent by MLBPA deputy executive director Bruce Meyer.
After decades of low pay and poor working and living conditions, it appears things are finally moving in the right direction for minor leaguers.
Current and former minor leaguers will earn $185 million (average payment of $5,000 to $5,500) as part of MLB's settlement of a class-action lawsuit in July.
A 2014 class action lawsuit filed by Aaron Senne and several other Minor League Baseball players against Major League Baseball has been settled.
Per The Athletic's Evan Drellich, the two sides agreed to a settlement on Tuesday. Terms of the agreement were not immediately available.
"We are pleased to report that the parties have reached a settlement in principle in this over-eight-year-old case, subject to court approval. We look forward to filing preliminary approval papers with the court and cannot comment further until then," the players' counsel said in a statement, via Drellich.
The Senne v. MLB lawsuit began when players alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act related to pay for minor leaguers.
In October 2020, the United States Supreme Court denied MLB's request to dismiss the lawsuit, clearing a path for minor league players to receive compensation in line with the number of hours worked.
"The ultimate goal is pretty simple: to get MLB to comply with the same laws that Walmart and McDonald's comply with," said attorney Garrett Broshuis after the Supreme Court decision. "Whenever they ask players to go to spring training, they should be paying their employees for it. During a season, there's no reason for players to be making $7,500 or $8,000 a year."
During the lockout, MLB lawyer Elise Bloom said in federal court in February that minor leaguers shouldn't be paid during spring training because they should be considered trainees.
"It is the players that obtain the greater benefit from the training opportunities that they are afforded than the clubs, who actually just incur the cost of having to provide that training," said Bloom.
Per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, a federal judge ruled in March that minor leaguers should be classified as year-round employees and MLB was responsible for nearly $2 million in damages.
There were some changes to minor-league pay in the new collective bargaining agreement, but it only covers players on the 40-man roster who either have prior MLB experience or have signed a second MLB contract.
MLB did announce in October it was requiring all 30 teams to provide housing for minor league players.
A tweet from New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is being used against Major League Baseball in a class action lawsuit filed by minor league players seven years ago.
Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic reported the suit is scheduled to go to trial in June, although both sides asked a federal judge to preempt the trial and unilaterally rule in their favor.
In arguing for back pay as part of the suit, the minor leaguers pointed to an August tweet from Cohen that suggested players are worth more than their draft slot value:
The players hired Dr. Erica Groshen to write a report on the league paying sub-minimum wage salaries to minor leaguers, and she highlighted the tweet from Cohen.
"One recent indication of the value of a minor league player comes from Steven Cohen, owner of the New York Mets," the former commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wrote. "He asserts that baseball draft picks are worth up to five times their slot value to Clubs."
Cohen's tweet was in regard to Vanderbilt pitcher Kumar Rocker.
Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN noted the Mets ultimately did not sign Rocker after selecting him with the No. 10 overall pick because of concerns about his health after a physical examination. He was previously set to sign for $6 million.
While Rocker's agent, Scott Boras, said the pitcher was healthy, New York received the No. 11 pick of the 2022 draft for not signing him.
As for the larger issue, the living conditions for minor league players has been under the spotlight of late. With reports of players sleeping in cars and accruing hotel bills they could not afford during the season, Passan reported last month that MLB will require teams to provide housing for their minor leaguers starting in 2022.
Despite that decision, Kaplan noted the league has argued against paying minor leaguers even minimum wage by saying they are seasonal employees and receive life training from their time on teams.
"Players obtained jobs during and following their time in the minor leagues, such as coaching baseball, providing baseball instruction at camps or privately, providing fitness instruction, owning athletic camps, managing baseball teams, and directing athletic departments," MLB said in its summary judgment motion.
Major League Baseball is reportedly finalizing a policy that will require all minor league players to be vaccinated by the start of the 2022 season, according to Hannah Keyser of Yahoo Sports.
The league cannot mandate vaccine for major leaguers without an agreement from the players association, but minor leaguers do not have union representation. That allows the commissioner's office to make unilateral decisions regarding the more than 3,000 players.
MLB did offer more relaxed protocols for fully vaccinated major leaguers in 2021, including permission to eat at restaurants. Teams with at least 85 percent of personnel vaccinated could also eliminate social distancing and mask requirements.
According to Keyser, 24 of the league's 30 teams reached the 85-percent threshold while the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals all fell short.
MLB has also required non-playing personnel, including managers and coaches, to be vaccinated in order to gain access to the field for the 2021 postseason, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
The mandate for minor leaguers would be the next step to ensure a high vaccination rate across baseball.
Some members of the Bowie Baysox are contemplating sleeping in their cars because of low wages, according to the Twitter account Advocates for Minor Leaguers.
The account explained how staying at the team hotel would swallow up a vast majority of the money apportioned to the players.
The Baysox are the Baltimore Orioles' Double-A affiliate.
Issues regarding the working conditions for minor leaguers isn't a recent concern, though it has come under more recent scrutiny after MLB rolled out its plan for affiliated leagues in February.
A number of minor league organizations across the country were culled, and MLB said at the time the process would lead to tangible benefits for players such as higher wages and better facilities. The league had also agreed to raise the minimum salary for minor leaguers beginning in 2021.
However, Tuesday's report comes a little more than two weeks after Advocates for Minor Leaguers brought attention to the post-game meals distributed to players within the Oakland Athletics organization.
"Several weeks ago, we were made aware of the postgame meals being served to players in our Minor League system," the A's said in a statement. "Those options were completely unacceptable and by no means meet our quality standards. We immediately ended our relationship with that third party vendor."
Advocates for Minor Leaguers has highlighted other cases of poor working conditions for minor league players:
After President Donald Trump signed the Save America's Pastime Act into law in 2018, minor leaguers were exempted from federal minimum wage laws. The Arizona Capitol Times' Ben Giles reported in January 2019 that MLB was lobbying toward the same cause at the state level in Arizona.
The current collective bargaining agreement is due to expire on Dec. 2, and conversations between MLB and the MLB Players Association could prove contentious.
Perhaps this will be among the issues brought forward by the players as they lay out their requests at the negotiating table.
A group of minor league baseball teams have filed lawsuits against insurance companies related to claims made about the coronavirus pandemic.
Per ESPN's William Weinbaum, 15 teams filed the lawsuit in a Pennsylvania United States District Court that alleges "action and inaction by federal and state governments" helped contribute to "catastrophic financial losses" for the minor league clubs:
"In the first few months of 2020, the federal government failed to recognize the severity of the pandemic and did not contain the virus." And it notes a "failure of the federal government to build an effective wall preventing the continued migration of the virus from states that were hit early to the rest of the country."
Per Weinbaum, the lawsuit states minor league teams "incur more than $2 million in expenses to operate" regardless of whether or not "they suffer interruption of their operations."
Weinbaum noted there are policy provisions that exclude financial losses "caused by or resulting from any virus" as well as "acts or decisions, including the failure to act or decide, of any person, group, organization or governmental body."
Even though there hasn't been an official announcement about Minor League Baseball, The Athletic's Britt Ghiroli reported in May that more than 30 Washington Nationals minor leaguers who were released last month were told the 2020 season was canceled.
Major League Baseball is in the process of setting a schedule for this season after the owners and players were unable to reach an agreement on a working deal.
MLB announced Monday that owners voted unanimously to proceed with a 2020 season, with commissioner Rob Manfred authorized to set the number of games.
The minor league season was scheduled to begin April 9.
The Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals are reportedly planning to keep all of their minor league players on their rosters through the end of the season.
ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Friday that the Twins have committed to continuing to pay all of their minor leaguers $400 per week along with maintaining their benefits through Aug. 31. Many MLB teams are releasing some of their minor leaguers since there will most likely be no minor league season in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, but Passan noted the Twins also intend to keep all of their players.
MLB Network's Jon Heyman reported the Royals plan to do the same.
With regard to the Royals' decision to retain and pay their minor leaguers, Heyman tweeted the following quote from someone close to the organization: "Haven't had any (minors releases) and won't through the the summer!!!"
Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported the Boston Red Sox also plan to pay their minor league players, though some players will be cut. Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves plan to follow suit with payment.
Per Passan, "hundreds" of minor league players were cut Thursday, and "hundreds more" are expected to be released in the near future.
Passan reported that team officials said the "vast majority" of the players who have been released likely would have gotten cut at the end of spring training even if the season was not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Major League Baseball owners and players continue to negotiate financials so that an official plan can be put in place to begin the 2020 season. The season never officially started because of the coronavirus, and it will likely be at least cut in half if and when it does begin.
Minor League Baseball President Pat O'Conner hasn't made an official announcement regarding whether minor league baseball will be played in 2020, but it is widely expected that there will be no minor league season regardless of what happens with the MLB campaign.
Minor League Baseball is expected to agree to reducing from 160 to 120 minor league teams in a new Professional Baseball Agreement with Major League Baseball, according to Baseball America's J.J. Cooper on Tuesday.
MLB and MiLB negotiators are scheduled to have a teleconference call on Wednesday.
Cooper initially reported last October that MLB proposed to move from 160 to 120 minor league clubs beginning in 2021, as the current PBA will expire following the 2020 season.
"MLB's initial plan last year laid out a 'Dream League' for undrafted players as well as summer wood bat leagues for college prospects to replace affiliated ball in many of the cities that were on the chopping block," Cooper added Tuesday. "MiLB operators raised concerns that those proposals were not financially viable over the long term."
The replacement idea, per Cooper, is for currently affiliated cities to somehow maintain ties to MLB clubs.
Cooper reported on April 16 that there is "a near-universal acknowledgement" that there might not be a 2020 MiLB season, which was scheduled to begin on April 9 before COVID-19 shut down sports leagues across the world.
On March 31, MLB pledged to provide financial support to minor league players through May 31:
However, the Associated Press' Ronald Blum obtained an email sent by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday announcing the suspension of uniform employee contracts. The move makes it possible to MLB and MiLB clubs to either lay off or reduce pay for managers, coaches, trainers and full-time scouts.
Major League Baseball teams will continue to pay their minor league players through at least May 31 amid the suspension of play because of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, all minor league players will receive $400 per week and medical benefits as part of the plan. Per Passan, Baseball America's J.J. Cooper noted that the pay represents a raise for lower minor league players, while veterans will make less than they otherwise would have.
Minor League Baseball officially suspended its seasons March 12 following Major League Baseball's decision to do the same.
Two weeks ago, Major League Baseball announced its intention to pay minor league players through April 8, but with no immediate end in sight to the suspension of the season, the decision was made to extend the timeline.
Despite the lack of clarity, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was confident last week when talking on ESPN's SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt about the eventual resumption of the 2020 season: "The one thing I know for sure is baseball will be back. Whenever it's safe to play, we'll be back. Our fans will be back. Our players will be back. And we will be part of the recovery, the healing in this country, from this particular pandemic."
Manfred also said he was optimistic that the league could start "gearing back up" at some point in May.
He acknowledged that a 162-game MLB season is unlikely at this point, which means the minor league seasons figure to be shortened as well.
That could have significantly impacted the pay of minor league players, but by agreeing to pay them while no baseball is being played, some of the sting has been taken away.
