St. Louis Cardinals: Minor league player pay extended to the end of May

As the COVID-19 pandemic surges on, the MLB has announced that all minor leaguers will be paid for longer. What does this mean for the St. Louis Cardinals?

One of the biggest issues surrounding the delay of the MLB season is how to handle the pay for the many minor league players during the break from baseball. Many players on the St. Louis Cardinals are millionaires who easily can survive a few months without a paycheck.

For minor leaguers, that isn’t the case.

During a normal season, minor leaguers get paid way less than most fans realize.

The new pay structure that is coming is an improvement, but still isn’t much to write home about, especially when the pay is strictly seasonal.

When the MLB’s spring training started this year, minor leaguers hadn’t been paid since the end of last season. Before spring training was suspended, they still hadn’t been paid. Many players were depending on the incoming paychecks.

But, as a good organization should, the MLB announced they would pay minor leaguers until April 8th, and now, they are extending that date out to the end of May.

$400 is less than most would be making a week if the season was on a normal pace, but it’s better than nothing.

Last week, Rob Manfred mentioned that he hoped the league could begin ramping up again in late May. This extension in minor league pay sheds suspicion on that notion.

As Jeff Jones mentions, the pay could end earlier, but this all but confirms that we won’t see any baseball before June.

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Paying minor leaguers is a necessary and good-hearted move by the MLB and that being taken care of for the foreseeable future is good to see. However, two more months without baseball is going to sting no matter what any of us are being paid.

In his interview with ESPN, Rob Manfred included how he sees the MLB fitting into how the country heals, “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.”

Baseball will most definitely be part of the healing, and I am ready for it right now. However, here’s to two more months of staring at false notifications for Cardinals games about to start.