Dodgers Team News

MLB Announces Uniform Compensation for Minor League Players During Layoff

It’s hard out here for a minor leaguer. After Major League Baseball announced that clubs would contribute $1M each to help support ballpark staffers, minor league players felt left out to dry.

According to a press release on Thursday, MLB announced “interim support for Minor League players” with a promise of more to follow.

Baseball America helped officially cover that interim support whereas Kyle Glaser writes that “each club will provide an allowance of $400 a week ($57.14 per day) to eligible minor leaguers” through April 8th.

The Dodgers were already known to be among the teams that would pay its minor leaguers through at least the first announced date of April 8th — or two weeks after opening day, which was the original hoped return date for baseball.

More from the official press release

Since last week, Major League Baseball has been engaged in a variety of discussions with stakeholders to identify ways to blunt the wide-ranging impact of the national emergency resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic. As those conversations continue, MLB is announcing today a league-wide initiative that will create a level of uniform compensation for Minor League players, covering the period between now and the originally scheduled start of the minor league season. MLB is taking this initial step today because of the effects of the season’s postponement on Minor League players and their families. MLB intends to continue working with all 30 Clubs to identify additional ways to support those players as a result of the delayed 2020 season.

Each player who is under a Minor League Uniform Player Contract will receive a lump sum equal to the allowances that would have been paid through April 8th. The exceptions to this plan are non-40-man-roster players who are already receiving Major League allowances; players who are currently receiving housing, food or other services from Clubs; and players who were not participating in, or expected to participate in, Minor League Spring Training. MLB remains in communication with Clubs on the development of an industry-wide plan for Minor League player compensation from April 9th through the beginning of the coming season.

MLB takes the community impact of this crisis seriously. We will continue to monitor ongoing events and undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts to protect fans, players and ballpark workers, and we urge all baseball fans to follow suit. MLB extends its best wishes to all the individuals and communities who have been impacted by the coronavirus.

In the last several days, MLB has announced a joint, $1M MLB-MLBPA fund to speed food assistance to those impacted by the crisis and a 30-Club, $30M effort to support ballpark workers. Individual Clubs will continue to announce more details surrounding support for their local communities and players are coming together to urge fans to take this crisis seriously.

Next up, MLB, the MLBPA and everyone involved will need to work out service time and regular season issues for players under team control with the likely shortened season upcoming.

NEXT: MLB Hints at Shortened Baseball Season in Press Release

Clint Pasillas

Clint Pasillas has been writing, blogging, and podcasting about the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008. Under Clint's leadership as the Lead Editor, Dodgers Nation has grown into one of the most read baseball sites in the world with millions of unique visitors per month. Find him online on Twitter/X or his YouTube channel!

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