MLB's Lawyer Argued In Court That Minor Leaguers Should Be Considered Trainees And Be Paid With Experience, Not Money During Spring Training
Mark Brown. Getty Images.A Major League Baseball lawyer said in federal court Friday that minor league players should not be paid during spring training, because they should be considered trainees. The argument was part of a broader push by MLB to toss an eight-year-old lawsuit brought by Aaron Senne and other minor leaguers over their compensation.
Bloom was elaborating on arguments made last year. MLB hired an expert at a rate of $775 per hour who argued that players in spring training actually receive a value of $2,200 weekly from their teams, based on what youth and amateur players pay for baseball training.
Major League Baseball has done the impossible and leapfrogged the NCAA as the biggest joke of an organization in sports. I thought the tides were turning lately with their agreement to pay for minor leaguers' housing moving forward. That was a shockingly great, albeit long-overdue decision that gained a ton of good PR from fans. Now we hear that their top lawyer is pushing to no longer pay minor leaguers during spring training because they view them as trainees gaining life experience. Straight out of the evil villain playbook.
Their basis for doing this is even more ass-backwards than I imagined.
Last year, Bloom argued that “players gained generally beneficial life skills from their time in the minor leagues.”
I mean what are we doing here? MLB's views the minor leaguers' role in Spring Training the same as an unpaid internship? Their compensation is experience! Hahhahahhahaha. Also you gotta love how MLB paid a firm $775 an hour to conduct this cost benefit analysis research.
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Bloom was elaborating on arguments made last year. MLB hired an expert at a rate of $775 per hour who argued that players in spring training actually receive a value of $2,200 weekly from their teams, based on what youth and amateur players pay for baseball training.
“This figure is an estimate of the costs plaintiffs would have had to incur had they attended a baseball prospecting camp instead of participating in the minor leagues,” Denise Martin, senior vice president at NERA Economic Consulting, wrote to the court.
So we're comparing minor leaguers to any joe schmo who can pay to participate in a baseball academy??? That's what this extensive research came up with? Are we just going to ignore that these minor leaguers were drafted/signed/traded for because the organization viewed them as pieces that can help contribute? Also, tell me what baseball academy is televised and charges spectators $12 for a beer and $8 for a hot dog on top of the price for your seat? Trying to equate Major League Baseball's Spring Training to a fucking baseball academy is the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard.
Scumbag behavior and then some by the owners. Revenues have never been higher, but the billionaires have to find a way to try and compensate their guys as little as humanly possible. Just pay your employees and stop trying to fuck them over every chance you get. It's not that hard.