Minor league baseball players are finally getting the chance to take their class-action lawsuit to trial next spring arguing that MLB owes them back pay for being illegally paid sub-minimum wage salaries.
In court filings to preempt the trial, the players are using a tweet from New York Mets owner Steve Cohen to argue their case, according to Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic.
Cohen, a hedge-fund manager who bought the Mets for $2.4 billion in November 2020, has been an active user on the social media platform.
The tweet cited in the filing was from Aug. 1 when Cohen said, “Education time — Baseball draft picks are worth up to 5x their slot value to clubs. I never shy away from investments that can make me that type of return.”
Dr. Erica Groshen, Senior Economic Advisor for the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and former Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, was hired by the players to write an expert report in which the tweet is cited.
Groshen wrote: “One recent indication of the value of a minor league player comes from Steven Cohen, owner of the New York Mets. He assserts that baseball draft picks are worth up to five times their slot value to Clubs.”
(“Slot value” are limits set for MLB clubs’ signing bonuses in the player draft, per Kaplan.)
Groshen used this to highlight that all minor league players offer upside to MLB.
MLB is seeking to disqualify Groshen’s 47-page report arguing minor leaguers are seasonal employees and legally apprentices, which exempts them from minimum wage.
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