Hedge fund giant Steve Cohen is MLB’s richest owner with a net worth of over $14 billion. So why are Mets farmhands, particularly those in the lower minors, still living paycheck to paycheck? It’s a good question and the basis of a New York Daily News story written by Dennis Young, who studied what Mets players are making relative to other minor-leaguers across baseball.
What Young discovered in his research was a “moral monstrosity,” noting that Mets players are largely on their own when it comes to housing, offseason expenses and stipends for basic necessities. The Brooklyn Cyclones, New York’s High-A affiliate, for instance, charge players $300 a month to stay at the team hotel, about a sixth of their post-tax salary. And while the Mets admittedly pay their minor-leaguers more than the league-mandated minimum wage, that still doesn’t amount to much with even Triple-A players making under $20,000 a year.
“The season is so unpredictable. We leave spring training and have just a couple days to find a short-term lease in an unfamiliar city. We have no idea where we will be in a few months; we don’t even know for certain where we will be tomorrow night,” an anonymous player in the Mets’ system revealed to the Daily News. “We could get stuck paying rent at a place where we aren’t even living, if we get moved to a different team and our space doesn’t get filled by someone else. For guys who make as little as we do, that could mean an entire paycheck gone.”
While the Phillies, New York’s closest geographical rival in the NL East, cover all hotel costs for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws (their High-A affiliate) while providing housing stipends for players at all other levels, the same can’t be said of the Mets. The Phillies also pay players stationed at the team’s extended spring training facility in Clearwater an “out-of-season” salary to help them get by in the winter months. The Mets don’t do that either.
“The Mets only charge the Brooklyn players $10 per day to stay in the team hotel, demonstrating an understanding that no player can afford the actual cost of the room on his paltry salary,” explained Harry Marino, a former pitching prospect for the Orioles and Diamondbacks who now runs the Twitter account “Advocates for Minor Leaguers.” “So why not make the room free? To send a message: We own you. We control your career. We set the terms of the arrangement, you take what you are given. It is abusive and improper.” According to Marino, it would only cost the Mets an additional $50,000 annually—less than the team pays for laundry in a given year—to foot Brooklyn’s hotel tab. That’s roughly the amount Bobby Bonilla, who hasn’t played for the Mets in over two decades but still earns more than All-Stars Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, pockets every two-week pay period.
Cohen acknowledged the article on Twitter, promising the team will issue a “comprehensive response” in the coming week.
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