David Price’s Reported $1,000 Payments To Dodgers Minor Leaguers Are Great, But MLB Should Be Ashamed

David Price’s reported gesture to pay each Dodgers minor league player $1,000 during the month of June is an incredible act of leadership. In a time of hardship, Price is stepping up to help those who are struggling. We would be better off if more people in Price’s tax bracket acted similarly.

But make no mistake: this is not a feel-good story. Price should have never be put in this position. But he is, because the folks in the tax bracket above him, baseball’s billionaire ruling class, are displaying little besides avarice while more than 40 million Americans file for unemployment. This week alone, MLB teams released hundreds of minor leaguers, and the Oakland A’s announced they will stop paying their prospects their league-mandated $400 weekly stipend at the end of the month.

All the while, MLB’s latest economic proposal to players includes dramatic pay cuts to the league’s highest-paid stars. While players making up to $563,000 would be paid at 90% of their prorated salaries, and those earning up to $1 million being compensated at 72.5%, players making between $10-20 million would receive just 30% of their prorated salaries. For players earning north of $20 million, the prorated figure drops to 20%.

To put that in perspective, Mike Trout was slated to earn $37.6 million this season. Under MLB’s new proposal, he would take home just $5.7 million.

The offer was an apparent attempt to divide the players’ union, since 65% of players earn less than $1 million annually. But so far, it appears as if the players are sticking together.

Price, whose full 2020 salary stands at $32 million, is one of the players who would take the hardest hit. Obviously, his well-being isn’t being threatened, and there are far greater acts of injustice than baseball players used to making $30 million annually earning $5 million in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. But the uber-rich don’t always act generously when their wealth is threatened. Look no further than A’s owner John J. Fisher, whose net worth is estimated at $2.1 billion.

The Gap heir decided to stop paying his team’s minor leaguers $400 per week beginning June 1 and furloughed scouts, citing “dramatically reduced” revenue. MLB officials insist they would lose $4 billion playing a shortened 81-game season without fans, despite refusing to open their books to players, their presumed business partners.

Fisher, who’s consistently funded one of the lowest-salaried teams in the league since becoming majority owner in 2005, telegraphed something like this may be coming. Last week, the A’s told the city of Oakland and Alameda County they cannot make their up-front rent payment of $1.2 million for the Coliseum.

Fisher’s move to stop paying minor leaguers their measly weekly stipend will also save the organization around $1 million. When asked for comment, an A’s spokesperson declined to elaborate on Fisher’s statement.

In March, MLB clubs committed to paying minor leaguers $400 per week through May 31. To this point, the A’s are the only team that’s announced it will stop paying minor league players entirely, but few clubs have assured players they’ll be covered for the entire minor league season, which typically runs through August. The Dodgers will continue to pay their prospects $400 past May 31, though it’s unclear for how long.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred moved to cut 42 minor league affiliates, which would’ve sent more than 1,000 players to the unemployment line. The most cynical read of the situation says MLB is using the current crisis as an opportunity to push forward its plans — its own version of disaster capitalism, if you will.

And given MLB’s latest seeming attempt to break the players’ union — remember, CBA negotiations are coming up in 2021 — it’s difficult to not think cynically about the whole ordeal. Yes, comments from players like Blake Snell about refusing to play for anything less than their full salaries are tone-deaf, but it’s apparent one side is looking to exert more leverage than the other. Players are reportedly set to counter with a proposal of their own, which includes playing more games for an accompanied prorated cut in pay. By all accounts, that seems to be a good-faith offer.

There’s no good faith in teams needlessly putting hundreds of minor league players out of work right now, or the A’s stopping payments to prospects still under their control. Thankfully for some of those affected, Price is filling the void. It’s no wonder Price’s Red Sox teammates loved him, despite his regular spats with the media.

But Price’s generosity shouldn’t cover for the owners’ austerity. They are shrinking from their obligations.