Colorado Rockies: MLB announces “interim support” for minor league players

Major League Baseball announced in a press release on Thursday that they are going to provide “interim support” financially for minor league baseball players while games are not being played. They plan on working the Colorado Rockies and the other MLB teams to provide further relief in the future.

Major League Baseball announced today that they will provide minor league baseball players that are not on 40-man rosters with a lump sum of money that is “equal to the allowances that would have been paid through April 8th. They said that they also plan on working on a more long-term way to support minor league players with all 30 MLB teams, including the Colorado Rockies.

All players on the 40-man roster are already receiving money from the league at the major league allowance level. This “interim support” for minor leaguers can be used for housing, food, and other services.

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Some teams, like the Rays and Dodgers, have already guaranteed pay for minor leaguers but now, with the announcement, all 30 teams will be covered.

Like the press release says, it is only “interim support” but it is at least at the level that they were going to receive through April 8 and they are working to reach a long-term goal.

One way that may be reached is by canceling the 2020 Amateur Draft, as we discussed in this article on Wednesday. Obviously, that would be a less than ideal situation for draftees and teams as well but it would save the 30 teams roughly $400 million, or $13.33 million per team.

In other news, Major League Soccer announced that they plan on returning on May 10, in concordance with the CDC guidelines. Whether that can be held up and whether or not other leagues, like Major League Baseball, can also commit to an opening date in the coming days remains to be seen.

Stay tuned for more our coverage as the coming days and weeks will have a lot in store.