I’M BACK!!!!! This is my first article since June 22 (yes 238 days to be exact). I have had a lot going on in my life since then. A new job (in youth sports!!) and moved in with my girlfriend. But those are no excuses to not writing to the loyal readers of CouchGuy Sports. I have been on Legends Lingo almost every week since the move though, so you could catch me there.

Okay enough about me and on to my article. Yes you read the title right, during the latest negotiations of the lockout the MLB has said they want to cut hundreds of playing jobs from the Minor Leagues. See the tweet below from Jeff Passan.

THE PROBLEM

As of right now Major League Baseball organizations can have up to 180 Minor League players under contract. Before COVID there was no limit to how many they could have. But during the 2020 shorten season MLB cut 42 Minor League teams.

Updating: The MLBPA has rejected past offers from MLB that would agree the league can control the number of domestic minor league playing jobs and plans to formally reject the proposal that would allow MLB to cut from 180 per organization to as few as 150. https://t.co/ZkKNE7LhsG

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 15, 2022

This is ROUGHLY what it costs an MLB team to pay out a full minor league system of players making minimum salary.

(Dominican summer league rosters have 35 players making 3,000$ a season. That’s an extra 105,000$) pic.twitter.com/Uz5qfBfrhX

— Dallas Braden (@DALLASBRADEN209) February 15, 2022

Part of me believes they’re not only OK with this but when you combine the lack of development with a new structure that stifles development & thins the talent pool it starts too look like the owners would be OK with a massive talent/compensation reset to save $. https://t.co/vUjCVQZWFu

— Dallas Braden (@DALLASBRADEN209) February 15, 2022

Those tweets from Dallas show how current and former players are feeling about the cut of Minor League jobs. Baseball is very different from other sports where every players goes to the Minor Leagues before reaching the big leagues. In the NFL you get draft you go right to the club no development leagues. NBA has the G-League but most drafted players go right to the NBA teams, same with the NHL and AHL.

Baseball players need the development to be ready for the MLB game. Players go from playing 20-25 games in high school plus 50-60 games in travel ball for the total of 80ish games to playing 120-140 in the Minor Leagues. It takes time to get used to the grind. That is why there is a short season league. That is for players who just got drafted out of high school or college and keep playing all summer. Most players have never played any where close to the amount of games they do in their first full season.

MY THOUGHTS

If another whole level is cut from the Minor Leagues that really hurts the game at all levels. Those players who normally just make it to Low-A or High-A could go back and coach or grow the game in some way. But now they do not have that opportunity to play at a higher level and no long want to stay in the game.

Also it would hurt the talent at the top. Pitchers need those years in the Minors to learn how to truly pitch with 3 or more pitches. If you are a high school pitcher throwing 90+ most of the time you can get away with just your fastball and a decent off speed pitch. Once you get to pro ball most hitters came time up 90+. Same thing with the other side of the game. Hitters need to learn how to hit more than just the fastball. They will see so many different pitches in the Minor Leagues they can start to handle good curveballs or sliders.

WRAP-UP

At the end of the day the owners are business man and know how to make money. If they feel the right decision is to cut Minor Leagues that is what they want to do. But I do not think it will be good for the game. Players will not allow they to keep taking those jobs away. The Minor Leagues is huge for baseball in so many ways.

Image credit: https://www.facebook.com/milb/posts/whats-the-closest-team-to-you-milbmajorfunhttpmilbcomopeningday2021/10159971894191874/

Feeling tired, unable to focus and low on energy? We can help. Go to shockedenergy.com today and get yourself Shocked Energy today! Obtaining maximum energy with healthy ingredients. Use the promo codes “CGS21” or “CGSN” for 10% off your order today.

Tired of soreness and pain slowing you and your workouts down? Change that. Melt stress away anytime, anywhere with the ExoGun. Designed to give you the ultimate recovery utilizing percussive therapy and deep tissue massage, it will change your recovery life FOREVER. Follow this link (Exogun) for 10% off or use code promo code CGS10 at checkout!

-Tom “Powder” Cadmus (@powder42308)