The New York Yankees are the latest team to cut minor league players in an effort to save salary after the devastating effect of COVID-19.
Jon Heyman of MLB Network is reporting that the New York Yankees will be the latest team to make cuts to their minor leaguers.
Yankees are expected to release minor leaguers today. Number unknown.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 1, 2020
The move doesn’t come as much of a surprise after the majority of MLB teams made similar moves. However, the move does call a number of things into question.
How is that three of MLB’s least wealthy teams, the Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, and Pittsburgh Pirates, are able to pay their minor leaguers but the Yankees can’t? The Yankees are the wealthiest team in MLB, so why can’t they match what less wealthy teams are doing?
The Yankees aren’t the only ones. The New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and Chicago Cubs have all cut minor league players. These represent some of the wealthiest teams in the sport. Yet, they needed to cut players to save less than $500,000 dollars? It just doesn’t add up.
Add the fact that major league baseball seems to be going forward with eliminating over 40 minor league franchises and shortening of the draft not just in 2020 but 2021 as well, and the picture becomes clear. MLB is taking COVID-19 as an opportunity to accelerate their teardown of minor league baseball.
Rob Manfred and the MLB owners are always looking for ways to maximize profits. Baseball is a business at the end of the day after all. One easy way to gain profits is to attack those who can’t defend themselves such as the minor league players who aren’t represented by a union.
Fewer minor league players and fewer teams mean organizations can save some money. That means more money in profits for the big league owners.
It’ll all be fun and profits for the owners until they drive fan interest away due to a lack of talent. There’s no other outcome if MLB continues to decimate the draft and player development.
It’s sad to see that the New York Yankees are part of this teardown.
