Tampa Bay Rays commit to paying MiLB players through June

The Tampa Bay Rays will pay their minor leaguers the $400 stipend at least through June.

As the Tampa Bay Rays players wait for an agreement to be reached on their season, the minor leaguers outlook is getting more and more uncertain.

It appears that hopes for a minor league season are disappearing. While we all wait in limbo, hundreds of minor leaguers received both good and bad news this past week.

Hundreds of players were released across the league. The teams stated that these cuts are typical during a season and usually happen sometime after spring training is over.

The Oakland A’s players received notification that they would no longer receive their $400/month weekly stipend from the team, despite still being under contract and thus, technically employed. The Oakland A’s owner is John Fisher, the heir to the GAP franchise, son to GAP founders Donald and Doris Fisher, and is reportedly worth more than $2 billion, according to Forbes.

Meanwhile, former Tampa Bay Rays legend David Price has committed to paying all of the players in the Dodgers’ minor league system $1,000 for the month of June, on top of their stipend.

On Friday, news broke that Houston, Miami, Minnesota, San Diego, and Seattle have all committed to paying their minor leaguers through the month of August.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, and the Tampa Bay Rays all committed to at least paying through the month of June.

We should give special recognition to the Chicago White Sox even committed to paying the stipend to the 25 players that were recently released.

The Philadelphia Phillies committed to paying their players through June but would likely be at a reduced amount.

It may come as a surprise to some, but these stipends of $400/week really shine a light on how little minor leaguers get paid as this constitutes a pay raise for most Class-A players.