Angels minor leaguers report they were not paid stipends in August

One of the casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic was minor league baseball. Thousands of players were sent home with no promises of a paycheck. Most teams, including the Angels, promised to pay minor league players $400 per week through August.

According to reports, Angels minor league players are saying they have not received their stipend money. Worse, the Angels are the only team to have done this.

Here’s the tweet from Minor League Advocates:

Honestly, I can’t hold back here. This is a new low for Arte and the Angels. A move that makes me question whether I want to continue being a fan as long as Moreno continues to owe the team. These players already live hand-to-mouth providing the team with future talent. To leave them out in the cold when they need help most is inexcusable. Doing so after promising to help them in unconscionable.

One Angels minor leaguer responded to a text, saying, “I was paid 361 dollars August 21st. And that was it for August”

Update: An Angels team spokesperson released a statement tangential to this issue, per Fabian Ardaya:

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jcstein
Trusted Member
3 years ago

Fully paying minor league contracts is definitely not the same thing as paying $400 per week until the end of August…

2002heaven
Trusted Member
3 years ago

comment image
Just wondering BTW if the Angels decided to sign undrafted players after all?

Last edited 3 years ago by 2002heaven
MH252525
Trusted Member
3 years ago

I referred to the LaStella NoBatReto Deal as a partial salary dump and I stand by that. Arte was thrilled to not pay a legit major leaguer for another month, based on this very thread.

AnAngelsFan
Super Member
3 years ago

Here’s some more nuance: https://twitter.com/Alden_Gonzalez/status/1301293867413590016?s=19

Basically, the Angels claim they paid each player what that player would have made in a regular year. The players say the Angels incorrectly assume none of them would have been promoted mid-season. Also, the Angels are the only team to do that.

Last edited 3 years ago by AnAngelsFan
PatrickNaN
Trusted Member
3 years ago
Reply to  AnAngelsFan

Clearly giving players $400/week during a pandemic is too much to ask.

PatrickNaN
Trusted Member
3 years ago

I mean, awful.

Commander_Nate
Member
Trusted Member
3 years ago

This franchise is virtually impossible to like sometimes.

Rahul Setty
Admin
Trusted Member
3 years ago
Reply to  Commander_Nate

Really discourages me from spending any more than I have to at the ballpark.

ihearhowie3.0
Super Member
3 years ago

Would love to know what Arte has contributed to politcal campaigns in the same time period he couldn’t afford to give 20 year olds with nowhere to play baseball an extra $800 like every other freaking team in the sport.

ihearhowie3.0
Super Member
3 years ago

This has always been the Arte Moreno M.O.

He will flush money down the toilet like its nothing on the big league club but has absolute disdain for his ushers, front office employees and minor leaguers. The people who need it the most and cost the least.

2002heaven
Trusted Member
3 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Joiner

comment image
so did this guy…….didn’t stop him from being a ruthless 19th century robber baron tycoon
Cornelius Vanderbilt

ChillRIL
Member
3 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Joiner

Seems like background isn’t as much a factor as we’d assume. I can think of people born into fabulous wealth who are grateful, humble, and kind to those with less. And then I can think of formerly working class folks who get rich and almost seem to hate the class they came from. People are mysterious.

AnAngelsFan
Super Member
3 years ago

I’m with you. This makes it really hard to spend any money that would support Arte Moreno.

By the way, the official statement that the contracts were paid is simply an argument that the $400 stipends aren’t owed and the promise isn’t enforceable. It seems pretty clear they weren’t paid.

steelgolf
Super Member
3 years ago

So now which is it? Did they pay now after it has come to light, or had they already been paying and Advocates For Minor Leaguers has some other reason for claiming they hadn’t been paid? $400.00 per week for however many players in their system should still be peanuts in the grand scheme of their business expenses.

H.T. Ennis
Admin
Super Member
3 years ago
Reply to  steelgolf

Seems like both statements could be correct if “salary” and “stipends” are different things.