First the good (well, not bad) news. MLB has stepped up and provided some semblance of relief for minor-leaguers. Perhaps more disturbing, though, is Mr. Doughtery’s revelation via Twitter:
The Nationals were not one of the teams that agreed to pay minor leaguers their usual spring training stipends before today. It's also worth noting that we last spoke to someone from the organization was last Thursday, a combination of Dave Martinez and Max Scherzer.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) March 19, 2020
Obviously, there were other organizations who fit that description. Keep that in mind before you lay into the Nats, the Lerners, or F.P. Santangelo. Instead, let’s give credit to the Tigers and the Rays for recognizing this and doing something about it.
Alas, there is still bad news. MLB may gets its contraction wish after all, though perhaps not the teams they had targeted. What pains me is that we may see some teams bought for pennies on the dollar, which was a suspicion of folks smarter than me to begin with. In other words, the coronavirus may speed up the process. Make no mistake, in times of economic upheaval there are always people looking to capitalize exploit the situation – including some folks with decidedly insider information.
As always, feel free to discuss in the comments.