HOW ABOUT SOME BONUSES?
Happy Ground Hog's Day, and may each of you shadowy figures see your shadow.
I hope I don’t get shadow-banned for suggesting that. Anyway…
We all hear about incredibly large Wall Street bonuses doled out each year.
Steve Cohen is well acquainted with that. He pays those annual bonuses.
In baseball, though?
SO SO SO much salary money flows to the elite players in baseball.
SO SO SO little salary money to minor league guys.
Which is, well, a tad inequitable, wouldn't you say?
In the minors, the tune goes, “so let’s root, root, root for…the underpaid players. The amount they make is a shame.” Etc.
So, here's an idea...
What about each MLB team (in the Mets’ case, Steve Cohen and David Stearns) giving a $50,000 bonus to each guy included in the MLB official web site end-of-year team top 10 prospects?
And make it a $100,000 grand prize for the Met’s # 1 prospect?
It would cost franchises $550,000 per year. None of it impacting the dreaded salary cap.
And it would be a real incentive for minors guys (who are already trying hard) to compete to win the dough.
After all, who wants to be # 11 ranked, when you could be # 10 and get $50,000 to spend on a new SUV in the off season, that you can later proudly ride into the Citifield players' parking lot when you're called up?
It could be promoted to fans by each team as a way to get the fan base excited about prospects. After all, many fans have little clue about the players down under, unlike us at Mack's Mets, who know almost everything.
Thoughts?
That would be fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI heard Terry Collins, say that players in their final season before free agency seem more focused, as the money is just ahead of them. So why not reward guys that are in the Mets top 10, as long as it’s an independent ranking? No doubt, just about all of them could use the money, and it would be an incentive for all minors players in the top, say, 30, to really push to be in the top 10. Of course, if a guy gets promoted to the major leagues midseason, he is out of the top 10 prospects, and he’s making a lot more money as a major leaguer.
ReplyDeleteI would support giving a one time bonus to players that were names to Baseball America's list but only to players that received signing bonuses of $50K or less
ReplyDeleteI especially see no reason to bons anyone with a 1mil bonus or more
They have already been amply compensated
Mack, that’s fair, and a good approach.
ReplyDeleteI agree that many minors players struggle financially while chasing their dream and anything that can help them is good.
ReplyDeleteI don't like tying rewards to anything that is subjective like a bunch of writers saying "I think this guy is better than that one".
If the Mets think a bonus system is appropriate, they should base it upon their own internal criteria which (hopefully) would be based upon value to the team. And I also agree that any signing bonus should be factored into the equation so the wealth is spread around a little more.
Generally speaking, guys in the top ten received large signing bonuses
ReplyDeleteUT
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ReplyDeleteGreat Idea!
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