Angels will pay minor leaguers through July

The Angels will continue to pay their minor league players not on a 40-man roster a weekly stipend of $400 through at least the end of July, per both Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times.

Advocates for Minor Leaguers, an organization fighting for increased pay and representation for minor league players, has been tracking news of these weekly stipends, and the Angels were one of the last major league teams to reveal their intention to continue paying minor leaguers in July, just as they were in June.

Minor League Baseball officially canceled the 2020 season on Tuesday, which leaves the vast majority of minor leaguers no official outlet to play.

Some minor leaguers were added to club player pools this week, like outfielders Jo Adell, Brandon Marsh, and Jordyn Adams on the Angels, for instance. Being in the club player pool gives the players at least an opportunity to continue training with professional instruction, and for those not in the majors the chance to play intrasquad games.

Minor leaguers not on the 40-man roster working out at a team’s alternate site — for the Angels, Blair Field in Long Beach — will be paid at the Triple-A rate, per J.J. Cooper at Baseball America:

That means players will receive a minimum of roughly $500 per week during their time playing at the alternate site. Players with previous Triple-A experience will receive larger paydays.

For a player who was scheduled to head to high Class A this year, that would be a $310 pay bump from what they were set to receive this year in a normal season. In reality it’s lessened by the fact that players have been receiving a $400 per diem during the season suspension.

Links

• With intake screening as players, coaches, and staff report to spring training this week, MLB plans to announce a league-wide total of coronavirus test results, but individual players’ test results cannot be announced by teams. Joel Sherman at the New York Post has more.
• Dan Szymborski at FanGraphs calculated the chances for pitchers to break Bob Gibson’s live-ball ERA record of 1.12. Angels pitchers listed: Julio Teheran (a 1 in 768 chance), Andrew Heaney (1 in 889), Dylan Bundy (1 in 4,962).
• Russell Carleton at Baseball Prospectus looked at the human risk of MLB playing amid a pandemic.
• The Mexican summer league canceled its season, which was scheduled to begin on August 7. It’s the first time in 95 years the league was canceled.