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Minor League Players, Including Portland Sea Dogs, Overwhelmingly Ratify Historic First Union Contract with Big Pay Increases, Housing & more

Andy O’Brien
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Sea Dogs

The Major League Baseball Players Association announced last week that its full Minor League Player membership, including Portland Sea Dogs players, has voted overwhelmingly to approve a historic first collective bargaining agreement. Under the new contract, minimum salaries for Sea Dogs players and others at the Double-A level will jump from $13,800 to $30,250 this season. That's a weekly boost from $600 to $1,000. For the first time ever, Minor league players will also be paid in the off-season with a minimum of $250 per week and more if they train at their club's offseason camp.

“It’s incredible to see the progress take place. I think it was long overdue and I think this is how it always should be,” Sea Dogs pitcher Rio Gomez told the Portland Press Herald.“That financial security, it gives you that peace of mind in the back of your mind."

More than 99% of the thousands of Minor Leaguers who cast ballots voted to ratify the deal, which will vastly improve the compensation and working conditions for all Minor League Players. Highlights of the 2023-2027 agreement include:

  • Significant pay increases beginning immediately (baseline annual salaries will more than double at all levels)
  • A new Minor League pay structure guaranteeing Players will be paid for the work they perform all year long (including retroactive pay for Spring Training 2023)
  • Starting in 2024, further improvements to the recently instituted Minor League housing policy
  • Improved transportation policies, including daily transportation to and from the field, individual travel, and team travel
  • Increased per diem and the creation of a committee to oversee meal quality
  • A shorter reserve clause for Players entering the system at 19 or older
  • The return of Players’ right to profit off their Name, Image, and Likeness, enabling the MLBPA to create a group licensing program
  • Improved medical rights, including second opinion rights and a longer period when medical expenses will be covered following injuries
  • Improved health benefits, including extended health coverage upon contract termination
  • Improved retirement benefits, including a new 401(k) plan
  • The right to neutral arbitration under certain circumstances and a “just cause” standard for Player discipline
  • The creation of new joint MLBPA/MLB committees, including a Health and Safety Committee, an On-Field Committee, and a Minor League Special Events Committee
  • Limitations on the league’s ability to reduce the size the domestic reserve list during the term of the CBA
  • A guarantee that the league will not contract Minor League affiliates during the term of the CBA

Minor League Players unionized under the banner of the MLBPA following a 17-day organizing drive that resulted in voluntary recognition on Sept. 9, 2022. Gomez told the Press Herald that the pay increase will make his experience in the low minor leagues a thing of the past. He said that when he played Single-A ball in Greenville, South Carolina in 2018 he had to live in a two bedroom apartment with six other players.

“There’s no furniture. Maybe the only furniture is a mattress. And we have two mattresses in the living room. A mattress in the kitchen,” he said of the living conditions. “It was no different in Salem. There was three of us living in the living room in Salem. That’s the way you made the dollar stretch further back then. The rent was so cheap because you split it so many ways.

“Now those just make for good stories. Which is nice that’s all it has to be anymore, and we’re not still living it.”

Last fall, Catcher Elih Marrero told the Portland Press Herald that many international players have to send money back home to help their struggling families and that adds to the stress of competing in a system where most fall short of reaching the majors.

“I think it’s going to benefit a lot of minor leaguers, especially the ones who pour their heart and soul into this game,” he said. “It’s going to help people put themselves in a better place, where they can focus more…Whatever we can help to give back to these guys who want to take care of their families is big.”