Rob Manfred Upstages All-Star Game With Moronic Minor League Comments
The 2022 MLB All-Star Game took place Tuesday night as baseball's brightest stars took the stage in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for one of the sport's biggest showcases, earlier in the day baseball's bumbling commissioner overshadowed the festivities with an incredibly out-of-touch statement about the plight of minor league players.
Before the game, Manfred met with the assembled media and was asked why MLB owners haven't been paying minor league players a living wage. His response was, frankly, stunning.
*paid, not paying, which is the same idea if you understand the pronouns differently. Think the point comes across.
— Hannah Keyser (@HannahRKeyser) July 19, 2022
Man who makes $17.5 million per year rejects premise that players can't survive on a few thousand dollars per year. Once again, Manfred is the absolute worst.
While MLB owners are being forced (against their will) to make some improvements to the current system, minor leaguers without major league experience make between $4,800 and $14,700 annually. Most of those players don't receive large bonuses when signed, and are therefore forced to live far below the poverty line. They also only get paid during the season. To reach the bigs, players need to train for the entire year, not just the few months of the season. That makes getting a second job difficult.
There is no possible way to think those players are making a living wage. They aren't.
Harry Marino, director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, responded to Manfred's mindless comments:
Harry Marino, director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, responds to Rob Manfred: pic.twitter.com/VDIPhwld8V
— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) July 19, 2022
Let's remember that Manfred is the same guy who said owning a Major League Baseball team wasn't a lucrative proposition. Which, again, is insane.
Manfred is undoubtedly the worst commissioner in sports right now and has done nothing but repeatedly embarrass himself and do damage to the sport since he got the job. He has done nothing to warrant keeping his position and if MLB owners were smart they would dump him as soon as possible.
On a day that was supposed to be a celebration of all that's great about baseball, Manfred took the spotlight by once again being incompetent. That has become a familiar occurrence and won't stop until he's finally ousted from his position.