Remember back in October when a minor leaguer posted his final Double-A paycheck of the year and it revealed that he made $10,275 gross with a takehome of $8,216? Yeah, it was shocking to those who didn’t realize minor leaguers make next to no money for several months of work with very few days off from March to September. Yes, they choose this lifestyle.
That brings me to the Mets and how they plan to inspire their minor leaguers to aspire to be better and get themselves out of the dumps of the minors. The Mets think a posh new spring training locker room will be just what these low wage workers need to inspire them. The plan is to not let the Port St. Lucie minor leaguers use the new locker room during the rookie ball season, according to Mets beat writer Anthony DiComo.
The most striking part of the Mets' $57 million spring training renovation may be the home clubhouse. The Mets are only using it for Spring Training, not for the St. Lucie regular season, to give minor leaguers a reminder of the status they're working to earn. pic.twitter.com/k1b3vTTkj3
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 10, 2020
This is what the low-ball players will use in the summer when the big leaguers head north:
For those asking, here's the St. Lucie regular season clubhouse. It's also brand new and quite nice, albeit much smaller than the spring clubhouse. pic.twitter.com/0ULuC6hul1
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 10, 2020
You’ll never guess how the Mets paid for the new locker room that won’t be used during rookie ball. That’s right, paid for with public money to the tune of $55 million. The Mets kicked in $2 million. Seriously.
The stadium project would top out at $57 million — $55 million from the county and $2 million from the Mets, according to documents released by the county. The contract will go before county commissioners on Tuesday.
Approval would set the project on a path to move forward. Either a rejection or a delay by the commission, however, would put not only the renovation project in jeopardy, it could jeopardize the Mets’ future in Port St. Lucie.
The county originally agreed to a $55 million renovation, but as costs escalated, the Mets agreed to contribute $2 million to the project.
Gotta love it. Here’s the new locker room that will be used for about seven weeks, but you low life rookies won’t get to use it. You’ll have to dream about one day walking into that special place that was paid for with tax dollars. What a time to be alive.
Old #Mets spring training locker room ➡️ newly renovated clubhouse (via @nypostsports) pic.twitter.com/wa9ZiRLk7s
— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) February 10, 2020
