Minor League Games - May 27th, 2022

[julio]

To my mind, Clearwater is particularly egregious. They have a huge seasonal market - and the "season" is the winter. I have to believe that lots of off-season apartment rentals are out there.

It seems to me that the organization should simply long-term lease blocks of apartments - they know how many players they'll have, they know how much space they'll need (approximately). So in Clearwater, lease the properties long-term, and then sub-let them month-to-month in the winter, to snowbirds.

In the northern towns, it's a bit more challenging - the Phils want spaces from April through September. If the town in question has universities (Allentown/Bethlehem?), there might be a synergy with student rentals. (Not so much in Reading or Lakewood.)

But the Phils should take the leases - a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Single players are assigned, two to a two-bedroom apartments (everybody gets a bedroom). Married players get one-bedroom units; married with kids get two-bedroom units.

These blocks of apartments are leased in advance of the season, with enough space to account for movements in and out. If the mix of one- and two-bedroom units doesn't match the player mix, a single guy with seniority might get a private one-bedroom unit. The organization actually pays somebody to manage all this.

If we're talking about a 30-year-old AAAA guy with a wife and four kids...that's challenging, but somebody is tasked to solve that problem (ends up being a house rental, probably).

If I were the GM, I would consider actually acquiring (purchasing, not leasing) apartment blocks. Short-term off-season leases might be possible to generate some revenue; even if they aren't, it's a real estate investment that will likely appreciate over time.

[zambonir]

If we're talking about a 30-year-old AAAA guy with a wife and four kids...that's challenging, but somebody is tasked to solve that problem (ends up being a house rental, probably).

In an example like that it is also probably fine that they take the stipend and make their own arrangements. For such players (minor league FAs) the stipend could/should be negotiable so a good player or a player with a family situation like you describe could try and get more.

They could rent places as AirBnBs in Clearwater (as the landlords, that is).

[andyb]

Clearwater should just permanently lease housing for everybody. They will need it for rehabbing players in the winter anyway. Obviously there will be a surge during instructional league and training camp, but they really need to have space for 80-100 players (2 full time rosters plus rehabbing players) fairly permanently.

[fish]

For such players (minor league FAs) the stipend could/should be negotiable so a good player or a player with a family situation like you describe could try and get more.

Stipends aren’t a great option either because guys get promoted/demoted. They just shouldn’t have to worry about where they are going to live.

[zambonir]

It's manageable for the AAAA/minor league FA type players and players who are old enough to have more than one kid.. Their families aren't going to follow them around to promotions and demotions are less likely than DFAs. And I doubt many minor leaguers have ever had kids in the Reading or Allentown school system. But there should be room/permission for visits and/or ways for them to live with them.

The reality is that while what's happening here is unacceptable, if you're a Phil Gosselin type player who needs housing for a wife and two kids and the team has to pick between you and a player with neither of those things, they are going to pick the guy who is cheaper to house. But if you are a Phil Gosselin type player you have also spent enough time in the majors and on a 40 that you either have your family in an off-season home or can actually afford to upgrade over what the team has to pay for.

[allentown]

Reading a story like this is sooo discouraging. We are the ONLY team with this half-assed approach to meeting the league program for minor league player housing. Just like we were the only team (I think so, certainly don't remember another case) which turned to college players in to NCAA for having an agent, in hopes of destroying their remaining college eligibility -- when if they had an agent, we must have also violated the rule by negotiating with him. Our scouting/minor league system is just a huge embarrassment. Why doesn't the team see that and fix it. I think it's a matter of management attitude, rather than incompetence in these instances. The poor performance in producing above average and just-a-little-below-average young major leaguers is where the incompetence has come into play.

A reporter needs to quiz Middleton: "if as you say, money isn't a limitation for this team, how does this sort of cheap crap continue in your organization? What have you done about this? Have you or DD investigated? Do the two of you care?"

[LoneStarPhan]

No excuse for not getting good housing in all four minor league locations.

Whoever was unable to get this done should already have been replaced.

The more I think about this the more it bothers me. How can I support a team that does not care about the players. And if 29 teams can get this done, it clearly was not important to the Phillies.

Fire Lee McDaniel NOW!

[Lucky_Beagle]

How can you expect any one to willingly sign a minor league contract if they have other options? How can these players (future major leaguers, we hope!) not have a bad taste about the organization and be looking forward to getting out of town when possible.

Have we heard any quotes from players verifying this information in another article or through a second source?

[zambonir]

I mean, the team is not denying any of the basic details in the story, so it doesn't really need additional player sourcing. The anonymous quotes about "typical Phillies" and guys being scared to death of being released if they make a stink also speak for themselves.

[Sabin]

If I were the GM, I would consider actually acquiring (purchasing, not leasing) apartment blocks. Short-term off-season leases might be possible to generate some revenue; even if they aren't, it's a real estate investment that will likely appreciate over time.

I was thinking the same. It's going to appear more expensive on the front side, of course; but at worst it's an investment with positive appreciation value over time. That ownership has in recent years relaxed the purse strings with respect to its major league club is a fine progression, but is effectively cancelled if not also providing reasonable pay and accommodations for the members of its farm system, IMO.

Not the core value ethos I'd want to be broadcasting with my organization, at least.

[julio]

Clearwater should just permanently lease housing for everybody. They will need it for rehabbing players in the winter anyway. Obviously there will be a surge during instructional league and training camp, but they really need to have space for 80-100 players (2 full time rosters plus rehabbing players) fairly permanently.

Lease, or build. A Phillies Village could be an organizational selling point.

[fish]

Buying an apartment block for 5 months of use a year, no matter how long the term of ownership probably can't be profitable in a region where there is no reason for anyone to be there in the non-summer months. Surely there is a enough longer term corporate housing to book blocks in Allentown, Reading, and Lakewood. It understandably get's expensive. 25 guys at even an high corporate rate of $125 a day is $93,000 a month, or $500,000 a playing season. but still, for all four affiliates that's just $2 million, virtually the cost of paying Odubel Herrera. Wait, suddenly buying a motel strip or apartment block seems cost effective. .

[zambonir]

Corporate/furnished housing is certainly a very tough and expensive thing in a lot of cities. But that's essentially the issue: it's not that they couldn't find any housing whatsoever, it's that they weren't willing to pay market rate. Even if it meant paying a weekly rate for the whole season (which is clearly what's going on in Reading).

[schillingfan]

Did that happen just this year? I understand the “post-Covid” housing market has been incredibly expensive. Perhaps they underbudgeted and refused to go over budget. That’s no excuse, bad bad management. I do think it has always been the Phillies Way to be cheap with the minors but the spend money taking care of ex-Phillies by finding jobs for them.

[zambonir]

This is the first year the major league team has been required to provide this sort of housing. It was previously arranged by the actual affiliates (even if money flowed from the MLB parent to cover it). All part of the new world where MLB controls all of the minors, and part of that was supposed to be better conditions for the players. Which was always a bit of spin, but seems like 29 of 30 teams did a better job than the Phillies on this particular front.