Dodgers notes: Minor league CBA ratified, Max Muncy returns to lineup

The first minor league collective bargaining agreement was ratified Monday after it was approved by MLB owners.

Part of the new CBA allows for MLB to reduce the domestic reserve lists in 2024 from 180 to 165 players during the season. It’s part of a continued effort by the league to downsize the minors, a shortsighted plan, says Jarrett Seidler at Baseball Prospectus:

A common defense you’ll hear of these roster contractions is that teams are good enough at picking out the players to cut that this will have no discernible effect on future league quality. I suspect that’s true in part—if only because we’ll never actually discover the Seth Lugos and Luke Voits of the 2020s. But that appeal to authority both ignores how creative teams at the forefront of player development have gotten and overstates how well teams actually self-scout; teams already cut loose future good major leaguers all the time.

Ronald Blum at the Associated Press has specific details, including payments for spring training and offseason work at team complexes (which was previously unpaid) beginning in 2024 at $625 per week, plus back pay for last offseason and this spring training up to $2,500 per player.

Evan Drellich at The Athletic also has copious details on the CBA, including minor league players getting paid $750 for each Futures Game or minor league All-Star game, and players at rookie levels, Low-A or High-A guaranteed transportation from their dwelling to the ballpark each day.

Links

• After getting hit in the groin and leaving Saturday’s game, then missing Sunday’s game, Max Muncy was back in the lineup Monday, and wearing a cup. He talked to J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register about it, and why he stopped wearing one in the first place years ago.
• As for taking a ball to the groin, Muncy said Monday in an interview on ‘Foul Territory’ that Dodger Stadium has a new field surface this year. “Sometimes the ball takes a difficult hop, and you’re the one who pays the price for it,” Muncy said.
• Brendan Burke will be the lead announcer for MLB broadcasts on Peacock this season on Sunday mornings, reports Andrew Marchand at the New York Post. The Dodgers’ only Peacock game this season is May 28 in Tampa Bay.