Thursday afternoon, we saw this information come across the Twitters.
As teams around baseball weigh pay cuts, the Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals have proven themselves model organizations in how they treat their employees. Both have committed to keeping their full staffs on at full pay through at least the end of June, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 21, 2020
Many other teams made it through May without having to reduce staff or pay, but June seems to have been the dividing line. Many teams probably expected to at least have a plan in place for revenues by now, but with the strong possibility that the players aren’t going to renegotiate, some clubs are having to start letting people go, at least temporarily.
The Cardinals didn’t do that, though. They may have to in July, assuming that baseball doesn’t return, but they have through June and they didn’t have to. Once one team made the tough call, it becomes easier for others to follow suit. So as much as you want to say that the owners should pay everyone–players, staff, minor leaguers, stadium workers–at some point they have to draw the line. Bill DeWitt and crew deserve credit for pushing that out a little bit longer and helping those that need to work continue to do so.
Overall, the Cards have shown themselves time and again to be a very classy, very strong organization. I’m very glad to see them continuing on down that road.
