Like all other teams in Major League Baseball, the New York Mets have been holding voluntary workouts throughout the winter. These sessions are typically a chance for younger players to get some extra reps and impress the coaching staff. With the Mets, however, the younger guys have to be able to afford it first.
It would seem that the Mets are requiring some of their players to pay a fee to attend certain offseason workouts. Hardball Talk shared a screenshot of an interesting exchange that took place on Thursday between ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin and some Twitter followers.
Rubin later specified that he was told minor leaguers are being charged $1,000 to attend.
Think an agent told me they asked $1,000 from minor leaguers.RT @SaltyGary: is it true players are paying for this out of their own pockets?
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) January 15, 2015
They're pushing envelope of what's permissible in terms of sponsored offseason workouts. Almost seems like there's penalty for not attending
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) January 15, 2015
The specific camp that players are attending is run by conditioning guru Mike Barwis. As Mike Puma of the New York Post notes, players also paid for the program last year. Barwis is an independent contractor and is not employed by the Mets.
“True that Mets players attending Mike Barwis’ camp in PSL are paying out of pocket,” Puma wrote on Twitter. “But this was also the case last year, when camp was in Michigan. Barwis is an independent contractor, according to Mets, and not employed by the club.
“Also, Barwis’ camp is not mandatory. In other words, the players working out would have to pay money if they hired another personal trainer. They pay Barwis $1,000.”
Still, if the Mets are pressuring players from the lower levels of their organization to attend workouts that cost money, that seems incredibly unfair.
Haven’t the Mets dealt with enough embarrassment both on and off the field recently? The stuff that former employee was suing the team for back in September was embarrassing enough. If you dont want to spend to assemble a winner, that’s fine. Don’t make younger players pay for trying to improve.
