The Astros are providing fully furnished apartments to all of their minor leaguers across all levels for the 2021 season, reports Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. Housing for minor leaguers has been complicated due to Covid-19 regulations, as host families are not allowed this season and there are restrictions on how many players can live in a given apartment. Minor league salaries are generally scant enough that it’s common for several teammates to crowd into a one- or two-bedroom apartment in order to save on rent and cover other basic expenses. It’s a commitment we’ve not previously seen an organization make for its minor league talent, most of whom receive much smaller bonuses than the six- or even seven-figure numbers that frequent the top end of each summer’s draft. It’s not known whether this will be a permanent commitment from the ’Stros, nor is it clear whether other organizations might adopt a similar approach now or in the future.
More on the Astros…
- Southpaw Framber Valdez got through a 25-pitch bullpen session unscathed on Friday and will start a Triple-A rehab assignment on Sunday, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com was among those to report. Valdez will throw three innings in that game. Expectations are that he’ll rejoin the Astros’ rotation in June, which Valdez called a “miracle.” After all, there was fear back in the spring that Valdez’s broken left ring finger would require surgery and prevent him from pitching this year. “It was a bad injury, a break to the finger,” said Valdez, who was able to avoid going under the knife. When the 27-year-old does come back, he’ll work to build on an impressive 2020 in which he turned in 70 2/3 innings of 3.57 ERA/3.23 SIERA ball with great strikeout (26.4), walk (5.6) and groundball (60.0) percentages.
- Right-hander Jose Urquidy exited his start on Wednesday against the Angels in the fourth inning with shoulder discomfort, and it’s possible the issue will shelve him for a bit. Manager Dusty Baker told Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle and other reporters Friday that an MRI on Urquidy’s shoulder didn’t “show anything significant,” but said today (to FOX 26’s Mark Berman and others) that Urquidy will miss his next scheduled start on Tuesday. Urquidy shut out the Angels over 3 2/3 innings, continuing a nice start to 2021 for the 26-year-old. He has totaled 44 2/3 frames across eight starts and recorded a 3.22 ERA (with a less shiny 4.56 SIERA) and an 18.6 percent strikeout rate against a terrific 5.1 percent walk rate.
Great news.
As much as I detest the past actions, this is a great move that should be adopted for all years by every team.
I hate Houston but I agree that this is a good move for minor league players
Probably need 15-20 apartments in the team’s home city. 2 players per apartment, fewer apartments if combo of 2-3 players. Works out well for the players, especially those shuttled between minor league levels and the bigs. Could also of course rent homes which will house more players in one location.
Maybe have unused apartments reserved for big leaguers on minor league rehab assignments. Maybe those have been available for them all along anyway.
Even if everyone got their own apartment, throughout all minor league levels the cost would be somewhere around $2M. Small price to pay for a billion dollar industry. Long overdue. Great move by the Astros.
Dear Astros
With this single act your team is back in my good graces.
Sincerely,
Me
Minor leaguers shouldn’t be getting paid so little that they have to room with several other players in a cramped apartment just to save money. So really, it probably shouldn’t be at this point to begin with.
BUT with that being said, this is a really good gesture by the Astros. The bar to clear isn’t a very high one, but they’ve well exceeded it and I’m sure minor league free agents will notice what they’ve done. Good for them.
Since MLB wanted to contract the minors, they have an interest in taking better care of the players. I am surprised more teams don’t employ nutritionists. Improved housing is a good step. I hope other teams follow suit.
Good job Astros!
Spending all of the money baseball does to scout, draft, sign, develop these players…it never made sense to allow them to eat Ramen in a tent under a bridge, but…they did anyway.
It’s like Enterprise Rent A Car deciding to save money on parking lots by parking their fleets in the nearest river.