In a fascinating story in the Wall Street Journal, Joe Lemire details the life of a journeyman player in the big leagues, specifically for the Mets, and how they manage their lifestyle not knowing how long they’re going to remain in the big leagues.
Here’s an excerpt:
While established major leaguers rent ritzy penthouse apartments or buy palatial suburban estates, many rookies and journeymen get caught in a perpetual state of roster flux, never in one place for long, always moving from one abode to the next. Major League Baseball’s minimum salary is $507,500, but players going up and down, to and from the minors receive only a prorated portion of that. Minor league salaries are often minuscule.
So there was a certain incongruity one September morning last season when Goeddel was one of three tablet-toting Mets lounging on the plush leather couches in the vast home clubhouse of the nearly billion-dollar Citi Field, searching for discounted hotel rates.
I’ve always noticed Buddy Carlyle always comes in and out of the clubhouse with a suitcase, but never understood why. The first time I noticed it, he was leaving the clubhouse and I had thought the Mets cut him (which they didn’t), although at the time it would have made absolutely no sense, which led me to wonder what it was really about. I never bothered to ask him what that was about, as I felt that was a little too personal.
It’s interesting to learn this is actually the reason…
For more, check out Lemire’s story in the Journal.
Just Mets 