Twins and Royals Commit to Paying Minor-Leaguers Through August and Won't Release Any Players

The Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals are two of MLB's smaller-market teams. When your team is based in Minneapolis or KC, not New York City or L.A., you're simply...going to get less attention and revenue. But even as the coronavirus pandemic has continued to put monetary constraints on the league, the Twins and Royals have made some amazing pro-player moves, coming in the midst of a very tough week.

The minor leagues have been hit extremely hard by the pandemic. Teams are cutting players across the MiLB, and many are expecting the season to be fully cancelled. Despite that, the Twins committed early on Friday to paying their minor leaguers through August.

The Twins decision to not release players even if the season does not occur is great news for fans of minor league baseball, who have watched the sport get gutted in recent days.

Bucking the odds, the Royals, another small market team, made a similar announcement Friday, per MLB Network's Jon Heyman.

Major League Baseball has been moving to reduce the size of the minor leagues, and the coronavirus has made that a certainty in 2021. Several teams, including the New York Mets and World Series Champions Washington Nationals, have announced they will be cutting significant numbers of minor-league players, in accordance with said reduction.

According to Forbes, the Twins rank 19th in value, and the Royals rank 29th. The Mets and Nats, who each cut players, rank sixth and 10th, respectively.

The squeeze from the coronavirus is putting thousands of jobs at risk. The Royals and Twins are two of the last teams anyone would think could afford to keep extra players on their payroll. Needless to say, both teams have absolutely earned the respect and admiration of all baseball fans for what they've done.