Baseball’s winter meetings weren’t all about blockbuster trades and big-name free agents.  MLB executives also decided to shoot down a proposal that would have increased minor leaguers’ daily food stipend from $20 a day to $25 a day.

The increase was approved unanimously by all 30 minor league directors and all 30 big-league general managers in two separate meetings this year, but it was deemed too costly and subsequently shot down by MLB, which posted a $6 billion surplus in 2007.

The increase might have cost each club somewhere in the range of $25,000, a microscopic sum in the multibillion dollar industry that MLB has become.  Multiplied by 30, that places the total cost of the increase somewhere in the range of $750,000.

According to one of the two team officials, MLB cited national economic concerns for depriving the minor leaguers of the increase.

And good for MLB!  Times are tough for everyone, and $20 is more than enough feed yourself every day when you’re constantly on the road and eating on the go.  Why, if memory serves, I believe that Subway has a special that offers “Five.  Five-dollar.  Five-dollar footlonnnnnnnnngs.”  An ad that catchy has to be a good deal!

[Big League Stew]