Recently, I read an article on BA's website about the living conditions and wage issues of minor league players that were not bonus babies or minor league free agents. Article Link.  Basically, for me it brought up a long running issue in terms of players development

Personally, I think there are plenty of baseball problems with players having such low weekly food allowances and wages. The article touches on some major concerns that I see. One of the most important issues is nutrition and diet outside of the ballpark. Considering how much information there is out there on this subject now, I would think any Major League Organisation would give players a choice to optimize their diet. Furthermore, the day to day rigors of playing games 5-7 days a week plus doing cardio and weights in between could be made easier with improvements. Life is as a minor league is not exactly an easy one, as the article depicts well. Ensuring players have good living conditions and regimes seems to be almost an imperative for a innovative organisation. When they spend hours enduring frequent travel on buses or red-eye plain flights, making a player comfortable even if they are dislocated could do a great deal of good.

Besides meal and housing issues. There is also the problem of overall pay that exists. Until a minor league reaches free agency, they have terrible pay. Only players with high bonuses can really afford to stay committed to the game all year round. Some families can support their MILB offspring financially, but I imagine this is not something that many players wish to resort to. If salaries were raised, I think players could dedicate training almost year round for baseball. Not only could this help players get in critical developmental time if they desire. It would also give players more of a choice to stay in affiliated ball, to live out the dream of reaching the majors, instead of being forced to drop out due to money concerns.

I realize a great deal of these problems can be associated with the players union. However, if I was ever given the chance to run an organisation, I would try make improvements in these areas. Ultimately, I think MILB players might be able to organise to increase wages and conditions, but it will take a great deal of work to get done. Realistically, if an organisation committed $5,000 extra to each of approximately 200 MILB players in its' employ, it would be of little expense. 1 million dollars is nothing to sneeze at of course, but I think the return in player development might be worth it. Any sort of increase is a great idea in my opinion.

I am wondering what the rest of the community thinks on the subject. Does anyone have any possible solutions to the issue that could circumvent the collective bargaining agreement and the MLB player's union? Is it possible for minor leaguers to get brought into the MLB player's union or form their own?

As an aside, I kept to strictly player developmental concerns to prevent this from descending into a discussion on the pros and cons of wage equalisation and unions. I am sure John would appreciate it if this stayed in the baseball realm.