Cruz mocks Sanders' plea to stop MLB from eliminating minor league teams

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Sanders echoes House members' dismay with MLB's reported plan to eliminate minor league teams

Bernie Sanders is echoing House members' dismay with MLB's reported plan to eliminate minor league teams.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, mocked Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Tuesday over his plea to Major League Baseball to scrap a plan to eliminate 42 minor league teams across the country.

Sanders, a Democratic presidential contender, has said the plan would “do irreparable harm” to the sport. He also noted in a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred that minor league players earn as little as $1,160 per month.

In a tweet, Cruz responded to conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who said Sanders is looking to “fight income inequality” in baseball by requiring MLB to redistribute income from big leaguers to minor league players.

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“Ben, that’s not nearly socialist enough,” Cruz wrote. “By govt mandate, all pitchers must now pitch the average speed — we’ll just redistribute MPH from fast pitchers to the slower pitchers. And no batter will be allowed to hit more than the league average.”

Sanders has not called for the redistribution of players' income. In a letter to Manfred, he instead urged the commissioner to abort the plan, pay minor league players a living wage and make it easier for them to join a union.

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He said the average MLB franchise generated $40 million in profit last year.

Sanders said the proposal has nothing to do with what is good for baseball, but everything to do with "greed."

He said the plan would "throw about 1,000 ball players out of work."