Niko Goodrum is an MLB player with seven years of service across five teams, so he has played with some of the greats in the game from Miguel Cabrera to Jose Altuve, since playing his first full season in 2018 with the Detroit Tigers.
The Fayetteville, Georgia, native, has made over $5 million in his MLB career, which is a nice haul for playing a pro sport. However, Juan Soto’s recent $765 million contract with the NY Mets, coming on the heels of Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal with the Dodgers last offseason, has catapulted baseball salaries into another stratosphere.
MLB veteran Niko Goodrum joined The Shadow League “Locker Room” podcast to discuss the huge salary divide in MLB following Juan Soto’s mega contract. (TSL/Getty Images)
MLB Player Niko Goodrum Says Teams Aren’t Spreading The Wealth
While Goodrum — who had 29 at-bats for Ron Washington’s Los Angeles Angels in 2024 — hunts for his next team, he joined The Shadow League “Locker Room” podcast to discuss the huge salary divide in MLB following Juan Soto’s mega contract, where the Mets outbid their crosstown rivals the New York Yankees for the 26-year-old’s services.
Goodrum says the money is great – if you can get a piece of the pie.
“I just think there’s lot of money out there,” Goodrum said. “That’s all I hear is there’s a lot of money to be made and there’s a (gap) when you talk about the difference of pay.”
“You hear someone making $700 million, right, but then you turn around and see how many players aren’t making a million,” Goodrum continued. “That’s the problem we see as players who are in [MLB] because we sacrifice and work hard and go out there and do it and then see someone be able to pay someone $51 million a year … make a deal to that for 15 years. At that point, there’s gonna be more players like myself than ones that make $51 million a year. That money has got to start making sense when you talk about everyone else in the league because it takes a team to go out there and win those games.”
Nike Goodrum Has Made Just $5M Over Seven-Year MLB Career
In 2021, Goodrum signed a $2.1 million deal with the Detroit Tigers and then in 2022, Goodrum agreed to another $2.1 million, one-year contract with the Houston Astros. It was potentially his largest contract, which included $250,000 in performance bonuses for plate appearances: $50,000 each for 250, 300 and 400, and $100,000 for 500. Injuries and inconsistences limited him to just 43 at-bats.
His main concern with these burgeoning contracts for a select few superstars is that baseball takes nine starters, strong bench players and an entire pitching staff to win. Giving a couple of players the lion’s share of the money while others struggle to piece together contracts is problematic.
MLB Is A Business Run By Businessmen, But Non-Stars Are Underpaid
“So I think trying to make MLB see that we are going to take care of everybody in this space, where certain people don’t have to go get jobs after playing so long in the major leagues,” Goodrum said referencing the financial difficulties that some players face and how hard they have to fight for scraps in comparison to the guys who get these media-driven mega contracts.
The Minnesota Twins selected Goodrum in the second round, with the 71st overall selection, of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft out of Fayette County High School in suburban Atlanta. The speedy utility player got a $514,800 signing bonus.
Goodrum’s last three team contracts have been minor league deals, putting him in a place where he’s an MLB player with very little financial security.
“When you talk about that much money it lets you know how much money is being made. For me to pay one person $51M dollars this year, I make a lot of money and you start to see that it’s a business for these businessmen. So, whoever owns the Mets, probably owns a couple more companies … you can keep going down the list.
Mets owner Steve Cohen is one of the richest men in the world, worth a reported $21.5B. Cohen oversees Point72 Asset Management, a $35 billion (assets under management) hedge fund firm that started managing outside capital in 2018.
Cohen ran SAC Capital for years as it became one of the most successful hedge funds ever. So yeah, he’s paid in full, and it has nothing to do with the Mets team he bought in 2020 for $2.4 billion, the highest sale price ever for an MLB team.
Goodrum offered further perspective.
“When I was with Detroit our owner owned the Red Wings and Little Caesars pizza. You start to find out that we are just part of the business that they own. They have a lot of money that they make, if you can pay someone $51 million you start to see that TV deals they may sign, the apparel, all the deals that come into play there’s just some money to be made. It’s a good thing if you can get a piece of it.”
The billionaire owner Goodrum is referring to is Michael Ilitch Sr., who passed in 2017 and made a fortune as an entrepreneur and restaurateur, founding the popular franchise Little Caesars Pizza in addition to owning an MLB and NHL team.
Goodrum, who can be considered a journeyman, has played for the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, and Los Angeles Angels. He has also played in the KBO League for the Lotte Giants.
He’s currently seeking a team for the 2025 season.
