I think there's a wider opportunity here than just food, what about travel etc? Some early adopters could get better results from their Minor Leaguers whilst others are injuring their best prospects on Marine assault courses ....

I've often wondered about this too. Teams often do not seem to be operating in their own best interests. What you eat affects brain development (the ability to learn) too. Why would teams leave that to shallow-pocketed players? Then there's those who do not speak English. Remember the movie "Sugar", where the Dominican players all eat pancakes because they don't know how to order anything else? Chances are, that is a reasonably accurate depiction.

I think any program like this needs to consider that there are issues beyond availability. Will the kids really eat their veggies? I think a review of high school cafeteria garbage will give you the answer.
For wherever they are there would be other food available if there was demand. You can get a salad at McDonalds, a low cal meal at IHop. Supply is not the issue. Education may help but providing a spread will not force that salmon into their mouths.

Interesting article. Teams pay millions in signing bonuses each year but then nickel and dime players once they are part of the organization. With the new rules limiting bonuses and TV deals exploding, the industry should have a lot of extra lying around.

There are just too many jokes regarding the Pirates implementing this plan that my brain is on overload.

You can offset a portion of the additional nutrition costs by eliminating the (now unnecessary) per diems. I'll bet you could also use it to lower signing bonuses (marginally, no doubt) by guaranteeing prospects three square meals a day for as long as they're playing.

This is something that's been bothering me for a long time. The problem, as you point out, is money but even more than that, logistics. How do you get the nutritious food to players in remote outposts (although Rancho Cucamonga ain't one of them--it's smack dab in the middle of LA's Inland Empire megalopolis) on a daily basis? Then you have to get it to them while they're on the road as well. Sure, you could set up a catering service in Peoria, but what happens when they're in Burlington, IA? A week of box lunches?

Then there is the issue of getting them to eat the food. I'm not sure this is as big a problem as it might seem. From reading the twitter accounts of minor leaguers, a lot of them seem to care a lot about what goes into their bodies. This makes sense. Almost all of these guys were elite athletes at their HS or College and they've been around people for a long time who have been stressing nutrition as a way to a better body. Sure, they down an occasional Big Mac, but they do make an effort to seek out better quality food whenever possible. At least they claim that they do.

Now that leaves out the Latin players. Obviously food is going to be the biggest issue for them. Some of them were living in conditions of malnutrition all of their lives. All of them have trouble gaining access to the food that they grew up and are used to. They're likely the ones who need the most help in this area and are the least likely to get it.

I wonder if there's not a compromise between your catering option and the handing out of meal money checks and telling them they're on their own. I would think that if the clubhouse was stocked with free grains, fruits and vegetables, players would take them and supplement their own diet with them. Teams already do this to a certain extent, but it could be aggressively expanded.

On top of that, they could design a nutritional program for each player to follow with suggestions as to how to meet them. It would be just like a training program. If the players fail to follow this advice, that's just another way of weeding out those who weren't going to make it anyway for lack of self-discipline.

With apologies to Bush 43, we have to ask, "Why isn't our prospects developing?"

Having spent many years in the restaurant and catering business - and with the caveat that I have been out of that business for almost 15 years now - $25 per head per meal sounds crazy high for what you are proposing. I think this can be done for much less, particularly at lunch.

It seems like people are forgetting that most major league teams don't own their minor league affiliates outright and many of the players, particularly at the lower levels, aren't under contract to the MLB team and are just roster filler. I supposed you could insist that the affiliates institute some sort of nutritional programs and pick up the tab for better food, but at the end of the day you are going to feed a lot of guys that are never going to make it to MLB. Given the billions in revenue that still might be penny wise, pound foolish, but I can understand why it doesn't happen.

I'm a scout in Asia and I can tell you this is an oft-cited reason used by professional teams here to NOT sign with MLB clubs. The bad treatment of minor leaguers in general is a stumbling block in signing players here, but the food is sort of the representative complaint.

Between the advantages of team bonding and healthier players, this is a no-brainer. If catering is an issue go to a restaurant that will serve a group meal (no menus) dictated by a nutrition consultant.

As far as costs go, what do you think Detroit, SF, and Philly would pay to scratch a few pounds from Fielder, Sandoval and Howard?

If you removed their meal allowance and had control over the menu, the teams would be able to dictate the diet of their players. Of course, as you said, you can't prohibit guys hitting Wendy's at 2am, but it would greatly reduce that.

The $2M number seems like an obvious choice for teams. I wonder about the spread in major league clubhouses and how that affects the diets of MLB players.