Minor league baseball has taken a few hits recently. Perhaps the biggest blow came with news that teams would cut hundreds of players.
But, earlier in the week, the spotlight shined on Oakland when the A’s announced half their workforce — from business to baseball operations — would be furloughed or receive pay cuts.
The baseball operations cuts seeped into the player ranks, with Oakland becoming the first, so far, to utilize the suspended minor league Uniform Player Contract by declining to pay minor-leaguers their $400 weekly stipend for the remainder of the suspension.
And this all came a week after news broke that the A’s deferred their $1.2 million rent to the Coliseum Authority. The negative PR, according to those around the league, outweighs the positives of saving money during the suspended season.
“Why would you drop a weight on your toe in the form of a rent spat, furloughs and larger issues of major league baseball and labor dispute?” former A’s executive Andy Dolich said.