A’s draw ire for minorleague move
Next week, the A’s will cease paying many people responsible for their past successes as well as the players who represent the team’s future.
On Tuesday, the team furloughed more than half its employees, including more than 90 people in baseball operations, effective Monday, and informed all of its minorleaguers that they will no longer receive their $400aweek stipends.
The A’s are the first, and to date, only club to halt payments to minorleaguers during baseball’s coronavirus shutdown. Nine other MLB teams have said they will continue to pay the stipends after the league’s
“The A’s like throwing around the word ‘family’ ... so they feel like their family has betrayed them.”
Garrett Broshuis, attorney, on minorleaguers’ plight
policy to do so expires Sunday.
“Oakland means a lot to me, getting drafted by them was a special moment for me and I’ll always be grateful for it, so it’s hard to see them be the first one to come out and do something in a negative way,” said Class A Stockton pitcher Aiden McIntyre, who was drafted in 2018’s 22nd round out of Holy Names University in Oakland. “And it’s also hard to see that they couldn’t work something out with the people who’ve helped build the A’s over the last 2030 years.
“It’s very hard to preach family and then not act like it when times are difficult.”
“Family” was referenced frequently by more than a dozen A’s employees and minorleaguers with whom The Chronicle spoke this week. Owner John Fisher repeatedly used that word in an email he sent to staff, fans and minorleaguers Tuesday. The usage didn’t go over well, to put it mildly.
“It’s so hard to think about all the things they tell us during spring training about how we’re a vital part of the organization and then they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re not going to help you guys out,’ ” said Peter Bayer, a reliever for Stockton. “It’s going to be so detrimental to the franchise. Maybe they do realize that and they just don’t care.”
“Players are angry, they feel deceived,” said attorney Garrett Broshuis , a former Giants prospect who now represents minorleaguers for the St. Louis law firm Korein Tillery. “The A’s like throwing around the word ‘family,’ and that’s what teams are about, so they feel like their family has betrayed them.”
Many players noted that the Marlins, last in the majors in attendance last season and second to last in payroll, have committed to paying their minorleaguers through the end of August.
“It’s disappointing,” said Jason Krizan, an outfielder with TripleA Las Vegas. “Obviously the money isn’t coming in, I get that, but it hurts to see the Marlins continue to pay their players when they made the least in baseball last year.”
One agent, who was granted anonymity under The Chronicle’s anonymoussource policy because of the business he does with the A’s, said those in his office scoffed when they read Fisher’s email to employees and fans.
“You’ve just made everyone realize what the cheapest organization in baseball is,” he said. “The Marlins paid their minorleaguers through Aug. 31 because they didn’t want to send that message. I don’t think John Fisher understands what he’s lost in PR.”
The A’s will continue to pay benefits to all their minorleaguers and they have no plans to release any of them. Numerous teams were expected to make major cuts to their farm systems this week, and Krizan was among the A’s players who said he’d rather remain affiliated with a club and receive benefits than be released with no medical insurance.
Bayer, however, said he wouldn’t necessarily mind getting released.
“I’d rather not make anything and have freedom than be locked into a contract when who knows what will happen? It feels like blatant disrespect,” he said, noting that he’ll now have to find extra work, probably delivering food or packages — and potentially put his health at risk in the process. “If they’re not going to release us, compensate us.”
It is not entirely clear if minorleaguers can receive unemployment benefits; they are classified as seasonal employees who are under contract, which in the past has meant they were ineligible.
“Usually, they would not qualify,” Broshuis said. “What the A’s have done changes everything — there is no expectation of a season or a normal salary soon. It’s just like being furloughed. In fact, it’s worse than being furloughed in my book, because they can’t go across the bay and say to the Giants, ‘Hey, I hear you guys are paying.’ They can’t take their skills elsewhere.”
Broshuis is advising players to apply for COVID19 relief and unemployment, but he said different states and potentially even different staffers at agencies may respond differently to applications.
“The terrible part is that these players are still employees of the Oakland A’s. They’re being told they still have to train and do work to stay ready for the A’s — but now they’re asking the taxpayers to take care of them,” Broshuis said. “We’re asking taxpayers to throw them a lifeline, not the billionaire owner.”
Bayer sent a letter expressing minorleague players’ frustrations to general manager David Forst on Wednesday. Forst acknowledged receiving it, but had no comment and vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane was unavailable for comment.
The cuts to the A’s payroll lay entirely with the team’s owners. “The people at the top there are good people,” said one bigleague executive, “and Fisher obviously isn’t listening to them.”
Halting minorleague stipends saved the A’s less than $1 million, agents estimate. “They could take 20% of Kyler Murray’s signing bonus and pay us for a year,” one minorleaguer cracked, referencing the $4.66 million the A’s handed their 2018 firstround pick before he headed to the NFL.
Furloughing nearly every scout and minorleague coach and staff member likely saved several million more dollars, one insider said. Minorleague coach Webster Garrison, who has just started rehab after spending more than two months in the hospital with COVID19, was not furloughed, nor was scouting supervisor Scott Kidd, who had a heart transplant in January. The team also did not furlough staff members who are on work visas or have other international residency issues.
Some took the news in stride. One longtime scout said he didn’t expect to get paid when he’s not working, and another simply fretted for the team, worrying the A’s will fall behind other clubs when it comes to preparing for the 2021 draft.
Many in the organization wonder why the club has added executives and offices at Jack London Square — which cost $2 million a year — as part of the push for a stadium at Howard Terminal but, with nothing to show for it, is now failing to support the baseball side.
Worse still is the breach of trust for a team that long has prided itself on its loyalty, which is reflected in its low employee turnover despite decades of frugality. Retaining top talent, across the board, might be hard.
There are also uncertainties and questions about the severity of the financial situation in which the team finds itself. More than three months without revenue is tough, certainly, and the A’s no longer benefit from revenue sharing, but the franchise has ballooned to an estimated $1.1 billion in value since Fisher purchased it for $180 million in 2005. Fisher’s net worth has slipped with the clothing company Gap’s fortunes in the past months, but he’s still a billionaire, and the A’s have lost money only once during his ownership: last year, when the team continued its newstadiumrelated spending spree.
On the flip side, the A’s have among the fewest longterm player commitments in baseball and they carry virtually no debt. They recently deferred their $1.25 million rent payment at the Coliseum, but a meeting is scheduled Friday to discuss payments.
In the meantime, those furloughed or left without stipends will try to make do.
“I’m trying to take the grateful route,” DoubleA Midland starting pitcher James Naile said. “It’s a rough time for everyone across the minor leagues, but you learn it’s a business and this is just another example. I’m sure it brought the executives no joy making that decision.
“I know there are still a lot of people who have it worse than we do. I think we’ll all get through this OK.”