A’s follow several other MLB teams, insitute staff cuts
The Oakland A’s will follow the lead of other baseball teams hit hard financially by the coronavirus pandemic by instituting widespread furloughs across their organization next week, the team confirmed Tuesday.
The A’s will furlough members of their baseball operations staff as well as their business operations through Oct. 31. In all, half of the A’s entire front office will be furloughed, sources told this news organization.
Oakland’s amateur scouts will be furloughed following the MLB draft on June 10-11, according to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez. The team’s pro scouts will be among those furloughed next week.
In addition to those furloughed, the A’s will also cut costs by slashing pay for those making more than $60,000. Those A’s executives remaining will be taking scaled pay reductions. Pay cuts will also be in effect through Oct. 31.
Those pay cuts extend into the minor league branches, too. The A’s confirmed that weekly $400 stipends for minor league players would be cut off starting at the end of May and until the uniform player contract suspension is lifted. The team had agreed to pay its minor leaguers the stipend through Monday.
News of the A’s costcutting measures come one week after this news organization reported the team has yet to pay their annual $1.2 million in rent to use the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s cited a “force majeure” clause in their rental agreement that relieves both sides from obligation when there’s an extraordinary event.
The A’s have told the Coliseum Authority they would be deferring payment “until we have a better understanding of when the Coliseum will be available for our use.” That answer should come fairly soon since Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are currently negotiating a possible start to the season in early July.
After the Tampa Bay Rays began putting employees on furlough and cutting salaries of others in April, many other teams have followed suit, including the Marlins, Reds, Pirates, Cubs and, most recently, the Angels.