A bad week for Oakland A’s baseball: What sweeping cost cuts will mean for team

Minor league baseball has taken a few hits recently. Perhaps the biggest blow came with Thursday’s news that hundreds of players will be cut by their teams.

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 Uniform Player Contracts by declining to pay their 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. “They’ve spent millions on taking first steps to get started on Howard Terminal, too.”

What are the A’s minor leaguers saying?

The A’s minor leaguers didn’t sign up for this, to answer for or publicly grapple with the organization’s penny-wise decisions. General manager David Forst’s email to those affected said the simple math of lost revenue justified the sweeping pay cuts.

Here is the email David Forst sent to players today: https://t.co/rwHqiAeKla pic.twitter.com/rEZK2RC1eZ

— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) May 27, 2020

Some minor leaguers took to Twitter to advocate for themselves. For some, the decision made by A’s executives came as little surprise.

“A lot of people have reached out to me regarding this move, it’s frustrating but it’s exactly what I expected,” Stockton Ports right-hander Aiden McIntyre tweeted. “I hope all my boys in other orgs get better & maybe share.”

Amid a very public negotiation over the resumption of baseball during a pandemic — and without a minor league representative seated at the negotiating table — those in the A’s system must now face the prospect of finding work until the commissioner un-suspends UPCs.

A canceled minor league season looms. And there’s a chance A’s minor-leaguers will not see a baseball paycheck until April of next year.

“From September of 2019 to April of 2021 (I will make) roughly $5,600,” Las Vegas Aviators left-hander Zack Erwin tweeted. “This includes the $1,200 COVID-19 stimulus check I qualified to receive from the government. 19 months bringing in only $5,600.”

What’s more, the minor league UPC restricts minor-leaguers from seeking work with another major league club. Added to the uncertainty around the viability of a minor league season is the itching concern over how and when players can find a non-baseball job.

Peter Bayer, a right-hander for the Stockton Ports, hopped on a delivery job with DoorDash when COVID-19 suspended the season on March 12. The MLB’s emergency compensation program (which lasted until April 9) allowed him to take a break from DoorDash.

Despite the A’s maintaining exclusive rights, which includes full health benefits, the unpaid players can file for unemployment under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program in California for up to 36 weeks.

These optics as bad as we think?

The A’s organization has a reputation as a haven for prospects to fast track their way to the bigs. That reputation may have taken a hit.

“It would be hard to go back to that team and hear them talk about how they care about their minor-league players,” Bayer told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s all they ever feed us, but in a time of need they can’t even take care of us. I’ve completely lost respect for everyone involved in that decision.”

The A’s $225 million in revenue ranked 29th behind the Miami Marlins in 2019, yet the Marlins promised to extend the weekly stipend for their minor leaguers. The A’s total estimated savings for that $5,200 per player: roughly $1 million.

“A’s cap is green. The amount of green that represents the gold is not very much,” Dolich said. “Why would you do anything to diminish a young player’s enthusiasm for working his way through the system and getting there?”

In a rare public address, though still behind the comforts of a screen, A’s owner John Fisher sent an email to fans and the gutted A’s staff.

“I know that many of you will wonder why the A’s are cutting costs now,” Fisher said in the note. “Nobody knows how this pandemic will evolve over the longterm. What is clear is that our revenues will be dramatically reduced this year.”

A note from A’s owner John Fisher… pic.twitter.com/jyyztfe9Ix

— Athletics Farm (@AthleticsFarm) May 27, 2020

“From the business side, which is understandable, some will do it and have done this,” Dolich said, recalling the cuts the A’s business operations office took during the 1994 MLBPA strike. “On the baseball side? You don’t see that a lot in terms of scouts and the $400 a week to minor leaguers. That sticks with you for a long time.”

Is this a fatal blow for Howard Terminal project?

Not necessarily. Though the already ambitious goal of having shovels in ground by 2021 for a 2023 grand opening seems far out of the realm of opportunity.

“This is major. They’re not breaking ground — do you need to be a fortune teller to say that?” Dolich said. “The ultimate EIR is COVID-19. Until it’s more certain how it impacts our global environment, any talk of a new ballpark is a bit illogical. Has it suffered a significant blow? Clearly, yes. Is it over? I would reserve my judgment.”

Are the A’s in that much financial trouble?

It seems as though these moves are just cautionary, despite the backlash, for a hazy economy post-COVID. Three months without revenue takes its toll, and the A’s are entering their final season in a four-year phase out of revenue sharing checks.

Fisher took a fair share of backlash as a billionaire worth an estimated $2 billion letting employees fall by the financial wayside.

The answer might be simple: The A’s may be saving now, but they were heavy spending before the pandemic on efforts to put a shovel in the ground at Howard Terminal. They spent $85 million in Alameda County for half of the Coliseum property.

The team is not in the red, which makes the cost cuts to A’s staff and minor-leaguers hard to swallow.