The Oakland Athletics are broke, and continue to be a joke
The Oakland Athletics are hemorrhaging money they don’t have and their minor leaguers are the next to feel the blow of not getting paid.
There are small market teams and then there are teams with no money. Apparently the Oakland Athletics check both those boxes these days after being the first major league baseball team to announce they will be ending payment to their minor league players, effective at the end of the month.
The financial situation surrounding major league baseball teams and its players is obviously not good. Unfortunately for those players in the Athletics minor league system the situation is dire.
The Oakland A's informed minor league players today that they would not continue paying them $400 a week after the end of the month, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2020
Other decisions from organizations should arrive in the coming days. A bad sign to start, though.
Players had been getting paid a measly $400 a week during the shutdown, and now they won’t even be able to collect that. They’ll be expected to stay in playing condition while be forced to find other means of income in the short term.
Most likely there will not be a minor league season and the Athletics are not obligated to pay anyone. The right thing to do is pay the players some sort of stipend, considering if they were playing they would not be making much more.
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I get it though, no money is coming in, therefore no money can be paid out.
This is on the heels of the Athletics announcing they haven’t been paying rent to use RingCentral Coliseum. I guess the A’s are thinking they are not using the stadium so they should not have to pay rent.
Basically the A’s have no money. Back in the day, Bud Selig was trying to contract the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins for way less than this. Anyone read the book Finley Ball? Charlie Finley bought the A’s franchise in 1960 and moved the franchise from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968.
There have been issues with the stadium dating back to that time. Most recent was the massive sewage leak which flooded both locker rooms and sent players running for cover.
Next. Jays: Pitchers the team could draft in 2020. dark
Not paying minor league players is one thing, running a cut-rate professional baseball program is another. Time for Major League Baseball to look long and hard at the situation in Oakland.