Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
The A’s are doing the right thing. For probably the wrong reasons, but it probably does not matter much to Oakland minor leaguers.
A’s owner John Fisher reportedly is doing a 180 and has pledged to pay the team’s minor leaguers their stipends through the end of what would be the minor league season, through August. Fisher told The Chronicle that after talks with his front office, “I concluded I’d made a mistake.”
The A’s had been the only team to decide they would stop paying the $400-per-week pledge to the vulnerable group of minor leaguers, who already make so little. When May turned to June, MLB’s vow to keep the minor leaguers paid ran out, and most teams pledged to do right by their prospects.
The Nationals docked pay from $400 per week to $300, only for their players to come forward and pledge money — causing ownership to, like Fisher, reverse course. The Giants have pledged to pay their minor leaguers but only through June, thus far; San Francisco also was one of the many teams to release a batch of minor leaguers (20) just before June.
Fisher, worth $2.2 billion according to Forbes, also told The Chronicle the team will create an emergency fund for furloughed employees — which encompasses more than half their employees, furloughed through the end of October.
It’s a step that saves face, that helps employees and players and also could make sense on the field. The A’s had no chance to lure MLB draft prospects who fall out of next week’s five-round draft otherwise.