Angels Are Shameful for Furloughing Employees More Aggressively Than Small Market Teams
By Jerry Trotta
We can now strangely add the Los Angeles Angels to the extensive list of organizations that have succumbed to the financial tensions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. According to MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, the club will begin furloughing scouts that have spent the last 12 months evaluating draft-eligible prospects in three different countries -- the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada -- starting in June.
The list of furloughed employees will extend to minor league coaches, unspecified coordinators, and members of the player development support staff.
Angels deny they’re furloughing all US scouts but admit furloughing most. Even so, folks w/rival teams are surprised since Angels are a big-market, high-revenue team (w/3 $240M plus contracts in history) with an improving system. Are the furloughs short-sighted? @Ken_Rosenthal https://t.co/ufalf9WD8G
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 23, 2020
Calling this aggressive would be an understatement considering the Angels' settlement is far more harsh than the actions that small market teams are taking. Let's take the Oakland Athletics for example. They literally couldn't afford to pay the $1.2 million in rent they are obligated to fork over each month to call the Oakland Coliseum their home stadium.
Los Angeles' scouting director Matt Swanson will run the show during the five-round MLB Draft, which is set for June 10, and he will be accompanied by nine other assistants. However, the Angels have already come to the decision to furlough those nine employees almost a week after the event on June 16.
We get that these are tough and unprecedented times, but my goodness that is cruel, especially when your owner has a net worth of $3.3 billion.
The Angels have started informing non-playing baseball operations employees of furloughs that will be enacted after June 1, sources tell The Athletic. https://t.co/8k3pmVao3v
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 18, 2020
In April, Forbes valued the Angels at $1.975 billion, good for the ninth-highest mark in the league. To think that the club is taking the initiative to furlough non-playing employees is truly repulsive.