Mentioned it with sadness in the Bullets this morning in relation to the New York Yankees layoffs, because I knew it meant other teams would be following suit.
Sure enough, it’s hitting the Cubs:
Really tough day for the Cubs organization as sources confirm that a significant number of staff from player development along with amateur and pro scouting are being let go. Story coming soon with more details.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) August 26, 2020
Gut punch.
Most importantly, this makes me very sad for those employees and their families. We know that scouting has long been squeezed by increasingly modern Major League Baseball organizations, but the pandemic’s destruction of the minor league season and team finances hastened things. Moreover, with the minor leagues being shrunk dramatically next year and beyond, cuts to player development were probably always coming, too. But it still stings to know that many people in the baseball world are losing their jobs – maybe their careers – at this moment because of a gd pandemic that shut down the sport.
For the Cubs, who dramatically expanded their player development infrastructure just last year, I’d imagine the cuts are all the more frustrating and painful. It’s much, much worse for the people laid off, of course. It just makes me so sad to think about what has happened this year, to think about how so many people are affected, and to think about how it might’ve been different. We’ll never know.
I’ll update when there is more specific information available. Thoughts go out to those affected.
UPDATE: The full story, which notes that the affected staff – over double digits – will be paid through their contract term (October 31), so they are essentially getting notice today that they won’t be renewed:
Here's a story from @sahadevsharma and @PJ_Mooney on the Cubs cutting staffers in baseball operations. We will add to this story. https://t.co/ru9hat1UXF
— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) August 26, 2020