A’s president Dave Kaval apologized Tuesday after two photos of skimpy post-game meals the team provided to minor leaguers went viral on Twitter. Kaval said the A’s have terminated their deal with the vendor that served the meals.
The group Advocates for Minor Leaguers posted the photos shared by A’s minor leaguers featuring two unappetizing meals, saying “No employer would serve these meals to employees they care about. Why are the A’s serving them to their future Major Leaguers?”
The tweet caught fire and evoked comparisons to the reported “Fyre Festival” cheese sandwich meals.
Kaval responded to the tweet, saying, “This was totally unacceptable. When we found out several weeks ago we terminated the third party vendor. We apologize to our players, staff, and coaches. We will redouble our efforts to provide the best options for our team at every level.”
The A’s have a history of pinching pennies with their minor league affiliates. Amid baseball’s shutdown due to the pandemic, the A’s became the only MLB team to cut off payments to their minor leaguers beyond May 31. Minor league player salaries ranged from $290-500 per week at that point.
Public backlash and internal pressure from Kaval, executive vice president Billy Beane and general manager David Forst forced A’s owner John Fisher to reverse course, reinstate monthly stipends through what would have been the rest of the minor league season and apologize.
