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David Forst says A's have cut, shortened furloughs for amateur scouts

The A’s planned to furlough their scouts after the MLB draft in a well-documented cost-cutting move that proved wildly unpopular within the baseball community and among fans at large. The team’s amateur scouts were charged with assisting through the draft, before taking an involuntary leave into the fall.

But the team now has reversed course on that edict. A’s general manager David Forst said Wednesday that some area scouts were never furloughed, and the rest are scheduled to return earlier than previously announced.

The decision was made easier because there’s work to be done. Baseball has lifted its in-person scouting ban, allowing scouts to travel in smaller numbers to prospect showcases.