According to an article released this morning from deadspin.com, the Phillies ratted out two of their 2013 draft picks to the NCAA for negotiating with agents this past summer. The story, by Barry Petchesky (origional article), reports that pitcher Ben Wetzler from Oregon State will be suspended for his senior year because of the NCAA investigation into whether he negotiated with an agent or not. Petchesky relays that collegiate and high school players have been using agents for these types of negotiations for many years now, but the Phillies are the first team to have actually reported a player for it since 1992. It looks to be a tough luck situation for Wetzler, as the Phillies may have just been looking to get back at him for not signing with them.
First off, the Phillies made a huge mistake here. Getting back at two draftees that didn't sign is not worth the large amount of bad publicity that they will now gain with future draftees and college teams. When non-seniors are drafted by the Phillies in upcoming drafts, many may opt to not go into negotiations with an agent out of fear of suspension, and instead just return to college for another year. I anticipate that these reports will hurt the Phillies over the course of upcoming drafts, and they may end up not signing many guys that they otherwise would.
Another, under the radar, way that these reports will hurt the Phillies can be found in the fact that college coaches can restrict particular MLB teams from scouting their players. So if Pat Casey, the Oregon State head baseball coach, doesn't want the Phillies to gain access to some extra scouting opportunities of his players, he may allow every team but the Phillies into his practices. If some college teams end up doing this, it could have a major impact on the scouting department for the Phillies, and would hurt their drafting abilities even more. This move, reporting these two players to the NCAA, will come back to bite the Phillies, and there is no way around that, but what about other college or high school players? What needs to be done to help them? The real problem in this situation is the NCAA's rule that restricts current athletes from having agents.
I think the NCAA's 'no agent' rule is terrible, and unfair to the players who participate in college athletics. Although I may not agree with it, I can see the reasoning behind not allowing NCAA athletes to be paid or receive gifts, but not allowing them to hire an agent is just wrong. They make no money off of hiring agents, and ultimately have to pay for them out of their own pocket. Having an agent isn't a way to cheat the NCAA system, it is simply a way for athletes to enter the professional world and not get cheated out of money they deserve by their new employers. Yes, in an ideal world MLB officials would offer those draftees what they deserve and everyone would end up happy, but with the strict draft spending limits placed on teams, clubs will try to save money in any way that they can. This makes it hard even for an agent, whose job it is to get the best deal possible for his client, to get a fair price. Making a teenager, who probably has very little experience with money and negotiations, go into a meeting with a major league club and expecting them to come out of it with a successful decision that will affect the rest of their life is terrible.
I am currently an 19 year old college student, the same age as many draftees, and there is no way I would be able to negotiate with a big league club, especially if that club was working as hard as they can to pay me as little as possible. As an informed baseball fan, I would like to think that I could go into one and find a contract at a value that I like, but the more that I think about it, the less that seems like a possibility. Heck, even 10 year major league veteran who have negotiated many contracts throughout their career still have agents for nearly all of the decision making because they know that those agents will do a much better job.
If the NCAA is really all about giving college students athletes the best possible chance to succeed in the future, why do they insist in restricting their ability to land their first big post-college job? Although the Phillies may have just hurt their drafting and scouting departments for the next few years, the NCAA is the true culprit in these reports. The Phillies hurt both Wetzler and themselves, but the NCAA hurts its entire pool of student-athletes with their ignorant rules towards players and agents, and it is the NCAA that is the true problem.
Who knows, maybe next the NCAA doesn't give Wetzler a chance to appeal his suspension, apparently they have the power...
First off, the Phillies made a huge mistake here. Getting back at two draftees that didn't sign is not worth the large amount of bad publicity that they will now gain with future draftees and college teams. When non-seniors are drafted by the Phillies in upcoming drafts, many may opt to not go into negotiations with an agent out of fear of suspension, and instead just return to college for another year. I anticipate that these reports will hurt the Phillies over the course of upcoming drafts, and they may end up not signing many guys that they otherwise would.
Another, under the radar, way that these reports will hurt the Phillies can be found in the fact that college coaches can restrict particular MLB teams from scouting their players. So if Pat Casey, the Oregon State head baseball coach, doesn't want the Phillies to gain access to some extra scouting opportunities of his players, he may allow every team but the Phillies into his practices. If some college teams end up doing this, it could have a major impact on the scouting department for the Phillies, and would hurt their drafting abilities even more. This move, reporting these two players to the NCAA, will come back to bite the Phillies, and there is no way around that, but what about other college or high school players? What needs to be done to help them? The real problem in this situation is the NCAA's rule that restricts current athletes from having agents.
I think the NCAA's 'no agent' rule is terrible, and unfair to the players who participate in college athletics. Although I may not agree with it, I can see the reasoning behind not allowing NCAA athletes to be paid or receive gifts, but not allowing them to hire an agent is just wrong. They make no money off of hiring agents, and ultimately have to pay for them out of their own pocket. Having an agent isn't a way to cheat the NCAA system, it is simply a way for athletes to enter the professional world and not get cheated out of money they deserve by their new employers. Yes, in an ideal world MLB officials would offer those draftees what they deserve and everyone would end up happy, but with the strict draft spending limits placed on teams, clubs will try to save money in any way that they can. This makes it hard even for an agent, whose job it is to get the best deal possible for his client, to get a fair price. Making a teenager, who probably has very little experience with money and negotiations, go into a meeting with a major league club and expecting them to come out of it with a successful decision that will affect the rest of their life is terrible.
I am currently an 19 year old college student, the same age as many draftees, and there is no way I would be able to negotiate with a big league club, especially if that club was working as hard as they can to pay me as little as possible. As an informed baseball fan, I would like to think that I could go into one and find a contract at a value that I like, but the more that I think about it, the less that seems like a possibility. Heck, even 10 year major league veteran who have negotiated many contracts throughout their career still have agents for nearly all of the decision making because they know that those agents will do a much better job.
If the NCAA is really all about giving college students athletes the best possible chance to succeed in the future, why do they insist in restricting their ability to land their first big post-college job? Although the Phillies may have just hurt their drafting and scouting departments for the next few years, the NCAA is the true culprit in these reports. The Phillies hurt both Wetzler and themselves, but the NCAA hurts its entire pool of student-athletes with their ignorant rules towards players and agents, and it is the NCAA that is the true problem.
Who knows, maybe next the NCAA doesn't give Wetzler a chance to appeal his suspension, apparently they have the power...