Photo Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

A couple of days ago, it was announced that the Phillies had fired assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting Marti Wolever. Wolever was the guy in charge of the amateur draft, and had been with the team since 1992. He was in charge of scouting when we drafted Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard, but his legacy will likely be that he snitched on college prospect Ben Wetzler for having an agent because Wetzler decided to remain in college after being drafted by the Phillies.

Wetzler, who was drafted by the Marlins after posting a nation-leading 0.78 ERA his senior year, said he isn’t angry at Wolever, but thinks the rules need to change. According to OregonLive, Wetzler said:

“I think the NCAA just really needs to look at it and realize that you can’t expect 18 to 21-year-olds to know the business side of baseball. If they can’t have someone there listening, I just feel like that’s just not right.

These (front-office) guys are going to try and exploit and save every dollar that they can. You’re not going to go to court without having a lawyer. So why not have somebody there to talk to when you’re about to make that sort of decision?”

The man who advised Wetzler during his negotiations with the Phillies, Northwest Sports Management Group President Nik Lubisich, was a family friend who “never sat in on discussions” with the team, and only advised Wetzler over the phone. It’s unlikely we’ll ever know if this had something to do with Wolever losing his job, but with a few years of bad drafts, plus an incident that made the entire franchise look like vindictive crybabies, the move is unsurprising.

h/t reader Andy