The Phillies have always been an organization that doesn’t like to ruffle any feathers within Major League Baseball. They haven’t been afraid to sign big contracts and acquire star players, but when it comes to playing nicely within the system of Major League Baseball, they are always content with the status quo.

And, when it comes to their treatment of players, the Phillies are, by all accounts, among the best in all of baseball. Players brimming with class like Roy Halladay rave about the class within the organization. To a man, when retired players come to Citizens Bank Park for alumni weekend, there are nothing but good things said about their treatment.

So, when it was reported that the Phillies had informed the NCAA that two college players they had been negotiating with –and who decided they were going back to school rather than sign– were using agents, my immediate reaction was to reserve judgment until I hear the Phillies side of the story.

Just about every college underclassman who is drafted uses an advisor/agent. To not use one while negotiating would be like following Prohibition laws in the 1930’s or sticking to the speed limit while driving the an open road in the desert. It just doesn’t happen. It’s par for the course as they say. So for the Phillies to rock the boat like this is terribly out of character.

I have two theories. One is that we have not heard the Phillies side of the story and so perhaps the players and their “advisors” were engaging in some sort of activity that forced the Phillies hand and they felt they had to drop a dime to the NCAA. Another theory is that this isn’t something that the organization condones at all and it was a decision made by a rogue scout out for revenge.

Perhaps I’m naive, but this just doesn’t fit with the Phillies we’ve come to know over the decades.