[Kevin Sevcik]

It's pretty liked that 1678 had already talked with all four teams and was told they'd be declined. Knowing that, they clearly wanted to breakup any potential powerhouse alliances to make sure they still had a chance at winning the division. Given their eventual pick, I wouldn't be surprised if 148 suggested the strategy to begin with, really. So you shouldn't feel bad for the rep, they almost certainly expected that and were executing the relatively standard scorched earth strategy that non-powerhouse 1st seeds often end up with.