By John Manuel
September 19, 2005

The Dodgers and Tennessee All-American righthander Luke Hochevar came close to a contract agreement over the Labor Day weekend. Now, after that soap opera has ended, the Dodgers and their top draft pick will start the negotiating process from scratch.

No one is supposed to be talking about the affair in which Hochevar switched agents, briefly choosing Matt Sosnick to represent him before switching back to his attorney, Scott Boras. Sosnick negotiated a $2.98 million bonus with the Dodgers, but before the organization got a contract to Hochevar, he had spoken with Boras, decided against signing the contract and went back to Boras as his representative.

In the wake of the weekend and its aftermath of charges and counter-charges, the Dodgers pulled back all their contract offers.

Also, the Players Association is looking into the conduct of Boras and Sosnick. Gene Orza, the union’s chief operating officer, said he would not call it an investigation, but said he had imposed a gag order on Sosnick and Boras regarding the Hochevar affair. He said the union considered Boras to be Hochevar’s agent.

“Both parties have the obligation and the opportunity to state their case in front of the Players Association,” Orza said. “These two guys have different versions of what happened, and one of them isn’t telling the truth. In the middle of this is a player whose interests we want to protect.

“There is also the issue of the agents’ conduct . . . that is called into question.”

No one disputes that Hochevar was a Boras client throughout the spring and that Sept. 2, he faxed a letter to Dodgers scouting director Logan White telling him to negotiate with Sosnick, part of the Sosnick-Cobbe Sports agency.

In the days after the incident, Boras said he could only surmise that White had worked with Sosnick to get a Hochevar deal done, but Boras later recanted and told the Los Angeles Times that he does not believe White or the Dodgers had anything to do with Hochevar’s agent switch.

In the meantime, the Dodgers have decided to let the matter cool off while they decide how to proceed. General manager Paul DePodesta has informed Boras the $2.98 million offer is no longer available.

"It's certainly not a punitive measure on our part," DePodesta told the L.A. Daily News. "It's just something we felt we needed to do in order to help clear up some of the events of the past couple of weeks in hopes of settling the situation. This will afford us some time to reevaluate our position before moving forward."

How ever the organization moves forward, its bonus offer to Hochevar is likely to move backward. The publicity of Hochevar’s Labor Day weekend regarding contact with agents and contract negotiations all but eliminated his college eligibility, removing the greatest leverage Hochevar had in contract talks--the threat of returning to Tennessee.