DODGERS NOTEBOOK: BIZARRE TWISTS FOR HOCHEVAR.

Byline: Tony Jackson Staff Writer

The strange case of still-unsigned Dodgers top draft pick Luke Hochevar, the reigning College Pitcher of the Year at the University of Tennessee, took another bizarre turn last week.

Hochevar, the 40th overall pick in this year's draft, didn't attend a fall semester class before last Friday's drop/add deadline, keeping negotiating rights with the Dodgers alive. But the Daily News has learned that the following events took place later that same day:

-- Hochevar fired Los Angeles-based agent Scott Boras as his advisor. At the behest of his roommate, best friend and Tennessee teammate Eli Iorg - an outfielder drafted by Houston with the 38th overall pick - Hochevar agreed to allow Iorg's San Francisco-based agents, Paul Cobbe and Matt Sosnick, to represent him.

-- Hochevar, while being advised by Cobbe and Sosnick, agreed to terms on a $2.98 million signing bonus, which would have been the highest ever paid by any club to a non-first-round pick.

-- Before actually signing the deal, Hochevar reneged and went back to Boras. This took place after what Cobbe described as a ``heated exchange'' over the telephone between Hochevar and someone presumed to be Boras. At the time, Hochevar was at the Tennessee home of Iorg's father, former major-league outfielder Garth Iorg, and Cobbe said he and Sosnick overheard Hochevar in the background while they talked by telephone to one of the Iorges.

Cobbe, in a telephone interview with the Daily News on Wednesday, confirmed these events, saying the original switch from Boras had been prompted by Hochevar's frustration with the pace of the negotiations - which had stood still for weeks with the Dodgers offering $2.3 million and Boras demanding $4 million for Hochevar, who clearly would have gone higher in the draft had the hardline-negotiating Boras not been advising him.

``Luke told Eli he was tired and was going to sign their original offer of $2.3 million,'' Cobbe said. ``Eli told him, 'Wait and talk to my guys first,' and Luke was willing to do that. We believed Luke could do better than the $2.3 million, because he probably would have gone seventh in the draft if not for extenuating circumstances regarding his representation.''

Cobbe said Dodgers scouting director Logan White initially declined to negotiate with him and Sosnick until he received a signed document from Hochevar indicating Cobbe and Sosnick were now advising the pitcher. Once that document was procured and faxed to White, negotiations commenced and an agreement was reached in what Cobbe says was ``about 45 minutes.''

But Cobbe said neither he nor Sosnick has been able to contact Hochevar since the agreement was reached, after which White is said to have dispatched Dodgers scout Marty Lamb from his base in Lexington, Ky., to Knoxville, Tenn., for the formal signing of the agreement. After leaving his home around midnight and driving most of the night, Lamb also wasn't able to contact Hochevar.

White and general manager Paul DePodesta declined to comment.

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com