HOCHEVAR SAGA TAKING SEVERAL STRANGE TURNS.

Byline: Tony Jackson Staff Writer

Dodgers top draft pick Luke Hochevar said late Wednesday night that San Francisco-based agent Matt Sosnick made numerous attempts to steal him from Los Angeles-based agent Scott Boras before finally luring Hochevar last Friday night with the promise of a $2.98 million signing bonus that allegedly had already been negotiated with the Dodgers.

But evidence surfaced on Thursday that seemed to refute Hochevar's claim.

After agreeing to terms on the deal but not signing it, Hochevar called Boras. Following that conversation, he backed off the deal and retained Boras as his advisor, then made no further contact with Sosnick, Sosnick's partner Paul Cobbe or Dodgers scouting director Logan White.

But Cobbe denied all of Hochevar's claims. He said Eli Iorg, Hochevar's roommate, University of Tennessee teammate and a Sosnick-Cobbe client, initiated the Friday night conversation between Sosnick and Hochevar with Hochevar's blessing because Hochevar was frustrated with the pace of the negotiations, which had stood still for several weeks with the Dodgers offering $2.3 million and Boras demanding $4 million. Only then, Cobbe said, was the $2.98 million deal negotiated and reached.

``Eli had called Matt at the behest of Luke,'' Cobbe said. ``They had spent the day together, and Luke was down in the dumps about the whole thing. Eli called Matt and then passed the phone over to (Hochevar). Matt was leaving town, so he had to hang up when he got on the plane.''

Meanwhile, Hochevar, a right-hander and the 40th overall pick in the draft, appears to have sacrificed his last bit of negotiating leverage by signing what one source said is a ``standard agent-designation form'' with Boras. That officially ends Hochevar's college baseball eligibility and leaves him with few options if the Dodgers walk away from the negotiations entirely - something they seem prepared to do.

Boras wouldn't confirm that Hochevar signed such an agreement, but did say an agreement Hochevar signed on Friday authorizing Sosnick to negotiate on his behalf actually ended his college eligibility.

Finally, former major-league outfielder Garth Iorg released a written, signed statement on Thursday claiming Boras threatened to sue Hochevar, Sosnick's agency and the Dodgers if Hochevar signed the deal Sosnick had negotiated for him - a charge Boras denied. The alleged threat came during the aforementioned telephone conversation between Boras and Hochevar, who was in Iorg's Knoxville, Tenn., home at the time attending a birthday dinner party for Iorg's wife.

Eli Iorg, Garth's son, is Hochevar's best friend and was taken with the 38th overall pick by Houston.

``After hearing the terms of the contract ... Luke seemed and acted like a very happy person,'' Garth Iorg's statement read. ``He hugged us, called his parents and even took a celebration picture with my son Eli. ... The accusations toward Matt Sosnick of stalking, harassing and/or lying to Luke are very untrue. Luke was very happy until Scott Boras called Luke and threatened to sue him, Sosnick Cobbe Sports and the L.A. Dodgers.''

Reached by phone on Thursday, Garth Iorg said Hochevar relayed to him the alleged threats by Boras after getting off the phone. Boras called the claim ``completely inaccurate.''

``It's an attempt by a party to cover the activity of someone he may be close to,'' Boras said.

Late Wednesday night, Hochevar gave a telephone interview to the Daily News on which Boras and an associate listened in and at times coached Hochevar on what to say. Hochevar said Sosnick's attempts to lure him away from Boras culminated in four calls placed by Sosnick to Eli Iorg's cell phone during the Friday night dinner party, all in an attempt to get Hochevar on the phone. Hochevar said he refused to take the first three calls from Sosnick, but did accept the fourth.

``I wanted to tell him ... that I had been with Scott and would always be with Scott,'' Hochevar said. ``But he said he knew for a fact he could get me close to $3 million. (But) he said I had 10 minutes to make a decision.''

Hochevar says he then called his father, Brian, in Wray, Colo., who left the decision to his son. Hochevar says he then signed the documents authorizing Sosnick to negotiate on his behalf.

White disputed Hochevar's claim that Sosnick had negotiated a deal with White before Sosnick initially convinced Hochevar to leave Boras. White also disputed a claim by Hochevar that White had told Hochevar's mother he never would have received more than $2.3 million if Boras were still advising him.

``I will not dignify that with a response,'' White said. ``I don't want to put Luke and his family in a bad position. But from day one, it has never been about who the agent is.''

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

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