The Ones To Watch

Lee hasn't been so kind to the opposition. While playing for the Class A High Desert Mavericks in Adelanto, Calif., Lee hit .404 in May, with seven homers and 31 RBIs in 28 games, and he was named the California League Player of the Month. One day in June, as the Arizona brass looked on, Lee blasted a 450-foot grand slam to dead center and finished with three hits on the day. Said Diamondbacks director of player development Mel Didier, "In my 45 years, Travis is the best hitter I've ever seen."

Lee, 22, was tearing up Class A pitching so easily that the Diamondbacks would have moved him up to Double A but couldn't—they don't have a team at the Double A or Triple A level. So the Arizona front office decided to loan Lee to the Brewers' Triple A team in Tucson, where they could still keep close tabs on him. Through Sunday he had hit .283 with nine homers and 25 RBIs in only 30 games. So far, in addition to his big bat he has shown that he could be a top defensive first baseman too, with his vacuum-like mitt and spectacular mobility for a player his size.

Now all he needs is a major league team.

Draft Dodger

The contract negotiations between the Phillies and their 1997 first-round draft pick, outfielder J.D. Drew, have sunk to a new low—even for baseball. Drew, the second player taken, wants a signing bonus in the same neighborhood as Lee's $10 million. The Phillies don't want to go any higher than $3 million, so at week's end the two sides were at an impasse. "We were very clear with the Phillies," says the 21-year-old Drew, who hit .455 with 31 homers and 32 stolen bases as a junior at Florida State last season. "We let them know, if you don't have what it takes, then don't draft me."

The Phillies weren't listening. And they're beginning to regret it. After realizing that Drew wasn't going to get anything close to $10 million from Philadelphia, Drew's agent, Scott Boras, who has engineered some of the biggest signing bonuses in baseball history, has tried to get his client declared a free agent. That way, rich teams like the Yankees and the expansion clubs in Tampa Bay and Arizona could engage in a bidding war for Drew's services. That strategy has worked well for other Boras clients; righthanded starting pitcher Matt White got a record $10.2 million from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays last November. Perhaps the Phillies have White's record in mind. He was 0-4 at week's end with a 9.43 ERA in the New York-Penn League (chart, below, lists other high-priced picks who haven't paid off).

If Drew continues to refuse Philadelphia's offers, the Phillies will retain his rights until seven days before next year's draft, and then he'll have to go back through the draft. So Boras tried to use—or abuse—a rule that says teams must send drafted players a written contract within 15 days or the player becomes a free agent. Drew has said that none of the contracts sent by the Phils to locations in Georgia and Florida ever reached him. The Phillies say that Federal Express receipts with Drew's mother's signature prove otherwise. The major league executive committee is expected to rule on an appeal by Boras in the next week or so.

Now Drew has taken a different tack: Last week he signed a contract with the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League and hit a two-run homer in his first game last Friday. Why would he sign for $700 a month when he could be making $3 million with the Phillies? By becoming a professional with the Saints, Boras calculates, Drew is no longer eligible for the draft. But baseball thinks it has closed that loophole already, by renaming the amateur draft the "first-year player draft," and insists that Drew will remain the Phillies' property for a year and then reenter the draft.

Some of Boras's peers are criticizing him for what one agent calls "disgraceful" tactics of promising draft picks that they'll get "free-agent money." "He's raised the bar again for dark tactics and blatant lies," says the agent.

Boras insists that he is only looking out for his clients best interests, and doing so legally. "I'm a former player," he says. "I know there are no guarantees in this game."