BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Decision Time Is Near on Top Pick

More than two months after the Dodgers drafted right-handed reliever Darren Dreifort as their first pick in the amateur free-agent draft, they still haven’t been able to sign him. If they do not sign him before Dreifort returns to classes at Wichita State on Aug. 23, they will lose the rights to him.

Carol Dreifort, Darren’s mother, said the main hang-up in negotiations is that they want a three-year major league contract.

“We’re still looking for a major league contract and the Dodgers have known that from day one,” she said late Friday night. “We think Darren, with his talent, is worth that and that is what other players the caliber of Darren have received.”

The negotiations have also stalled with money. The Dodgers have offered Dreifort a $900,000 signing bonus, but Carol Dreifort said they want a bonus similar to the $1.65 million Brien Taylor received two years ago from the New York Yankees.

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Even though there appears to be some optimism on the part of club owners regarding an eventual resolution in the collective bargaining agreement, the players are reacting with skepticism. “With the games they are playing, I think that a strike is a real possibility,” Brett Butler said.

“Baseball is not in trouble. We’re in a recession and attendance is up 18%. You could open the gates and let everyone in for free and they would still make money.”

Butler and Andy Benes, player representative for the San Diego Padres, had similar reactions to the owners’ message that they would not lock out the players if they didn’t strike. “They’ve said that before,” Butler said.

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It wasn’t until Tuesday that Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda learned about a prank that Jerry Reuss had played on him several times when Reuss pitched for the Dodgers from 1979-87.

“I used to come back from a road trip and put these shirts on and they would be tight and I would yell at Nobe (Kawano, then the clubhouse manager). I would ask say, ‘What are you doing when you wash these shirts? You must be shrinking them because they are tight.’ ”

But Kawano had done nothing. Reuss was getting Lasorda’s shirts altered.

“I would have his shirt taken in a half inch on each side, then put it in his closet and take the other shirts away,” said Reuss, who never told Lasorda about the prank. Lasorda was told Tuesday by a family friend.

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Rick Trlicek, who had suffered numbness in his fingers during a game in July while pitching, said he still feels some weakness in his right forearm at times, but the numbness is gone. “They say my arm is slightly fatigued from throwing,” said Trlicek, who had surgery on a nerve in his right arm last year and has been throwing since October. “Sometimes it’s worse than others, but all the feeling is back.”