Top Draft Pick Diggins Gets Hefty Signing Bonus

The Dodgers have agreed to terms with top draft pick Ben Diggins, and the right-handed pitcher will receive a $2.2-million signing bonus, according to sources.

General Manager Kevin Malone had no comment on the signing but did say that Diggins, who was to begin his junior year at the University of Arizona, did not attend the first day of classes Monday. Had he attended class, the Dodgers would have lost the rights to Diggins.

The 6-foot-7 Diggins, the No. 17 overall pick in the June draft, went 10-4 with 127 strikeouts and a 3.83 ERA in 17 games last spring for the Wildcats.

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Shortstop Alex Cora has an easy explanation for the defensive woes of the Dodgers, who were tied with the San Diego Padres for the worst fielding percentage in the National League [.977] and most errors [109] entering Monday night’s game.

“It’s not because we’re not trying,” he said. “We’re trying. Sometimes we try too hard.”

Cora, 24, had a .973 fielding percentage at short, having committed seven errors in 70 games.

“If you give a big league team more than three outs an inning more than once a game, you have no chance,” Cora said.

Said Manager Davey Johnson: “I learned from Luis Aparicio and Brooks Robinson that you can never field too many ground balls. You can’t really get mad about physical errors. But there’s a borderline between physical and mental errors.”

And for the second consecutive day, Johnson pointed at his rotation as a source of frustration.

“Probably the biggest disappointment since I’ve been here,” said Johnson, who was hired on Oct. 23, 1998, “is a lack of consistency in the starters.”

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The Dodgers’ affiliation with the Class-A San Bernardino Stampede of the California League will end at the conclusion of the Stampede’s season, it was announced.

With Major League Baseball’s decree that clubs can only operate one “high’ Class-A team and one “low” Class-A team, the Dodgers, who had two “high” Class-A’s in San Bernardino and Vero Beach of the Florida State League, have chosen to stick with Vero Beach.

Vero Beach has also been the Dodgers’ spring training home since 1948 and its pseudo-battle with Las Vegas for the Dodgers’ spring training future seems to be won, what with the Dodgers maintaining an affiliate in Vero Beach.

The Wilmington (N.C.) Waves of the South Atlantic League figure to be the Dodgers’ “low” Class-A affiliate as the organization announced buying into the expansion Waves earlier this month.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

ISMAEL VALDES

(2-6, 5.55 ERA)

vs.

EXPOS’

TREY MOORE

(1-3, 5.40 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Update--Valdes was initially supposed to face the Expos on Monday but was pushed back a day by Johnson, who said the pitcher was suffering from blisters and an overloaded work schedule. It was news to Valdes. “I have no idea why they made the change. I just follow the rules. My fingers are great,” he said. Valdes, who was reacquired by the Dodgers on July 26, faced the Expos twice this season as a member of the Chicago Cubs and has a 12.14 ERA without a decision. The left-handed Moore will be making his first appearance against the Dodgers. It will also be just his fifth appearance with the Expos since being recalled from triple-A Ottawa on Aug. 1.