Phillies to Talk With Drew

The agent for holdout draft choice J.D. Drew and the Philadelphia Phillies, who hold Drew’s rights until Tuesday, have agreed to conduct contract talks.

The development came one day after an arbitrator refused to make Drew, the second overall pick in last year’s draft, a free agent.

The Phillies have an offer on the table that would pay Drew a record $2.6-million signing bonus, and as much as $6 million over the next four years.

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Building owners near Wrigley Field who charge admission for a rooftop view of Chicago Cubs games will now have to buy an annual $500 license and pay a 7% tax on the money they take in, the Chicago City Council decided.

The city expects to collect $35,000 to $50,000 a year from the owners.

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Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. says he won’t take part in the annual home-run hitting contest the day before the All-Star game. “They don’t know it yet, but I’m not doing it this year,” Griffey told the Eastside Journal of Bellevue, Wash.

Griffey said he tried to back out of last year’s event. But he said Gene Orza, associate general counsel for the players’ union, told him, “This is bigger than you.”

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The Houston Astros put infielder Jack Howell on the 60-day disabled list because of a dislocated bone in his left wrist and purchased the contract of infielder J.R. Phillips from triple-A New Orleans.