Baseball: It's decision time for Lucas Giolito

The deadline for major-league teams to sign their draft picks is Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and the player most in the spotlight will be Lucas Giolito, the former Harvard-Westlake pitcher who was taken No. 16 overall by the Washington Nationals.

Negotiations are expected to get serious this week involving Giolito, who has been recovering from an elbow injury.

Giolito signed with UCLA, and the question is how much bonus money will the Nationals need to spend to keep Giolito away from college.

It could take $3.5 million or more.

Whatever happens, by this time next week, Giolito will know a little bit more about his immediate future.

-- Eric Sondheimer