Chambers expects Harper to sign before deadline

Bryce Harper's college coach, Tim Chambers, the new baseball coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, told me today he does not think the negotiations between Scott Boras and the Washington Nationals to sign Bryce will take all summer. Chambers told me it is his opinion that the talks "won't drag out all summer" and that Harper wants to get started with his professional career sooner rather than later. He feels talks will heat up in the next few weeks or so. Bryce is taking a few days off this week to go fishing after playing baseball non-stop for the past 18 months. Chambers says that Bryce is planning to attend the Golden Spikes Award luncheon presentation at the All-Star game festivities in Anaheim the middle of July. The deadline to sign this year is August 16. It has been a busy couple of weeks for Chambers, who accepted the position of baseball coach at UNLV last week. He has hired the pitching coach from Nevada-Reno, Stan Stolte, and has brought three coaches from his staff at College of Southern Nevada. Chambers will also bring a good amount of his players from Southern to play at UNLV. "Almost everybody but Bryce (laughs)." "We are a little short on the mound, but we have some good players." Bryce's brother, Bryan Harper, a left-handed pitcher, has accepted a scholarship to play baseball at South Carolina.