Baseball Agent Blasts Dodgers

A baseball agent has accused the Dodgers of breaking U.S. law by entering Cuba to sign young prospects.

Responding to remarks this week by Dodger Senior Vice President Tom Lasorda, agent Joe Cubas denied Lasorda’s accusation that he arranged for Cuban defectors to escape on yachts.

“On the other hand, Dodger executives have entered Cuba via the Dominican Republic with the exclusive purpose of scouting and signing Cuban players, a clear violation of major league baseball rules and regulations and a major violation of the U.S. trade embargo,” Cubas said in a statement Friday.

Earlier this year, the commissioner’s office voided the contracts two Cuban prospects signed by the Dodgers and fined the team $200,000, ruling the players were 15 when they signed. Baseball rules prohibit teams from signing players until they are 16.

Third baseman Adrian Beltre’s agent, Scott Boras, claims his client was 15 when the Dodgers signed him in the Dominican Republic.

Lasorda, fearing Beltre might be declared a free agent, compared the Dodgers’ loss of the two Cubans to Cubas’ representation of Cuban defectors.

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Ticket prices for all but 12,000 seats at Dodger Stadium will go up next season, the increases topping out at $40 for premium field seats. The top ticket price last season was $28. Seats in a new 565-seat area under construction will sell for $225 and $195 a game. . . . Pete Rose said on “The Martin Short Show” that he is angry that Commissioner Bud Selig hasn’t responded in more than two years to his request for reinstatement to baseball. Selig has said repeatedly that he has seen no new evidence that would make him alter the ban. . . . Right-hander Jon Lieber of the Chicago Cubs agreed to a $15-million, three-year contract. . . . Right-hander Dave Mlicki, who had been eligible for salary arbitration, agreed to a $15.5-million, three-year contract with the Detroit Tigers. . . . The Milwaukee Brewers signed right-hander Jason Bere to a one-year, $800,000 deal.

Tennis

Lindsay Davenport and Nathalie Tauziat of France completed the semifinal lineup for the season-ending $2-million Chase Championships at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Davenport easily defeated Anke Huber of Germany, 6-3, 6-1, before Tauziat stopped Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, 6-3, 6-2. Today’s first semifinal will pit defending champion Martina Hingis against Venus Williams.

Sandon Stolle of Australia and Wayne Black of Zimbabwe upset top-ranked Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India, 6-7 (7-5), 7-5, 6-2, to reach the semifinals of the Phoenix ATP Tour World Doubles Championship in Hartford, Conn.

World Sports

Track and field’s governing body decided in Monte Carlo that the controversial drug cases of Olympic champions Linford Christie of Britain and Javier Sotomayor of Cuba should go to arbitration. Both athletes face bans of up to two years.

Dieter Baumann, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist at 5,000 meters, has been suspended after twice testing positive for the steroid Nandrolone, the German Track and Field Assn. said. . . . North Korea has rejected a proposal that it stage some games with co-host South Korea during soccer’s 2002 World Cup. . . . The United States defeated Mexico, 3-2, to advance to the semifinals of the under-17 world soccer championship at Auckland, New Zealand. . . . The United States, an upset winner over world No. 2 Brazil in its opening match at the men’s volleyball World Cup, defeated Tunisia, 25-23, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23, at Tokyo. The top three teams in the tournament qualify for the Sydney Olympics. . . . Regine Cavagnoud of France raced to a narrow victory over Karen Putzer of Italy in the season-opening women’s World Cup giant slalom at Copper Mountain, Colo.

Miscellany

The U.S. team of Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara pulled within one stroke of the lead in the World Cup of Golf at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. O’Meara shot a six-under-par 65 and Woods a 68 to put the Americans at 273 after two days. Spain leads the 32-team tournament at 272.

Unbeaten Michael Grant, hoping to earn a shot at Lennox Lewis, will fight Andrew Golota in a 12-round heavyweight bout tonight at Atlantic City, N.J. . . . Mark Johnson’s International Boxing Federation junior-bantamweight title bout against Raul Juarez in Washington was declared a no-contest in the fourth round after Johnson hit Juarez with a low blow. . . . Boxing promoter Bob Arum will co-promote Forum Boxing with John Jackson, who headed the operation at the Great Western Forum. The program has moved from there but will continue at various sites in Southern California and Las Vegas.

An Italian magistrate urged a court to suspend Williams team technical director Patrick Head and former chief designer Adrian Newey for one year in connection with the 1994 death of Ayrton Senna, a three-time Formula One champion.

New York’s Young America was stripped of a point in the challenger series for sailing’s America’s Cup after officials found the team made a false claim about damage to its boat.