Schoeneweis Seals Deal With Angels

The Angels and pitcher Scott Schoeneweis averted arbitration Tuesday when the left-hander agreed to terms on a one-year, $1.425-million contract, more than four times his salary of $325,000 in 2002.

Schoeneweis, 29, who had a 9-8 record and a 4.88 earned-run average in 54 games last season but was unhappy with a demotion from the rotation to the bullpen after 15 starts, can earn up to $25,000 in incentives, based on a point system devised by his agent, Scott Boras.

Schoeneweis, a starting pitcher in 2000 and 2001, had asked for $1.55 million in arbitration, and the Angels had offered $1.25 million.

Although Schoeneweis asked for a trade after the Angels won the World Series, General Manager Bill Stoneman, his bullpen short on left-handers, made it clear he doesn’t intent to trade the pitcher.

-- Mike DiGiovanna

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San Francisco signed free-agent outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. to a $2.8-million, one-year contract.... First baseman Erubiel Durazo, obtained by Oakland from Arizona in a four-team trade last month, agreed to a $1,065,000, one-year contract with the Athletics.

Pro Football

San Francisco received permission to speak to Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, 62, about its vacant head coaching job and interviewed New York Jet defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell.

The San Diego City Council voted 5-4 to approve a legal safeguard for the San Diego Chargers in the team’s attempt to renegotiate its 1995 stadium lease.

Jurisprudence

Undefeated heavyweight Joe Mesi has filed a $1-million suit against Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing, hoping to stop the former champion’s company from claiming to be his exclusive promoter.

Former New York Giant player Jeremiah Parker rejected a plea bargain in Paterson, N.J., in a case in which he was charged in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son in May 2001. The trial is set for March.

Tennis

Boris Becker of Germany, Francoise Durr of France, Nancy Richey of the United States and Brian Tobin of Australia have been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., and will be inducted July 12.

Becker won six Grand Slam singles titles, including Wimbledon in 1985, 1986 and 1989. Durr won the 1967 French Open and 11 major doubles titles. Richey won the 1967 Australian Open and the 1968 French Open. Tobin was president of the International Tennis Federation from 1991 to 1999.

Miscellany

Fitz Hill, one of four black football coaches in Division I, signed a new contract with San Jose State running through the 2006 season.

An 88-year-old woman in Akron, Ohio, has filed a police report saying that LeBron James, a senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary High in Akron and the nation’s top high school basketball prospect, backed his sport utility vehicle into her car at a stoplight.

Iola Winston told police the accident took place Friday afternoon. There were no injuries and James told Winston he would pay for the damage.

Boxer Tony Ayala Jr., 39, was freed after state prosecutors in Texas dropped charges, saying defense lawyers had damaged the credibility of a teenage girl who accused him of having sex with her twice in November.

Ayala had been in jail since early December. He had denied the statutory rape allegation.