Sports briefs 11/1/05

Baseball

• Versatile Chicago Cubs pitcher Glendon Rusch got a raise.

Rusch agreed to a $6 million, two-year contract with the Cubs on Monday, replacing a $2 million option he had for next season. The left-hander will get $2.75 million next season and $3.25 million in 2007, and he could earn up to $500,000 each season in performance bonuses.

He was 9-8 in 2005, making 19 starts.

* Baltimore's Sammy Sosa filed for free agency Monday along with World Series star Geoff Blum and Chicago White Sox teammate Carl Everett.

Sosa was a bust in his first and likely only season with the Orioles, who acquired him from the Chicago Cubs in February with one year left on his $72 million, four-year contract. The 36-year-old outfielder, fifth on the career list with 588 homers, was limited by injuries to 380 at-bats and hit .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs.

Blum's 14th-inning homer sent the White Sox to a 7-5 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the World Series last week and helped Chicago to a sweep. The reserve infielder was acquired from San Diego on July 31.

Everett was 4-for-9 in the Series after hitting .251 during the regular season with 23 homers and 87 RBIs.

Basketball

* The Detroit Pistons signed Tayshaun Prince to a $47 million, five-year contract extension Monday, preventing one of their key players from becoming a restricted free agent after this season.

The 24-year-old Prince has averaged 10.6 points, 4.2 rebounds during his three-year career, helping Detroit advance to at least the conference finals each season and win the 2004 NBA title. He narrowly was left off the league's all-defensive first team last season, earning second-team honors.