Sports briefs 2/4/06

Baseball

• Pitcher Jason Simontacchi agreed Friday to a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs.

The 32-year-old right-hander sat out last season after shoulder surgery in October 2004, a month before the St. Louis Cardinals released him. Simontacchi had a 5.28 ERA and no decisions in 13 relief appearances in 2004 and was 20-10 with a 4.77 ERA in 40 starts and 43 relief appearances in three seasons with the Cardinals.

Basketball

• The Toronto Raptors finally traded Jalen Rose on Friday, sending him to the New York Knicks for fellow forward Antonio Davis.

The Knicks also received a first-round draft pick and an undisclosed amount of cash from the Raptors in the deal involving dismal teams who were set to play each other Friday night in Toronto.

Colleges

• Memphis football coach Tommy West had triple bypass heart surgery Friday and was resting comfortably in an intensive care unit, the school said.

West, 51, entered Baptist Memorial Hospital for previously scheduled tests and later had the surgery, the university said in a news release.

West has been Tiger coach for five years, and also has been head coach at Clemson and Chattanooga. He was a starting tight end when he played for Tennessee.

Tennis

• Top-seeded Andre Agassi was upset 6-4, 6-2 by Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Friday in the quarterfinals of the International Tennis Championships.

The ninth-ranked Agassi, playing in his first tournament of the year, never found his comfort level in the 74-minute match that took place under windy conditions and with skies threatening rain.

-- From wire reports