Martin, Cabrera honored

Dodgers catcher Russell Martin and Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera were awarded Gold Gloves on Wednesday as the top defensive players at their positions in their respective leagues.

For the 24-year old Martin, the Gold Glove was the first of his career and made him the first Dodgers catcher to win the award since Charles Johnson in 1998. But Johnson joined the Dodgers in midseason of that year; the last Dodger to catch an entire season with the team and win the award was John Roseboro in 1966.

Cabrera, 33, was honored for the second time, as he also won the award with the Montreal Expos in 2001. Jim Fregosi, who won the award in 1967, is the only other Angels shortstop to earn a Gold Glove.

Martin led the majors with 1,065 putouts and he threw out 29.7% of the runners who tried to steal against him, the fourth-best percentage in the National League.

Martin caught in 145 games and 1,254 innings to top the majors.

Cabrera led American League shortstops with a .983 fielding percentage, committing 11 errors in 665 chances. Starting 153 games at short, he had 239 putouts, 415 assists and was involved in 104 double plays.

In September, Cabrera voiced skepticism about the voting for the award, which is done by managers and coaches.

San Diego pitcher Greg Maddux won his record 17th Gold Glove and Detroit catcher Ivan Rodriguez won for the 13th time.

The other NL winners: Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee, Arizona second baseman Orlando Hudson, Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins, New York Mets third baseman David Wright and outfielders Carlos Beltran of the Mets, Andruw Jones of Atlanta, Aaron Rowand of Philadelphia and Jeff Francoeur of Atlanta.

Other AL winners: Minnesota pitcher Johan Santana, Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis, Detroit second baseman Placido Polanco, Seattle third baseman Adrian Beltre and outfielder Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle, Torii Hunter of Minnesota and Grady Sizemore of Cleveland.

Dodgers bench coach Dave Jauss, who parted ways with the team on Oct. 30, was named the bench coach of the Baltimore Orioles. Jauss was a finalist for the Pittsburgh Pirates managerial position, which went to John Russell.

-- Dylan Hernandez

Curt Schilling and the Boston Red Sox finalized an $8-million, one-year contract that keeps the star right-hander with the World Series champions.

The deal provides for him to make an additional $5 million in bonuses and match his 2007 salary. It contains $3 million in performance bonuses based on innings pitched and $2 million based on weight clauses.

“We need some protection in case he wasn’t able to stay healthy,” Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein said.

Pitcher Paul Byrd, whose admitted use of human growth hormone served as a backdrop to the end of Cleveland’s season, had his $7.5-million club option for 2008 picked up by the Indians.

The 36-year-old Byrd claims he took HGH for a medical condition and did so only under a doctor’s supervision.

The club also exercised its $4-million option on closer Joe Borowski, who led the American League with 45 saves, and $1.5-million option on left-handed reliever Aaron Fultz.

Byrd went 15-8 with a 4.59 earned-run average in 31 starts during the regular season.

Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman broke a bone in his left wrist while swinging a bat last weekend and is scheduled to have surgery today.

His recovery is expected to take from four to six weeks, which still would be long before spring training begins in February.

Sam Perlozzo was hired by the Seattle Mariners as third base coach, completing Manager John McLaren’s revamped staff.

Perlozzo was fired as manager of the Baltimore Orioles in June.