Sports briefs 8/30/05

Baseball

• Chicago Cubs right-hander Kerry Wood will undergo season-ending arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder Wednesday and hopes to be ready to pitch by spring training.

With the Cubs nearly out of playoff competition -- 7 1/2 games back in the wild card before Monday night's game with the Dodgers -- the team wanted to give Wood as much time as possible for recovery and rehab.

Wood is 3-4 with a 4.29 ERA this season.

* Rafael Palmeiro has lost his job as the Baltimore Orioles' regular first baseman, the result of a prolonged slump that began after he returned from a 10-day suspension for testing positive for steroids.

Mired in a 2-for-22 skid in which he has gone hitless in his last 14 at-bats, the left-handed hitting Palmeiro did not start Monday against Oakland right-hander Kirk Saarloos.

Asked if he sees Palmeiro as the team's everyday first baseman for the rest of the season, Orioles interim manager Sam Perlozzo responded, "No, I don't, but if he would swing the bat he would be. I don't have a problem with playing everyone that can help us on a regular basis."

Palmeiro was hitting .280 with 18 homers and 59 RBIs at the time of his suspension. Since his return, he has no homers and just one RBI in six games. His batting average has also dropped 12 points to .268.

* Red Sox pitcher David Wells lost his appeal of a six-game suspension, manager Terry Francona said Monday.

Wells was suspended for making contact with two umpires on July 2 during Boston's 6-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. He was ejected in the seventh inning of that game.

Football

* The Miami Dolphins traded linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, a Pro Bowl alternate on special teams last season, to the Chicago Bears on Monday for tight end John Owens and a conditional draft pick.

Ayanbadejo led the Dolphins in special teams tackles the past two years with 19 in 2003 and 23 in 2004. He also had 20 tackles and an interception as a linebacker last season.

Owens, who appeared in two games with the Bears after being claimed off waivers from Detroit Oct. 25, has five receptions for 49 yards in three seasons.

The trade is contingent on the players passing their physicals.