Once More, the Angels Are Bad at Goodbys

Technically speaking, this is not the end for Brian Downing. Thursday, Downing was refused arbitration by the Angels, which is not quite the same as being refused a job by the Angels, technically speaking.

Downing is a free agent now. He can make his own deal. He can even make it with the Angels, assuming his psyche and his budget can live with the idea of a major pay cut.

Downing could still come back.

Of course, they said the same thing about the Angels after Game 5 of the 1986 American League playoffs.

A jury of Downing’s peers would suggest that the handwriting on the wall is precise and legible. In Boston, the Red Sox refuse to go to arbitration with Dwight Evans--and Evans is gone. He formally bid his adieus on Wednesday. In Kansas City, the Royals refuse to go to arbitration with Bob Boone--and Boone is gone. The Royals say their catchers of the future are now named Mike Macfarlane and Brent Mayne.

In Anaheim, the song would seem to remain the same, even though General Manager Mike Port says he is leaving ends open and hasn’t dropped any final curtains yet.

The Angels have seldom been good at saying goodby to those who have served them best.

With Rod Carew in 1985, Port issued a terse, half-page statement and hid from the phones the rest of the afternoon.

With Reggie Jackson in 1986, Port called Reggie into his office and then had Reggie, clad in sweats and sipping a Styrofoam cup of coffee, make the announcement virtually in the hallway.

With Doug DeCinces in 1987, Port severed ties with a week left in the regular season, thus saving the $140,000 it would have taken to buy DeCinces out of the remainder of his contract.

Now comes Downing, two weeks into his 40th year on the planet, two weeks after the conclusion of his 17th major league season. His aching rib cage limited him to appearances in 96 games, Downing’s lowest total since the strike-shortened season of 1981. Ditto his hit (90) and RBI (51) totals.

A parting of the ways would seem imminent, even appropriate, but Downing won’t do the easy thing and retire and the Angels won’t do the difficult thing and formally release him.

Thus, an awkward compromise is forged and the Angels refuse to offer arbitration to their all-time leader in runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs and total bases.

Any conclusions to be drawn will be your own.

Is this any way to end the Angel career of the man who, next to Nolan Ryan, embodied this franchise, through good years and bad? Is this, finally, farewell to the greatest overachiever on a club cursed by underachievement, to the one Angel who always ran them out and took one for the team and never quit milking his limited skills for more than they were worth?

Most likely.

Unless the American League adopts a rule change, every team is allowed but one designated hitter per lineup--and the Angels currently need the Census Bureau to keep track of their designated hitters. Besides Downing, the Angels already carry Chili Davis, Luis Polonia and Dave Winfield on their roster.

All of them can’t be the designated hitter.

And, if there’s any decency left in the sport, all of them can’t be allowed to stand in the same outfield.

But, barring the blockbuster trade that the Angels need and probably won’t get, all of them have to remain in the lineup. Polonia is a .330 hitter and has the look of an honest-to-goodness leadoff man. Winfield has the badly needed presence of a leader. And Davis, pre-back injury, was the most dependable run-producer in Doug Rader’s batting order.

So Plan A is to keep Polonia in left, Winfield in right and make Davis the regular DH. Not a perfect plan, but the least painful the Angels have at the moment.

The plan, however, doesn’t work with Downing in the equation. The overcrowded conditions in 1990 made no one happy, leaving Downing on the bench for most of the first half, Dante Bichette for most of the second and Polonia longing for the stability of his old Yankee days.

Turnstiles were made for spectators, not outfielders.

So right now, Downing is a man without a team. That could change, say, if Davis’ back condition doesn’t improve and the Angels trade an outfielder. Maybe then--and maybe this is Downing’s great pipe dream--the Angels reopen the DH spot for him and renegotiate to bring him back for one more season at cut-rate prices.

The Angels have done it before. Greg Minton and Ruppert Jones were both denied arbitration and cast into the free-agent fray, only to be re-signed months later without the threat of an expensive arbitrator’s ruling hanging over Port’s head.

Beyond that, Downing’s options are limited. He wants to stay in California, but Oakland already has a designated hitter named Harold Baines. He wants to play for a winner, but the Toronto Blue Jays have been trying to move George Bell to DH for years. And as a Type A free agent, Downing won’t find many takers eager to swap a first-round draft choice for a sore-ribbed 40-year-old designated hitter.

If this isn’t the end for Downing, the Angel who wouldn’t say no, it’s never been closer. For 13 seasons he refused to quit on the Angels, unlike so many others, which may be why he can’t quit them now.

If the Angels have other plans, so be it. But for 13 seasons of crashing and burning and getting back up again, it was one hell of a ride, technically speaking.

BRIAN DOWNING’S CAREER

YR TEAM AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI 1973 Chicago .178 34 73 5 13 1 0 2 4 1974 Chicago .225 108 293 41 66 12 1 10 39 1975 Chicago .240 138 420 58 101 12 1 7 41 1976 Chicago .256 104 317 38 81 14 0 3 30 1977 Chicago .284 69 169 28 48 4 2 4 25 1978 California .255 133 412 42 105 15 0 7 46 1979 California .326 148 509 87 166 27 3 12 75 1980 California .290 30 93 5 27 6 0 2 25 1981 California .249 93 317 47 79 14 0 9 41 1982 California .281 158 623 109 175 37 2 28 84 1983 California .246 113 403 68 99 15 1 19 53 1984 California .275 156 539 65 148 28 2 23 91 1985 California .263 150 520 80 137 23 1 20 85 1986 California .267 152 513 90 137 27 4 20 95 1987 California .272 155 567 110 154 29 3 29 77 1988 California .242 135 484 80 117 18 2 25 64 1989 California .283 142 544 59 154 25 2 14 59 1990 California .273 96 330 47 90 18 2 14 51 Totals .266 2,114 7,126 1,059 1,897 325 26 248 985