Cleveland Indians sign veteran lefty reliever Scott Downs
By Jake Misener
The Cleveland Indians announced the signing of left-handed reliever Scott Downs to a one-year minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, giving the veteran a chance to join his third American League Central club in the past year, after playing for both the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals last season.
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According to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the deal is worth $800,000 if he makes the big league club next spring, and also includes incentives.
Last season, the now-38-year-old Downs began the year on the South Side of Chicago, where he made 38 appearances for manager Robin Ventura, struggling to a 6.08 earned run average across 23 2/3 innings of work, although his 3.72 FIP suggests that he wasn’t nearly as ineffective as one may initially think. However, on July 3, the left-hander was released by the White Sox, only to be picked up by the Royals just three days later.
Down the stretch, Downs was solid for Kansas City, as the club made its historic run to the World Series, making 17 relief appearances. In those outings, he accumulated a much-improved 1.186 WHIP (compared to a 1.648 mark with Chicago in the season’s first half), but saw his FIP skyrocket to 4.67 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio fall to a mere 0.60 – far below his career mark of 2.06.
During his 13-year big league career, Downs has seen his share of clubs, spending time with seven teams – Cleveland being his eighth should he make the team out of camp next spring – and he experienced a stretch of dominance during the last decade, namely with the Anaheim Angels and Toronto Blue Jays. In 2007 with the Jays, the southpaw led the league with 81 appearances. He followed that up with 66 outings in 2008, posting a 2.17 and 1.78 ERA, respectively, in those seasons.
With the Angels in 2011, Downs pitched to the tune of a 1.34 ERA and 1.006 WHIP in 60 appearances. He was an effective relief option as recently as 2013, when he split the season between the Angels and the Atlanta Braves, but last season, he seemed to take a step back. In Cleveland, should he make the big league team, he will join the likes of Kyle Crockett, Nick Hagadone and Marc Rzepczynski as left-handers in Terry Francona‘s pen.