McDowell to Pitch for Angels

The Angels agreed to terms on a one-year, $1-million contract with free-agent right-hander Jack McDowell Wednesday night, proving that, as the old baseball adage goes, you really can’t have enough pitching.

McDowell, who can earn an additional $5 million by starting 30 games and throwing 210 innings, will join Chuck Finley, Ken Hill, Allen Watson and Jason Dickson in a rotation the Angels believe will be the strongest in the American League West.

Left out in the cold will be Omar Olivares, William VanLandingham and Rich Robertson, who came to camp expecting to compete for the fifth rotation spot before McDowell, the 1993 Cy Young Award winner, was signed.

“We could start an Army Surplus store around here,” Finley said. “There are going to be some guys with their feelings hurt . . . but if he’s healthy, Jack will help us. That’s the golden question, though: is he healthy?”

The Angels are convinced he is. They received extensive medical reports from two physicians and are confident McDowell, who is expected to report today, is healed from his 1997 elbow surgery, which sidelined him for most of the season.

But as a hedge, McDowell’s contract is weighted heavily toward incentives, the bulk of which begin after 20 starts. McDowell can make $500,000 if he starts 20 games, and a variety of thresholds between 21 and 30 starts and 210 innings pitched could net him up to $4.5 million.

“There’s a shared risk,” Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “If he does well, everyone comes out ahead.”

Except, perhaps, those who crunch numbers for the Walt Disney Co. McDowell’s base salary alone will push the Angels over their projected $40 million budget for 1998.

Two of McDowell’s former teams, the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, also expressed interest, but McDowell, who lives in San Diego, felt Anaheim was the best fit.

“You have to look at what teams have a need and who has a chance to win, and the Angels are right up there with anyone,” McDowell said in a conference call. “I’m not looking for comfort. I’m looking for discomfort, pressure, a place where people want to win and expect a lot out of me.”

McDowell, 32, is a two-time 20-game winner with a 122-80 career record and 3.76 earned-run average. From 1990-96 he averaged 31 starts and 223 innings and earned a reputation as one of the league’s guttiest--and most ornery--pitchers.

McDowell, who made more than $10 million with Cleveland in 1996 and ‘97, underwent surgery to remove elbow tissue last May. During the procedure, McDowell said, a doctor accidentally nicked the inside of his elbow with an instrument, bruising his bone.