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Angels

After Filing for Free Agency, Downing Says He Still Plans to Speak With Rader

By HELENE ELLIOTT

Brian Downing filed for free agency Thursday, fearing that he might run afoul of the Sunday midnight filing deadline if he postponed filing until he was able to reach Angel Manager Doug Rader.

But the 40-year-old designated hitter said he won’t pursue a job with other teams until he can talk with Rader and determine whether there’s even the smallest possibility that he might return to the Angels for a 14th season. Rader is expected back this weekend from a Latin American scouting trip.

“Tom (Reich, Downing’s agent) did it,” Downing said. “He said we might as well just go ahead and file because we might have had a time problem if I don’t talk to Doug Saturday. But I’m still not going to try and search around until I talk to Doug. This was really a clerical move. Step 1, that’s all. Nothing else has changed.”

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In other news, Angel reliever Greg Minton, who had announced his intention to retire, also filed for free agency.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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