All-Time Indians: Dan Spillner

Dan Spillner was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the second round of the 1970 amateur draft and broke through with the Friars in 1974. He was a starter at the time, but after two and a half seasons with an ERA firmly above 4.00, the Padres moved into the relief role that he would excel in with the Indians. After struggling through four and a half seasons in San Diego, the Padres gave up and traded him to the Indians in 1978 in what became a something for nothing deal for the Tribe. The Indians sent struggling reliever Dennis Kinney in exchange and Kinney pitched in just 70 games across three seasons, posting a 4.26 ERA in San Diego after a 4.42 ERA in his time in Cleveland.

Spillner, however, was not doomed to failure. In his first season, he dropped his ERA from 4.56 in San Diego to 3.67 in a non pivotal relief role with Cleveland. He pitched in 36 games, finishing 23, but only saving two as he was used mostly in losing efforts or the few blow out wins the Indians had that year. Despite San Diego’s early experiments with Spillner as a starter and possibly because of his success in the bullpen, the Indians repeated the effort in 1979. To their credit, the Indians had no dependable starters in the late 1970’s and in Spillner’s first season used as a part time starter, seven of the Indians eight most used starters (including Spillner) finished with an ERA above 4.40.

The following season, the Indians were not deterred and used Spillner as a starter the entire year, pushing into his worst full season of his career. Len Barker, Rick Waits, Wayne Garland, John Denny and Ross Grimsley made up the rest of the primary starters and all finished with ERA above 4.15 and Spillner was the worst. While there was little pitching depth behind him, obviously a change needed to be made and it was the following season.

In 1981, Spillner moved back into the bullpen and posted an ERA of just 3.14, the best in his career. While he still wasn’t an official closer, he was by far the team’s most dependable reliever, pitching 97.1 innings, striking out 59 and saving seven of eight games. With this success, he was moved into a more permanent closer’s role in 1982 and he was so good, he can now be considered one of the greatest closers in Indians history, based just on that season. Improved seasons by Barker and Rick Sutcliffe gave the Indians a chance to actually win a few more games and it was Spillner who was often the beneficiary. He saved 21 of 31 chances, at that point the most in Indians history. He also added 12 wins, the most in Indians history by a full time reliever, by keeping the opposition in close games. As often happens, success lead to overuse and Spillner also set the record (that he still holds) of 133.2 relief innings pitched.

Spillner retained his closer role for one more season, but had lost his magic. Whether or not it was because of his 133.2 innings or just that the opposing hitters learned how to hit him, Spillner posted a 5.07 ERA in 60 games. This was to be his last full season in Cleveland as he started out 1984 with an ERA of 5.65, losing his first five decisions. After just 14 games, Spillner was traded to the White Sox in exchange for Jim Siwy, a player to be named later at the time. Siwy never played for the Indians, pitching in just nine games for AAA Maine before being moved back to Chicago, but Spillner didn’t fare much better. He threw just one more full season for the White Sox, saving just two more games before ultimately retiring after 1985.