Sutcliffe Works Hard in Off-Season

One year ago, Rick Sutcliffe was back on the farm, weighing offers. This winter, the only weighty issues for the bearded Chicago Cubs’ right-hander will be the ones he lifts each day.

Last winter, Sutcliffe was the toast of the free agent market. He had put together a 16-1 campaign with the Cubs and led them to their first flag of any kind in 39 years.

He was also a free agent and became the focus of one of the most intense bidding wars since free agency came into being in the 1970s.

Sutcliffe, who relishes privacy the way he does victories, would be asked everywehere he went which team he could choose. Would he stay with the Cubs? Would he elect to stay close to home and accept an offer from the Kansas City Royals? Would he go west and play for the San Diego Padres, the team that beat him in the final game of the playoffs one year ago? Or would he accept Ted Turner’s big bucks offer and head south to Atlanta?

He stayed with the Cubs and forecasts of a repeat of his Cy Young Award winning performance were common.

But a funny thing happen on the way toward another pennant and 20-game victory campaign.

Injuries.

“It’s been a tough year but that’s all behind me now. I had all the time off that I deserved this season. This winter, it’s work,” Sutcliffe said.

Sutcliffe was on the disabled list last season not once, not twice, but three times.

The origin of his troubles came in late May in Atlanta. Running to first base trying to leg out a hit, he felt something snap.

“It was so painful, it’s the kind of thing you don’t forget,” Sutcliffe said.

The diagnosis was a partially torn hamstring. The doctors in Atlanta said Sutcliffe would miss three to six weeks.

Sutcliffe scoffed at such a depressing analysis. The Cubs were in another pennant battle and other injuries would sideline the rest of the pitching staff.

But he was the ace. He was also the man the Cubs paid upwards of $1.8 million over five years to lead them to the World Series.

Instead of six weeks, he was back pitching three weeks later. He shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0, the day he returned off the DL. Things looked rosy.

But to compensate for the pain in his leg, his delivery was altered enough to give him shoulder discomfort. Additionally, Sutcliffe wasn’t winning like he was one year ago, due in part to a lukewarm Chicago offense.

He went back on the disabled list for another three week stint through the All-Star game. He attempted to come back in Los Angeles but lasted only two-thirds of an inning.

He would not return until the final two weeks of the season.

“It was very important for me to get those last two starts. I had to convince Jim Frey and Dallas (Green) that I could come back,” Sutcliffe said. “I also had to convince myself.”

Sutcliffe saw enough in those two outings--he lost one and had a no-decision in the other--to give him an impetus for the rigorous off-season scheduling he set for himself.

“My main thing has always been running. Sprints, longer running,” Sutcliffe said. “There will be some weight work for my shoulder. But I want to work hard on the leg.”

Sutcliffe, who wound up 8-8 with a 3.19 earned-run average in 1985, knows that coming off a series of shoulder and hamstring injuries won’t be easy.