Sutton, Lucas Get Renewals : Angels Say No to Terry Forster and Vern Ruhle

Forty-one-year-old Don Sutton will get a chance to add to his career victory total of 310 and, with any amount of luck, Gary Lucas will get another chance to pitch to Rich Gedman. But Terry Forster, the Angels’ top left-handed reliever for the first half of 1986, will apparently not get another chance to pitch in an Angel uniform.

In the first round of roster moves in what promises to be an active winter, Angel General Manager Mike Port announced Thursday that the club was exercising the options on the contracts of Sutton and Lucas and declining those on the contracts of Forster and Vern Ruhle.

Thus, Sutton and Lucas will be back to pitch for California in 1987, whereas Forster and Ruhle, unless they agree to try out as nonroster players next spring, are through with the Angels.

That Sutton and Lucas would return were virtual givens. Sutton went 15-11 for the second consecutive season, and Lucas was 4-1 with 2 saves after being activated from the disabled list in mid-July.

The decision on Ruhle, too, was not surprising. Ruhle, 35, joined the Angels July 18 as strictly a stopgap measure. Splitting time as a long reliever and a spot starter, Ruhle went 1-3 with a 4.15 earned-run average in 16 appearances.

But Forster was an integral part of the Angel bullpen through the All-Star break, enabling Manager Gene Mauch to buy time until injured relief pitchers Lucas and Donnie Moore returned.

Said Mauch in late September: “Donnie Moore was out a couple months, and Lucas was out half-a-season. (Doug) Corbett and Forster did the job for us. They held it together until we were intact.”

Forster made 33 appearances during the first half, compiling a 4-1 record with 4 saves and a 3.48 ERA. But en route to that fourth victory on July 7, Forster badly sprained his ankle while taking a throw at first base in the bottom of the 16th inning.

Forster spent more than a month on the disabled list, returning Sept. 1 at least 15 pounds heavier and, with his ankle still tender, less effective. Forster made eight more appearances, allowing four earned runs in 10 innings. When Mauch decided to trim his pitching staff to nine pitchers for the playoffs, he dropped Forster in place of Ruhle.

That move may have foretold Thursday’s development, although Mark Polan, Forster’s Los Angeles-based agent, described the Angels’ decision not to renew Forster’s contract as unexpected.

“Terry was surprised, I was surprised. Terry had an excellent year,” Polan said. “I thought he kept them in the pennant race until his ankle injury. And he hurt the ankle winning a game for them in the 16th inning.

“I talked with Mike (Port) about it, and he seems to feel they have enough left-handers in the organization. But look around baseball these days. You see a lot of older, higher-priced players getting released.”

During the season, Mauch had voiced displeasure over the weight Forster gained while on the disabled list.

“I’m sure the weight was a concern for them,” Polan said. “But Terry’s problem was that while he was on the DL, he never could run. He had to stay off the ankle and he did have problems keeping the weight off.

“But he was still getting hitters out. . . . I just wish Terry could’ve faced Gedman.”

Ah, yes, Rich Gedman. Gedman was the batter Lucas was called upon to face with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the American League playoffs. Lucas hit Gedman with his first pitch, setting the stage for Dave Henderson’s two-run home run off Donnie Moore and for the Angels’ eventual fall in the playoffs.

Lucas may have been the Angels’ most effective reliever in August and September, but his first season in Anaheim will be remembered more for two things--the bad back that kept him out for four months and that one pitch he’d like to have back.

Sutton’s 1986 season was, of course, a historic one. On June 18, he became the 19th major league pitcher to win 300 games. He also went on to surpass 700 career starts and 5,000 career innings pitched. Along with Mike Witt (18-10) and Kirk McCaskill (17-10), Sutton gave the Angels three 15-game winners for the first time.

Renewing Sutton’s contract will cost the Angels a base payment of $550,000 in 1987. Port will find ways to cut back elsewhere--as Forster discovered.

Polan said Forster could try out as a free agent with the Angels next spring but considers that option unlikely.

“It’s conceivable, but I think other teams will be interested in Terry,” Polan said. “He’s a left- handed pitcher with 16 years of experience who can get you out of a jam. I believe someone will offer him a contract before next spring.”