New Arrival: Rick Sutcliffe, sp, Cleveland Baseball
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Baseball trade trees can be fun. Like how Cleveland trading for Rick Sutcliffe in 1982 would set the stage for the Cleveland offensive juggernaut of the 1990’s.
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In 1982 Rick Sutcliffe was a young, promising pitcher with the Dodgers. He won 17 games in 1979, and was the National League Rookie of the Year, but struggled in 1980 and 1981. Unfortunately, he did not get along with the Dodgers head coach Tommy Lasorda and demanded a trade. And that is how he opened the 1982 season in a Cleveland uniform.
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With Cleveland, Sutcliffe was amazing. It is likely that his troubles in 1980 and 1981 stemmed from him tipping pitches, a problem that he solved. And it showed. In 1982 he went 14-8 with a league best 2.96 ERA, and in 1983 went 17-11 with a 4.29 ERA and was selected to his first All-Star game. Remember…we are talking about an 80’s Cleveland team here…so winning 17 games there is no easy feat.
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Sutcliffe struggled with Cleveland to open the 1984 season (4-5, 5.15 ERA) and was traded to the Cubs. And of course, he would go 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA for the rest of the season and end up winning the National League Cy Young Award. He would go on to have a very nice career and retire with 171-139 record and three All-Star selections.
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But hey! When Cleveland traded away Sutcliffe, part of the return package included a 24-year-old slugger named Joe Carter.  Carter would blossom into one of the leagues better hitters while in Cleveland. The best part? When Cleveland traded Carter away to the Padres in 1989, they got back two young prospect, Sandy Alomar and Carlos Baerga, who would become cornerstones of the team.