2007 Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs' 2007 season began with the Cubs trying to rebound after a season in which they finished last in their division for the first time since 2000.

1 Offseason
2 Regular season
3 Current roster
4 General references
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Offseason

In an attempt to rebuild the team, the Cubs were very aggressive in the free-agent market, signing a number of players with the goal of overtaking the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in a competitive NL Central to win the World Series for the first time since 1908.

The first change was the signing of a new manager. On October 17, 2006, Lou Pinella signed a three-year deal with an option for a fourth season to manage the Cubs - the 50th manager in team history after Dusty Baker was not offered an extension of his contract following the 2006 season.^[1]

On November 14, 2006, the Cubs improved their depth by signing Mark DeRosa to a three-year, $13 million contract.^[2] DeRosa had played several positions for the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves earlier in his career.

The Cubs made the largest acquisition in their teams history on November 20, 2006, as Alfonso Soriano agreed to an eight-year contract worth $136 million, an average of $17 million per year.^[3]

The Cubs added two starting pitchers to the rotation, starting with the signing of Ted Lilly on December 15, 2006, to an four-year, $40 million deal.^[4] This was followed on December 19, 2006, with the signing of Jason Marquis to a three-year contract worth $21 million.^[5].

[edit] Regular season

[edit] Season summary

The Cubs got off to a poor start after the first two months of the season, posting a 22-29 record going into a home series against the Atlanta Braves during the first weekend after Memorial Day. Derrek Lee led a players only meeting on May 30 attempting to turn around the teams poor performance.^[6] On the Friday start at Wrigley, Carlos Zambrano took the mound and the Cubs fell behind 7-1, including allowing five runs (four earned) in the fifth inning.^[7] Included in the inning was a passed ball and throwing error by catcher Michael Barrett.^[7] An altercation ensued between the pitcher and catcher in the dugout, in full view of the television camera crews.^[7] Zambrano was pulled from the game after the scuffle in which he gave up thirteen hits and had zero strikeouts, and Barrett was replaced by backup Koyie Hill.^[7]

On Saturday, the weekend series continued to be interesting, albeit outside of the boxscore. The Braves took an early 3-0 lead in the fourth inning against starting pitcher Rich Hill, but the Cubs clawed back with single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, tying the game 3-3.^[8] The Braves regained the lead in the eighth against reliever Will Ohman, but in the bottom of the frame, rookie Angel Pagan led off by lining a ball into the right-field corner, and stopped at second with a double.^[8] Two pitches later, Pagan attempted to advance to third on a wild pitch, but was thrown out on a close play.^[8] Both Piniella and third-base coach Mike Quade argued the call with umpire Mark Wegner, and Piniella began kicking dirt, throwing and kicking his cap until being thrown out of the game.^[8] Allegedly, Piniella kicked umpire Wegner, and was reported to the MLB offices by crew chief Bruce Froemming.^[8] Play was delayed for seven minutes while the grounds crew cleaned up debris in the outfield^[8].The Cubs lost the game 5-3, worsening their record to a season-low nine games below .500 at 22-31.^[8] Piniella was suspended for four games for the incident, and later recognized that Wegner made the right call.^[6]

Two weeks later, Barrett was recorded having a heated discussion with starter Rich Hill.^[9] Questions quickly surfaced to the level of friction between the two players due to the recent incident with Zambrano, but both players indicated that there was no issue, rather frustration due to the opposing pitcher Jarrod Washburn hitting a hanging slider that put the Mariners up 3-2.^[9] The Cubs ultimately lost the game 5-3 in extra innings on another contentious play where Barrett dropped the ball on a throw to the plate.^[9]

After the altercations with Zambrano and Hill, Barrett lost his role as the everyday catcher for the team.^[10] Just one week later, Barrett was traded to the San Diego Padres for catcher Rob Bowen^[11]

The Cubs improved their play during the month of June, upping their record to 38-39 after a stretch of 16-8 after the Piniella ejection.^[12]. They finished June with a key series at home against the first-place Milwaukee Brewers starting on June 29. Rich Hill once again took the mound, but gave up five runs in the first inning and lasted just three innings.^[12] The Cubs relievers kept the game close, but they still trailed 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth against Francisco Cordero. Going into the game, Cordero led the league with 27 saves, and had blown only two.^[12] After retiring the first player in the inning, Cordero gave up back-to-back singles, and with runners at first and third allowing the potential winning run to come to the plate in the player of Derrek Lee. Lee hit a deep fly ball, but the wind knocked it down and was caught for a sacrifice fly.^[12] That made it two outs bringing third baseman Aramis Ramirez to the plate. Ramirez hit the first pitch into the left-center bleachers, winning the game 6-5.^[12] The victory pulled the Cubs back to .500, and trimmed the Brewers lead down to 6 1/2 games.

The Cubs ended the first half of the season 4.5 games out of first place, behind the Milwaukee Brewers, with a record of 44 wins and 43 losses.

The Cubs got off to a good start in the second half by sweeping the Houston Astros at home and taking three of four from the San Francisco Giants. In those series Ted Lilly won his third and fourth starts in a row, helping pitch the Cubs to 9-3 and 9-8 victories.

On July 22, the Cubs passed the two-million attendance mark at Wrigley Field averaging over 40,000 fans per game at home through the first 49 games of the season and on pace to set a new home attendence record for the club^[13]. The Cubs spent a majority of July in hopes of claiming first place. After finishing the month with seventeen wins and nine loses, the team was merely half a game behind the Brewers by July 31st.^[14] The Cubs won their final game in July and first game in August. The latter win, coupled with an earlier Brewers’ loss, allowed the two teams to be tied for first place in the NL Central.^[15] However, the Cubs began to struggle in their next outings. They failed to win three consecutive series, and later temporarily lost Alfonso Soriano, Angel Pagan, and Will Ohman to injuries.^[16] Despite the slump, the Cubs only managed to remain half a game behind the Brewers, who managed to lose thirteen of eighteen games.^[17]^[18]

[edit] In-Season trades

On June 20, the Cubs traded catcher Michael Barrett to the San Diego Padres for catcher Rob Bowen and a minor league outfielder Kyler Burke.^[19]

On July 16, the Cubs acquired Jason Kendall from the Oakland Athletics for fellow catcher Rob Bowen and minor league pitcher Jerry Blevins.^[20]

On July 19, the Cubs traded Cesar Izturis, along with a cash settlement, to the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[21]

On August 23, the Cubs acquired Craig Monroe from the Detroit Tigers for Clay Rapada.^[22]

On August 31, the Cubs acquired pitcher Steve Trachsel from the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Rocky Cherry and third baseman Scott Moore.^[23]

[edit] First-year player draft

The Cubs selected high school third baseman Josh Vitters with the third overall pick of the 2007 MLB Draft.

[edit] Season standings

NL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Elim.#
Chicago Cubs	77	72	.517	--	--
Milwaukee Brewers	75	72	.510	1	14
St. Louis Cardinals	70	77	.476	6	9
Cincinnati Reds	68	80	.459	8.5	6
Pittsburgh Pirates	66	82	.446	10.5	4
Houston Astros	64	84	.432	12.5	2