1997 - Starting Off On the Wrong Foot

 The Cubs had a few new faces in 1997. The most prominent was Mel Rojas, a righthanded pitcher from the Domincan Republic who had been an excellent setup man for John Wetteland in Montreal. When Wetteland signed with the Yankees in 1994, Rojas inherited the closer's role and had seasons of 30 and 36 saves. The Cubs signed him as a free agent, hoping he could fortify the back end of the bullpen. 

The club also signed a pair of veteran starters, righty Kevin Tapani from the White Sox and lefty Terry Mulholland from the Mariners. Both had been frontline starters for pennant winning clubs, Tapani for the 1991 Twins and Mulholland for the 1993 Phillies. Both had started and won games in the World Series. The signings were necessary because Jaimie Navarro had moved on, signing as a free agent with the White Sox after two solid seasons on the north side. Cubs fans were sad to see him go, but the Cubs' decision not to re-sign him turned out to be an excellent one. Navarro was awful for the Sox, finishing his time on the south side with a 25-43 record and a 6.06 ERA in three seasons as a full-time starter. 

In the only significant acquisition of a position player, the Cubs welcomed a familiar face back into the fold. Shawon Dunston was signed as a free agent after a one-year hiatus in San Francisco and resumed his longtime position as the starting shortstop. A pair of rookies, outfielder Doug Glanville and third baseman Kevin Orie, would also see significant playing time.

Opening Day Lineup

McRae, cf

Brown, lf

Grace, 1b

Sosa, rf

Sandberg, 2b

Dunston, ss

Orie, 3b

Servais, c

Mulholland, p

The Cubs started out 1997 very much as they ended 1996, losing 4-2 in Miami. They went into the ninth with only one hit, a 5th inning single by Orie, off Marlins starter Kevin Brown and reliever Mark Hutton. Chicago rallied for two runs on two hits in the ninth, but came up short, with Mulholland taking the loss. The next game was similar, with the Cubs falling behind 4-0 and eventually losing 4-3. They also lost their third game, then proceeded to lose three straight games in Atlanta. Next, the Cubs lost their home opener, also to the Marlins. The following day, April 10, Alex Fernandez started for the Marlins against Frank Castillo for the Cubs. Castillo pitched well, allowing only one run on seven hits through seven innings. However, Fernandez took a no-hitter into the ninth, threatening to become the first pitcher to no-hit the Cubs since Sandy Koufax in 1965. With one out, backup third basemen Dave Hansen beat out an infield single for the Cubs' only hit, but the Northsiders still took the loss, 1-0, to go to 0-8.

Two more losses to the Braves, two to the Rockies, and one to the Mets resulted in a 0-13 record. Fans and sportswriters began to speculate about whether the Cubs could challenge the record of the 1988 Orioles, who had started the season 0-21. On April 20, the Cubs were beaten 8-2 in the first game of a doubleheader in New York. In the second game, the Cubs trailed 1-0 going into the 6th, but scored 2 in the 6th and 2 in the 7th to take a late lead. In the bottom of the 9th, Turk Wendell allowed a single, a walk, and a two-out double that shaved the lead to one run. However, he got the last out and the Cubs finally had a victory. It was cause for celebration, but with a 1-14 record their season was practically over before it had really begun. They were in last place, 8.5 games out of the lead.

Combined with their 2-14 finish to the 1996 season, the Cubs had a 31-game stretch in which they went 3-28. They played better afterward, going 36-36 from April 21 until the beginning of the All-Star break on July 7, but remained in last place, 6.5 games out. On August 8, the Cubs pulled the trigger on a major trade, sending Rojas, Wendell, and Brian McRae to the Mets for centerfielder Lance Johnson, and getting infielder Manny Alexander and starting pitcher Mark Clark. Rojas was a disappointment in his short tenure with the Cubs, saving 13 games in 19 chances with a 4.42 ERA.

Six days earlier, on August 2, Ryne Sandberg announced that he had decided to retire at the end of the season. He left as definitely the greatest second basemen and one of the greatest players in team history. In 15 seasons and 2151 games with the club, he slashed .285/.344/.452 with 1316 runs scores, 282 home runs, and 344 stolen bases. Among the honors he received were 10 All-Star selections, 9 Gold Glove Awards, 7 Silver Slugger awards, and the 1984 National League MVP. In 39 postseason at-bats, in the 1984 and 1989 NLCSs, he hit .385.

The 1997 season also turned out to be the end of the road for another longtime Cub. On August 31, Dunston was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, ending his tenure with the Cubs. The first pick in the June 1982 draft, Dunston never became the superstar that the Cubs hoped he would be. He never really gained control of the strike zone, striking out 770 times in 4842 plate appearances with the Cubs, but walking just 171 times. However, he spent nine seasons as the club's primary shortstop and showed some speed, a bit of power, and the strongest infield arm of his generation, leading to several spectacular highlight-reel plays. The Shawon-o-Meter was one of things that made the 1989 season memorable as Dunston recovered from a terrible start to have what advanced metrics see as his best season.

The only real highlight of the season for the team came on June 16. That date marked the Cubs' first non-exhibition games against the White Sox since the 1906 World Series. Interleague play began in 1997, and the Cubs beat the Sox 8-3 in the first game between the two teams that counted in 91 years. The loser was ex-Cub Jaimie Navarro and McRae and Sandberg had three hits apiece. The Cubs lost the other two games of the series, but did go 9-6 in their first round of interleague play.

The Cubs were 13-12 in September, a slight glimmer of hope. It was their only winning month other than May, but the overall results of the season were dismal. The Cubs finished 12th out of 14 teams in runs scored and 11th in ERA. Mark Grace hit .319 with 13 homers, second-most on the team. Glanville had a good rookie season, finishing at .300, although with only 31 extra-base hits, Orie hit .275 with 8 round-trippers. Sandberg finished at .264 with 12 homers.

On the pitching side, the Cubs had four pitchers who threw 98 or more innings and none of them had an ERA better than Mulholland's 4.07. Mulholland finished at 6-12, while the Cubs' other new starter, Tapani, was 9-3, but was limited to just 85 innings due to injuries. Terry Adams, a 24 year-old righthander, took over from Rojas as the closer and did save 18 games, but with a dismal 4.62 ERA.

Sammy Sosa seemed to be having one of his best seasons in 1996 before the broken hand ended it prematurely. However, he failed to build on that in 1997. His 36 homers and 119 RBI's led the Cubs in those categories by far, but his .251/.300/.480 slash line was mediocre. Fans and sportswriters were becoming more aware of advanced statistics that supposedly gave a better analysis of a player's true worth than the traditional home run/RBI/batting average combo and Sosa's stats did not look good when examined through this lens. More attention was given to Sosa's dismal 174-45 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and the fact that 25 of his round-trippers came at hitter-friendly Wrigley Field. Some followers of the game began referring to him as "Sammy So-So."

1997 Cubs Batting Leaders: R - Sammy Sosa, 90; H - Mark Grace, 177; HR - Sosa, 36; RBI - Sosa, 119; BA - Grace, .319; OBP - Grace, .409; SP - Sosa, .480

1997 Cubs Pitching Leaders: G - Bob Patterson, 76; IP - Steve Trachsel, 201; W - Geremi Gonzalez, 11; SO - Trachsel, 160; ERA - Trachsel, 4.51*; SV - Terry Adams, 18

*Trachsel was the only pitcher on the staff who had enough innings to qualify for the league ERA title; he finished 36th in ERA out of 41 qualifying pitchers in the NL.