From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2004 Chicago Cubs
League National League
Division Central
Ballpark Wrigley Field
City Chicago
Record89–73 (54,9%)
Divisional place3rd
Owners Tribune Company
General managers Jim Hendry
Managers Dusty Baker
Television WCIU-TV
Superstation WGN
FSN Chicago
( Chip Caray, Steve Stone)
Radio WGN
( Pat Hughes, Ron Santo)
Stats ESPN.com
BB-reference
←  2003 Seasons 2005 →

The 2004 Chicago Cubs season was the 133rd season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 129th in the National League and the 89th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs attempted to make a push for the National League pennant after their shocking end to 2003. The Cubs finished 89–73, good for third in the National League Central. Despite the strong record, the Cubs faltered down the stretch and did not make the playoffs. The season is largely viewed as one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.

Offseason

  • November 25, 2003: Derrek Lee was traded by the Florida Marlins to the Chicago Cubs for Hee-seop Choi and Mike Nannini (minors). [1]
  • December 2, 2003: Scott McClain was signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs. [2]
  • December 18, 2003: Todd Hollandsworth was signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs. [3]
  • March 23, 2004: Greg Maddux was signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs. [4]

Regular season

In 2004, despite the return of Greg Maddux and a midseason deal for Nomar Garciaparra, misfortune struck the Cubs again. They led the Wild Card by 1.5 games over San Francisco and Houston on September 25, and both of those teams lost that day, giving the Northsiders a chance at increasing the lead to a commanding 2.5 games with only eight games remaining in the season, but reliever LaTroy Hawkins blew a save to the Mets, allowing a three-run game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth. The Cubs lost the game in extra innings, a defeat that seemingly deflated the team, as they proceeded to drop 6 of their last 8 games, including back-to-back 12 inning games to the lowly Cincinnati Reds at home, as the Astros won the Wild Card. Despite the fact that the Cubs had won 89 games, this fallout was decidedly unlovable, as the Cubs traded superstar Sammy Sosa after he had left the season's final game early.

Season standings

National League Central

NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Cardinals 105 57 0.648 53–28 52–29
Houston Astros 92 70 0.568 13 48–33 44–37
Chicago Cubs 89 73 0.549 16 45–37 44–36
Cincinnati Reds 76 86 0.469 29 40–41 36–45
Pittsburgh Pirates 72 89 0.447 32½ 39–41 33–48
Milwaukee Brewers 67 94 0.416 37½ 36–45 31–49


Record vs. opponents


Source: [1]
Team AZ ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LA MIL MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona 2–4 4–2 3–3 6–13 3–4 2–4 3–16 3–3 0–6 3–4 1–5 2–4 7–12 5–14 1–5 6–12
Atlanta 4–2 3–3 2–4 4–2 14–5 3–3 4–3 4–2 15–4 12–7 10–9 4–2 3–3 4–3 2–4 8–10
Chicago 2–4 3–3 9–8 5–1 3–3 10–9 2–4 10–7 3–3 4–2 3–3 13–5 4–2 2–4 8–11 8–4
Cincinnati 3–3 4–2 8–9 3–3 4–2 6–11 4–2 10–8 4–2 3–3 3–3 9–10 2–4 3–3 5–14 5-7
Colorado 13–6 2–4 1–5 3–3 1–5 1–5 8–11 2–4 2–4 1–5 5–3 2–4 10–9 8–11 1–5 8–10
Florida 4–3 5–14 3–3 2–4 5–1 3–3 3–3 4–2 11–8 15–4 12–7 1–5 4–2 2–5 2–4 7–11
Houston 4–2 3–3 9–10 11–6 5–1 3-3 1–5 13–6 2–4 2–4 6–0 12–5 2–4 2–4 10–8 7–5
Los Angeles 16–3 3–4 4–2 2–4 11–8 3–3 5–1 3–3 4–3 3–3 1–5 6–0 10–9 10–9 2–4 10–8
Milwaukee 3–3 2–4 7–10 8–10 4–2 2–4 6–13 3–3 5–1 2–4 0–6 6–12 2–4 1–5 8–9 8–4
Montreal 6–0 4–15 3–3 2–4 4–2 8-11 4–2 3–4 1–5 9–10 7–12 4–2 1–6 1–5 3–3 7–11
New York 4–3 7–12 2–4 3–3 5–1 4–15 4–2 3–3 4–2 10–9 8–11 1–5 1–6 4–2 1–5 10–8
Philadelphia 5-1 9–10 3–3 3–3 3–5 7–12 0–6 5–1 6–0 12–7 11–8 3–3 5–1 2–4 3–3 9–9
Pittsburgh 4–2 2–4 5–13 10–9 4–2 5–1 5–12 0–6 12–6 2–4 5–1 3–3 3–3 5–1 5–12 2–10
San Diego 12–7 3–3 2–4 4–2 9–10 2–4 4–2 9–10 4–2 6–1 6–1 1–5 3–3 12–7 2–4 8–10
San Francisco 14–5 3–4 4–2 3–3 11–8 5–2 4–2 9–10 5–1 5–1 2–4 4–2 1–5 7–12 3–3 11–7
St. Louis 5–1 4–2 11–8 14–5 5–1 4-2 8–10 4–2 9–8 3–3 5–1 3–3 12–5 4–2 3–3 11–1


Transactions

  • April 1, 2004: Scott McClain was released by the Chicago Cubs. [2]
  • April 3, 2004: Trenidad Hubbard was released by the Chicago Cubs. [5]
  • April 12, 2004: Trenidad Hubbard was signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs. [5]
  • June 7, 2004: Sam Fuld was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 10th round of the 2004 amateur draft. Player signed July 9, 2004. [6]
  • July 30, 2004: Denny Hocking was signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs. [7]
  • July 31, 2004: Alex Gonzalez was traded as part of a 4-team trade by the Chicago Cubs with Francis Beltrán and Brendan Harris to the Montreal Expos. The Boston Red Sox sent Nomar Garciaparra and Matt Murton to the Chicago Cubs. The Minnesota Twins sent Doug Mientkiewicz to the Boston Red Sox. The Montreal Expos sent Orlando Cabrera to the Boston Red Sox. The Chicago Cubs sent Justin Jones (minors) to the Minnesota Twins. [8]

Roster

2004 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaching Staff

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Michael Barrett 134 456 131 .287 16 65
1B Derrek Lee 161 605 168 .278 32 98
2B Todd Walker 129 372 102 .274 15 50
SS Ramón Martínez 102 260 64 .246 3 30
3B Aramis Ramírez 145 547 174 .318 36 103
LF Moises Alou 155 601 176 .293 39 106
CF Corey Patterson 157 631 168 .266 24 72
RF Sammy Sosa 126 478 121 .253 35 80

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Mark Grudzielanek 81 257 79 .307 6 23
José Macías 98 194 52 .268 3 22
Nomar Garciaparra 43 165 49 .297 4 20
Todd Hollandsworth 57 148 47 .318 8 22
Paul Bako 49 138 28 .203 1 10
Alex Gonzalez 37 129 28 .217 3 8
Tom Goodwin 77 105 21 .200 0 3
Neifi Pérez 23 62 23 .371 2 6
Rey Ordóñez 23 61 10 .164 1 5
Jason Dubois 20 23 5 .217 1 5
Ben Grieve 15 16 4 .250 1 6
Damian Jackson 7 15 1 .067 1 1
David Kelton 8 10 1 .100 0 0
Brendan Harris 3 9 2 .222 0 1
Calvin Murray 11 5 1 .200 0 1
Mike DiFelice 4 3 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Greg Maddux 33 212.2 16 11 4.02 151
Carlos Zambrano 31 209.2 16 8 2.75 188
Matt Clement 30 181.0 9 13 3.68 190
Kerry Wood 22 140.1 8 9 3.72 144
Mark Prior 21 118.2 6 4 4.02 139

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Glendon Rusch 32 129.2 6 2 3.47 90
Sergio Mitre 12 51.2 2 4 6.62 37

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
LaTroy Hawkins 77 5 4 25 2.63 69
Kyle Farnsworth 72 4 5 0 4.73 78
Kent Mercker 71 3 1 0 2.55 51
Mike Remlinger 48 1 2 2 3.44 35
Francis Beltrán 34 2 2 0 4.63 40
Jon Leicester 32 5 1 0 3.89 35
Michael Wuertz 31 1 0 1 4.34 30
Ryan Dempster 23 1 1 2 3.92 18
Joe Borowski 22 2 4 9 8.02 17
Todd Wellemeyer 20 2 1 0 5.92 30
Jimmy Anderson 7 0 0 1 4.66 3
Andy Pratt 4 0 1 0 21.60 1

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Iowa Cubs Pacific Coast League Mike Quade
AA West Tenn Diamond Jaxx Southern League Bobby Dickerson
A Daytona Cubs Florida State League Steve McFarland
A Lansing Lugnuts Midwest League Julio Garcia
A-Short Season Boise Hawks Northwest League Tom Beyers
Rookie AZL Cubs Arizona League Trey Forkerway

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Boise; LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS: Daytona [9]

Notes

  1. ^ "Derrek Lee Stats".
  2. ^ a b "Scott McClain Stats".
  3. ^ "Todd Hollandsworth Stats".
  4. ^ "Greg Maddux Stats".
  5. ^ a b "Trent Hubbard Stats".
  6. ^ "Sam Fuld Stats".
  7. ^ Dennis Hocking Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  8. ^ "Alex Gonzalez Stats".
  9. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References