McDonough says Cubs will 'keep pushing on'
Cubs president John McDonough termed his feeling Sunday as "bittersweet."
"I've sorted most of it out," McDonough said of the Cubs' 3-0 series loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League championship series. "We keep pushing on."
It was just more than a year ago that McDonough took over the team presidency from Andy MacPhail and shocked all of Cubdom and the Chicago media by stating his goal for the Cubs to get to and win the World Series.
The Cubs fell short of that goal this year, but they went from a 66-96 record and last place in 2006 to 85-77 and the National League Central title this year.
McDonough knew full well at the time of his statement that he was sticking his neck out and that his words were out there to be thrown back at him by fans and media members.
"I'm not going to waver on that," he said without trace of rancor or defensiveness Sunday. "I knew it would send shock waves through Cubs fans and the media. And I have great respect for the media, especially those who are there on a regular basis.
"But I thought it was important for our fan base to know what our ultimate objective was. It's a process. There is no timetable on it. We improved 19 games from last year.
"Some people will say that we only threw money at it. We made a good first step, and we're happy with it. But we're not satisfied with where it ended."
McDonough expressed happiness with the jobs field manager Lou Piniella and general manager Jim Hendry did in 2007.
"We're going in the right direction; we're on the same page," McDonough said. "There are some great reasons for optimism. I'm really pleased, for all my years here, with the emergence of our young players."
McDonough ticked off the names of young pitchers Carlos Marmol, Kevin Hart and Billy Petrick and young position players Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Geovany Soto and Felix Pie.
He termed Sunday a day of "reflection" after his team got thoroughly outplayed by the young Diamondbacks in the division series.
"I think it's accurate to say we got beat," McDonough said. "They're a good club. They won 90 games. You can break it down any way, but you have to say that we got beat."
As for 2008, McDonough said he and Hendry will sit down this week to begin planning for it in earnest. He also said he has not been involved in talks concerning the imminent sale of the team as part of the overall sale of the parent Tribune Company.
"We're going to do all we can to make this team better," he said.
McDonough also made it a point to congratulate the business side of the operations, under executive vice president Mark McGuire.
"I wanted to say how proud of them I am," McDonough said while expressing appreciation to the fans. "We drew 3.25 million people, played to 98 percent capacity. That's nothing short of tremendous, and Mark McGuire and his people are to be congratulated, too."