How Did the Ex-Cubs do? – Final Regular Season Edition

A semi-regular feature showing how former Cub players are doing. This will be the final update on regular season stats, but we will bring it back for any ex-Cubs in the playoffs.

Ex-Cubs Position players:

#	Name	Team	WAR	PA	HR	OPS	wRC+
1	Kyle Schwarber	PHI	4.9	724	56	.928	152
2	Cody Bellinger	NYY	4.9	656	29	.813	125
3	Zach McKinstry	DET	3.2	511	12	.771	114
4	Willson Contreras	STL	2.8	563	20	.791	124
5	Isaac Paredes	HOU	2.5	438	20	.809	128
6	Javier Báez	DET	1.4	437	12	.680	86
7	Mike Tauchman	CHW	1.4	385	9	.756	115
8	Cam Smith	HOU	1.0	493	9	.671	90
9	Victor Caratini	HOU	0.8	386	12	.728	104
10	Miles Mastrobuoni	SEA	0.3	175	1	.620	85
11	Ildemaro Vargas	ARI	0.2	121	3	.674	85
12	Tomás Nido	DET	0.1	37	0	.704	101
13	Vidal Bruján	3 Tms	0.1	95	0	.616	75
14	Tucker Barnhart	TEX	0.0	15	0	.564	72
15	Travis Jankowski	3 Tms	0.0	50	0	.575	57
16	Christopher Morel	TBR	-0.1	305	11	.684	90
17	Gage Workman	2 Tms	-0.2	17	0	.485	38
18	Luis Vázquez	BAL	-0.2	53	1	.448	25
19	Jorge Soler	LAA	-0.3	315	12	.680	88
20	Jon Berti	CHC	-0.4	107	0	.492	42
21	Matt Mervis	MIA	-0.4	134	7	.637	72
22	Nick Martini	COL	-0.5	111	1	.582	49
23	Alexander Canario	PIT	-0.5	234	6	.611	68
24	Kris Bryant	COL	-0.5	41	0	.400	-4
25	Jason Heyward	SDP	-0.5	95	2	.494	38
26	Nick Castellanos	PHI	-0.6	589	17	.694	90
27	Jeimer Candelario	CIN	-0.7	91	2	.410	10
28	Martín Maldonado	SDP	-0.8	161	4	.572	61
29	Joc Pederson	TEX	-0.8	306	9	.614	76

Kyle Schwarber and his 152 wRC+ may not win the NL MVP, but I think he is an obvious MVP among only ex-Cubs. He was 4th in the MLB in slugging, and was one of the top 5 hitters in the majors.

Code Bellinger is probably the most painful name on here. He ended up with a higher WAR than Kyle Tucker, although his wRC+ was lower. It is important to look at his home/road splits, as hitting as a lefty in Yankee Stadium is much different than hitting as a lefty in Wrigley. His slash line at home was .302/.365/.544 at home and .241/.301/.414 on the road. I have strong doubts he would have performed nearly as well this season with another team. And he would have had to replace Happ, Suzuki, Tucker, Busch or PCA to get into the lineup. Still, it was disappointing that the Cubs got so little when dumping his contract.

The other litmus test for the front office in their biggest offseason move is the progress of Issac Parades and Cam Smith, as measured against what Kyle Tucker did this season. Parades was expected to have big home/road splits, but it was not that drastic, with .249/.354/.481 home splits and .259/.349/.434 road splits. He also lost time to an injury this season. Cam Smith, meanwhile, spent the entire season with the major league roster, but ended with a 90 wRC+. Getting more production out of right field – perhaps from someone like Cody Bellinger – might have helped the Astros make it to the playoffs this year. But the trade was mostly meant for the future, and Smith is only 22 years old. Despite missing out on the playoffs in 2025, the Astros would have to be seen as the winner of the trade, unless the Cubs can re-sign Tucker or he has some heroics yet this postseason.

Willson Contreras has a rough start to the season, a good middle, and a poor finish. He was unavailable for the last series against the Cubs due to injury, which may have taken away a bit from the rivalry series. He is under contract for 2 more years, with a team option for a 3rd, so I’m guessing he will continue to man 1st base. Paying him $18M per year to play a position where his defense is less valuable seems a bit high in hindsight.

Javy Baez has had a bad enough 2nd half of the season that he got a Least Valuable Player from Jayson Stark: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6663004/2025/09/26/mlb-awards-2025-mvp-cy-young-rookies/. He seemed to be having a career renaissance with a .285/.323/.460 slash line through June and a .219/.225/.315 line since July 1. His defense provided a little bit of war, but the renaissance appears to have been cancelled.

Zach McKinstry continue to be a valuable guy for the Tigers, and Mike Tauchman had a decent year for the White Sox – although I was surprised they didn’t flip him for a prospect. Beyond that, no former Cub produced a WAR above 1.0, and 14 were below zero. Jon Berti, who was a fairly high profile signing by the Cubs, did not log any at bats after he was released.

Ex-Cubs Pitchers

#	Name	Team	RA9-WAR	WAR	G	IP	ERA	xERA
1	Aroldis Chapman	BOS	3.4	2.6	67	61.1	1.17	2.07
2	Shawn Armstrong	TEX	2.1	1.4	71	74.0	2.31	2.93
3	Jason Adam	SDP	2.1	1.2	65	65.1	1.93	2.68
4	Phil Maton	2 Tms	1.4	1.5	63	61.1	2.79	2.77
5	Trevor Megill	MIL	1.4	1.5	50	47.0	2.49	3.20
6	Pierce Johnson	ATL	1.3	0.3	65	59.0	3.05	3.58
7	Kyle Hendricks	LAA	1.2	1.8	31	164.2	4.76	3.99
8	Shelby Miller	2 Tms	1.1	0.6	48	46.0	2.74	3.50
9	Jeremiah Estrada	SDP	0.8	1.0	77	73.0	3.45	2.78
10	Brendon Little	TOR	0.8	1.3	79	68.1	3.03	3.26
11	Andrew Chafin	2 Tms	0.6	0.4	42	33.2	2.41	3.30
12	Rob Zastryzny	MIL	0.5	0.0	26	22.0	2.45	3.21
13	Chris Martin	TEX	0.5	0.6	49	42.1	2.98	3.74
14	Chris Flexen	CHC	0.5	-0.3	21	43.2	3.09	5.14
15	Tommy Nance	TOR	0.4	0.8	30	31.2	1.99	3.83
16	Hayden Wesneski	HOU	0.4	0.2	6	32.0	4.50	4.46
17	Hunter Bigge	TBR	0.3	-0.2	13	15.0	2.40	6.28
18	Craig Kimbrel	2 Tms	0.2	0.0	14	12.0	2.25	3.90
19	Nick Burdi	BOS	0.2	0.1	4	5.1	0.00	4.58
20	David Robertson	PHI	0.1	-0.1	20	17.2	4.08	4.52
21	Wade Miley	CIN	0.0	-0.1	3	12.0	6.75	8.46
22	Michael Fulmer	2 Tms	0.0	0.0	3	5.2	4.76	10.53
23	Carl Edwards Jr.	2 Tms	0.0	0.0	4	6.0	4.50	3.11
24	Yu Darvish	SDP	0.0	0.4	15	72.0	5.38	3.65
25	Codi Heuer	2 Tms	0.0	-0.2	3	4.2	5.79	5.29
26	Rich Hill	KCR	-0.1	-0.2	2	9.0	5.00	6.74
27	Jesus Tinoco	MIA	-0.2	0.2	20	19.1	5.12	3.35
28	Jesse Chavez	ATL	-0.3	-0.3	4	8.0	9.00	6.57
29	Ryan Pressly	CHC	-0.3	-0.3	44	41.1	4.35	5.04
30	Scott Effross	NYY	-0.3	0.0	11	10.2	8.44	4.90
31	Marcus Stroman	NYY	-0.3	0.1	9	39.0	6.23	5.87
32	Richard Lovelady	2 Tms	-0.5	-0.3	10	11.2	8.49	5.99
33	Trevor Williams	WSN	-0.5	1.2	17	82.2	6.21	4.45
34	Jorge López	WSN	-0.5	0.3	26	24.2	6.57	5.58
35	Brooks Kriske	2 Tms	-0.6	0.0	16	18.0	7.50	4.58
36	Mark Leiter Jr.	NYY	-0.8	0.6	59	48.1	4.84	3.66
37	Génesis Cabrera	4 Tms	-0.9	-0.9	40	42.2	6.54	4.76
38	Héctor Neris	3 Tms	-0.9	-0.1	35	26.2	6.75	4.83

Aroldis Chapman had a huge comeback year as the Boston closer, and was nearly untouchable in the second half of the season. He will be 38 before next season starts, but has 1 guaranteed year left in Boston and then a mutual option.

Jason Adam had a good year before suffering a serious leg injury late in the season that kept him out of the playoffs. With Robert Suarez and Wandy Peralta a potential free agents, he may move up to primary setup man with the Padres next year behind closer, Mason Miller.

The Cubs did face Jeremiah Estrada and Yu Darvish in the Wild Card, with Darvish taking the loss in game 3. He was very limited this season due to injuries, and posted a 0.0 WAR. Darvish is 39 years old, and owed $46 million over the next 3 years of his contract. Other than a great season in 2022, he’s been mediocre, and missed lots of time with injuries – under 82 innings pitched each of the last two seasons. It will be interesting to see whether Owen Caissie will provide the Cubs with more value than the Padres received in the two years he was still under control after the trade, or all the subsequent years after the Padres re-signed him.

There are 3 ex-Cubs in the Brewers bullpen, although one (Shelby Miller) is out for the season, and another, Trevor Megill, is coming back from an injury. Although, he does look good to go for the NLDS. Rob Zastryzny might make the roster, especially with all the left-handed hitters in the Cubs’ lineup.

Despite his regular season struggles, Mark Leiter Jr. did make the postseason roster for the Yankees, but was not used. The Yankees appear to be relying on their starters much ore than other teams in the playoffs so far.

Kyle Hendricks had a decent year for the Angels, and there was talk that he would retire in 2025, but it does not appear that he’s made a final decision yet. https://www.mlb.com/news/kyle-hendricks-reflects-after-final-start-of-2025

There are still several ex-Cubs still around in the playoffs, and the next version of this recurring post will look at how well they’ve done in the postseason.