Taking a look back at the 10 players who had one really good or great year in their career while they were with the Cubs.
Year: 1998
WAR: 4.3
+2.4 WAR = 55.8% Improvement
Of the truly unexpected performances in the history of my fandom, the 1989 season from Mike Bielecki has to be up there. He had a few forgettable seasons in Pittsburgh, before he was traded to the Cubs for a minor leaguer named Mike Curtis. He had a decent year with the Cubs in 1988, mostly out of the bullpen, but managed a solid 3.35 ERA despite a 1.47 WHIP.
And then, in 1998 he had the best season of career, starting 33 games, and posting a 3.14 ERA, 3.509 FIP and 1.26 WHIP. He was part of a very good top-3 of the rotation along with Greg Maddux and Rick Sutcliffe (with Scott Sanderson providing a solid #4).
1989 was really an outlier season for the Cubs, as between 1979 and 1997, they finished first in their division twice and 3rd once, and were otherwise 4th, 5th and 6th. I addition to Bielecki, the Cubs also got career years from two rookies – Dwight Smith and Jerome Walton and one reliever (who will be featured at #5), an near MVP season from Ryne Sandberg and a 3rd place Cy Young season from Maddux. And a great season from Mitch Williams, who would have only one better season in his career with the Phillies.
After the great promise and expectations of 1984, the consistent losing put me in the mindset that the Cubs could only in if a few magical things occurred, such as the 1998 performance of Bielecki.
After his great year, more was expected in 1990, but it did not come. His ERA rose to 4.93 that season, with his WAR dropping to 0.3. He was traded to the Braves along with Damon Berryhill in 1991 for Yorkis Perez and Turk Wendell, having a decent season with them in 1992.
He bounced back and forth to Cleveland, back to Atlanta, to the Angels, and had one more good season in 96 with the Braves (1.9 WAR and 2.63 ERA) before finishing up his career in 1997.
Here is an interview with Bielecki from 2003:
Meanwhile, one of the players the Cubs got for Bielecki turned out to be one of the strangest players of all-time:
Cubs in 7 
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