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: 1993
WAR: 6.6
+4.7 WAR = 71.2% Improvement
The numbers that Rick Wilkins put up in 2003 as a catcher were absurd. He slashed .303/.376/.561, with 30 home runs, and his 151 OPS+ was 9th in the majors. Mike Piazza had a dominant rookie season (with an OPS+ of 153), and his 13 additional games helped him grab the Silver Slugger award away from Wilkins.
It was a forgettable season for the Cubs, where they won 84 games, but finished 4th in their division. Greg Maddux had moved on to the Braves (with a 5.8 WAR in 2003 – which was his low point for the next 6 seasons), allowing Larry Himes to sign the great trio of Randy Myers (1.3 WAR), Jose Guzman (0.4 WAR) and Dan Plesac (-0.7 WAR): https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/12/09/Cubs-sign-Randy-Myers-to-three-year-deal/8052723877200/
The top 8 players in WAR for the Cubs that season were hitters, but that good offense could not make up for the lousy pitching.
Wilkins had been coming off a decent 1.9 WAR season in 1992, playing in about half of the Cubs games, splitting time with Joe Girardi. But with Girardi gone in ’93 (draft in the expansion draft by the Rockies), Wilkins only competition was 36-year-old Steve Lake, who had been a backup on the 1984 roster.
Things went downhill for Wilkins in 1994, as he war dropped to 1.5, and he only managed 7 home runs and an 83 OPS+. Much of this could be attributed to a bulging disk in his neck, which would impact him the rest of his career. When you think of Cubs players who had their careers derailed by injuries, I think Mark Prior and Kris Bryant are the one first thought of. But, perhaps Wilkins could have been a star if he could have come even close to replicating what he did in 2003.
In 1995, he was traded to the Houston Astros for Scott Servais (and honorable mention one-hit wonder) and Luis Gonzalez — who became a star after leaving the Cubs. He bounced around to the Giants, Mariners, Mets, Dodgers, Cardinal and Padres over the next 6 season, with 1.4 WAR as his highest mark.
It is a bit amazing that Wilkins is only #4 on this list, as his season is viewed as one of the biggest outliers in Cubs’ history. But by my measuring stick of improvement of WAR over any other season, there are still 3 players whose best season was better than their 2nd best season.
Here is a really good article on Wilkins and his great season from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR):
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/rick-wilkins/
Cubs in 7 
Leave a comment