How Are the Ex-Cubs doing? – 4/13

A semi-regular feature showing how former Cub players are doing.

With 2 weeks gone in the season, it’s time for our first check-in with how the Ex-Cubs players have been doing. We get to add Kyle Tucker to the list of ex-Cubs, along side of two of the platers he was traded for – which is not great.

Ex-Cubs Position players:

#	Name	Team	WAR	PA	HR	OPS	wRC+
1	Cam Smith	HOU	1.1	64	3	.893	159
2	Willson Contreras	BOS	0.9	67	3	.957	178
3	Ildemaro Vargas	ARI	0.5	35	1	1.065	198
4	Owen Caissie	MIA	0.4	46	2	.873	141
5	Kyle Schwarber	PHI	0.3	66	4	.879	149
6	Cody Bellinger	NYY	0.3	65	1	.690	103
7	Javier Báez	DET	0.3	41	1	.815	132
8	Kyle Tucker	LAD	0.3	67	1	.659	95
9	Isaac Paredes	HOU	0.1	47	0	.665	102
10	Willi Castro	COL	0.1	54	1	.618	63
11	Jorge Soler	LAA	0.1	69	4	.775	120
12	Victor Caratini	MIN	-0.1	55	0	.628	88
13	Zach McKinstry	DET	-0.1	41	1	.533	54
14	Reese McGuire	CHW	-0.2	17	0	.301	-12
15	Joc Pederson	TEX	-0.2	37	1	.524	53
16	Nick Castellanos	SDP	-0.2	38	0	.549	53
17	Jeimer Candelario	LAA	-0.4	20	0	.422	23
18	Carlos Santana	ARI	-0.5	26	0	.279	-19

Owen Caissie was the name we had heard about the most so far, as he’s done quite well offensively. But the player actually doing the best so far is Cam Smith. After a rough start last season, he got really hot, and then cooled way off toward the end of the season. It will be interesting to track the progress of both of them.

A name most will not remember is Ildemaro Vargas, who spent partial seasons with the Cubs in 2020, 2021 and 2022, posting a 0.1 WAR in 25 games. He seems to have found a home in Arizona, back where he started, posting some amazing hitting numbers so far. I would guess a regression is on its way soon.

Nick Castellanos, who many wanted to pick up when he was dumped by the Phillies, currently has a -0.2 WAR and .549 OPS.

Ex-Cubs Pitchers

#	Name	Team	RA9-WAR	WAR	G	IP	ERA	xERA
1	Aaron Civale	ATH	0.8	0.1	3	15.2	1.72	3.72
2	Anthony Kay	CHW	0.5	0.0	3	14.2	2.45	7.23
3	Michael Soroka	ARI	0.5	0.4	3	15.2	2.87	5.78
4	Aroldis Chapman	BOS	0.2	0.1	5	5.0	1.80	4.73
5	Shawn Armstrong	CLE	0.2	-0.1	8	7.2	2.35	4.65
6	Eli Morgan	KCR	0.2	0.1	2	5.0	0.00	2.25
7	Hunter Bigge	TBR	0.2	-0.2	4	4.1	2.08	4.83
8	Caleb Kilian	SFG	0.2	0.0	7	6.0	1.50	2.88
9	Jason Adam	SDP	0.1	0.0	2	0.2	0.00	1.14
10	Craig Kimbrel	NYM	0.0	0.0	1	1.0	0.00	5.41
11	Pierce Johnson	CIN	0.0	0.1	8	6.1	4.26	8.82
12	Taylor Rogers	MIN	0.0	0.1	7	6.1	4.26	4.58
13	Sean Newcomb	CHW	-0.1	0.2	8	10.2	5.06	2.96
14	Brad Keller	PHI	-0.1	0.0	7	7.0	5.14	2.68
15	Tommy Nance	TOR	-0.1	0.0	7	7.0	6.43	4.08
16	Drew Pomeranz	LAA	-0.1	-0.1	6	5.2	6.35	3.05
17	Richard Lovelady	NYM	-0.2	-0.1	6	7.1	3.68	4.27
18	Mark Leiter Jr.	ATH	-0.2	0.0	7	6.1	7.11	7.35
19	Chris Martin	TEX	-0.3	0.0	7	6.0	7.50	7.40
20	Jeremiah Estrada	SDP	-0.4	0.1	7	7.0	5.14	6.35
21	Trevor Megill	MIL	-0.4	0.0	5	4.0	11.25	5.68
22	Brendon Little	TOR	-1.1	-0.5	5	3.2	24.55	7.15

A few surprising names at the top of the list of ex-Cub pitchers, with 3 guys who pitched in a grand total of 24 games combined for the Cubs. If only Soroka could have had those numbers for the Cubs last season.

Caleb Kilian, whose career just never got on track for the Cubs, is back with the Giants, and he’s pitched 6 strong innings out of thier bullpen.

Lots of former Cubs relievers have been off to a rough start: Brad Keller, Tommy Nance, Drew Pomeranz, Mark Leiter Jr., Chris Martin, Jeremiah Estrada, Trevor Megill and Brendon Little all have ERAs over 5, with a couple at 7+, Megill at 11.25 and Little at 24.55. The expected ERA of most of them are much lower than their actual ERA, so I would expect to see an improvement soon.