How Are the Ex-Cubs doing? – 5/26

A semi-regular feature showing how former Cub players are doing. Plus, I don’t really fell like talking about the current Cubs at the moment.

Ex-Cubs Position players:

Name	Team	WAR	PA	HR	OPS	wRC+
Cody Bellinger	NYY	2.1	227	7	.863	145
Willson Contreras	BOS	1.8	210	11	.899	148
Kyle Schwarber	PHI	1.8	229	21	.970	167
Ildemaro Vargas	ARI	1.0	191	7	.820	128
Kyle Tucker	LAD	1.0	224	4	.751	116
Isaac Paredes	HOU	0.8	203	5	.709	106
Cam Smith	HOU	0.8	202	4	.623	81
Willi Castro	COL	0.2	160	2	.670	79
Vidal Bruján	NYM	0.0	5	0	.650	107
Javier Báez	DET	0.0	82	2	.678	88
Joc Pederson	TEX	0.0	148	3	.704	107
Jorge Soler	LAA	-0.1	209	9	.714	100
Patrick Wisdom	SEA	-0.1	12	0	.250	-36
Victor Caratini	MIN	-0.2	145	2	.533	57
Reese McGuire	CHW	-0.2	34	0	.445	37
Gage Workman	DET	-0.3	32	2	.656	75
Jeimer Candelario	LAA	-0.4	20	0	.422	20
Zach McKinstry	DET	-0.5	104	1	.480	34
Carlos Santana	ARI	-0.5	26	0	.279	-22
Owen Caissie	MIA	-0.6	147	4	.653	81
Christopher Morel	MIA	-0.7	60	0	.431	21
Nick Castellanos	SDP	-0.8	115	4	.557	54

The usual suspects are on top, with Cody Bellinger, Willson Contreras and Kyle Schwarber heading up the list. Schwarber has an OPS near 1.000, and has mashed 21 home runs already. I admit to being skeptical about paying a DH so much money, but it looks like was wrong.

Meanwhile, Willson Contreras is hitting and getting into scraps, this time with another former Cub

Ildemaro Vargas has come down to Earth, but he is still 4th on this list in WAR.

Some of the big trade chips are doing OK. Cam Smith and Issac Parades, who were part of a sweep of the Cubs, are having mediocre years at the plate, with Parades a little above average in terms of wRC+ and Smith a bit below average. And Kyle Tucker only has a .751 OPS, low for someone with his huge contract.

Several ex-Cubs hitters are really struggling. No one seems to have won the Cassie-Cabrera trade, as Cabrera is struggling and on the IL and Caissie has a -0.6 WAR and 81 wRC+. And Nick Castellanos and Christopher Morel are also underwater in terms of WAR.

Gage Workman made it back to the majors, but has seen similar results to his Cubs stint, posting a -0.3 WAR and 75 wRC+.

Ex-Cubs Pitchers

Name	Team	RA9-WAR	WAR	G	IP	ERA	xERA
Michael Soroka	ARI	1.4	1.2	10	55.0	3.27	4.40
Aroldis Chapman	BOS	1.3	0.8	18	17.2	0.51	3.08
Aaron Civale	ATH	1.0	0.0	11	55.2	4.20	4.98
Jason Adam	SDP	1.0	0.1	19	17.2	1.02	2.78
Brooks Raley	NYM	0.8	0.3	22	20.0	1.35	3.53
Sean Newcomb	CHW	0.7	0.6	21	29.2	3.03	3.62
Anthony Kay	CHW	0.7	0.2	11	52.1	3.96	5.67
Richard Lovelady	2 Tms	0.7	0.0	22	23.0	2.35	4.16
Caleb Kilian	SFG	0.4	-0.1	21	22.1	2.42	3.60
Pierce Johnson	CIN	0.3	0.1	23	21.1	3.38	6.26
Taylor Rogers	MIN	0.2	0.5	22	19.1	3.72	4.99
Brad Keller	PHI	0.2	0.2	23	22.2	3.57	2.66
Carl Edwards Jr.	NYM	0.2	0.0	2	6.0	1.50	2.61
Shawn Armstrong	CLE	0.1	-0.1	14	12.1	3.65	4.74
Tommy Nance	TOR	0.1	0.3	20	21.0	3.86	3.35
Brooks Kriske	ATH	0.1	0.1	2	2.2	0.00	2.31
Nate Pearson	HOU	0.1	0.0	2	2.0	0.00	3.95
Jeremiah Estrada	SDP	0.0	0.1	17	17.0	3.18	3.30
Codi Heuer	CLE	0.0	0.1	2	2.2	3.38	1.95
Eli Morgan	KCR	0.0	-0.2	9	12.1	5.11	7.01
Mark Leiter Jr.	ATH	-0.3	0.4	24	22.2	5.96	4.70
Trevor Megill	MIL	-0.3	0.6	18	17.0	5.29	3.24
Chris Martin	TEX	-0.4	-0.1	10	8.1	7.56	8.40
Craig Kimbrel	NYM	-0.4	-0.1	14	15.0	6.00	4.36
Hunter Bigge	TBR	-0.5	0.0	16	18.1	5.89	3.52
Andrew Kittredge	BAL	-0.6	-0.1	11	8.2	9.35	3.44
Drew Pomeranz	LAA	-0.6	-0.4	17	15.0	7.20	5.31
Brendon Little	TOR	-1.1	-0.5	5	3.2	24.55	7.20

Lots of ex-Cubs pitchers doing well this season. Michael Soroka is having a good bounce-back year with the Diamondbacks. And Aroldis Chapman is still dominant.

Carl Edwards Jr. has a brief stint with the Mets and was effective in a couple outings before a DFA. He is now on a minor league deal with the Tigers.

And we just saw Nate Pearson get a save for the Astros against the Cubs.

On the flip side, Andrew Kittredge and Drew Pomeranz, two key members of the Cubs bullpen don the stretch last season, have been quite bad so far.