How Are the Ex-Cubs doing? – 8/28

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

I recently changed my methodology to try to include more players who never made it to the majors with the Cubs, so that players like Brett Bateman would be included.

Ex-Cubs Position players:

Name	Team	WAR	PA	HR	OPS	wRC+
Willson Contreras	BOS	4.1	501	26	.916	155
Isaac Paredes	HOU	3.3	540	17	.783	124
Cody Bellinger	NYY	3.0	452	12	.766	116
Kyle Schwarber	PHI	2.8	573	40	.890	138
Luis Torrens	NYM	2.0	239	8	.709	98
Joc Pederson	TEX	1.3	396	23	.814	128
Cam Smith	HOU	1.2	475	17	.668	86
Gleyber Torres	DET	1.2	333	8	.741	113
Willi Castro	COL	1.0	460	15	.760	98
Victor Caratini	MIN	0.8	341	7	.638	82
Zach McKinstry	DET	0.7	368	4	.617	74
Brett Bateman	TOR	0.7	74	0	.753	113
Ildemaro Vargas	ARI	0.6	419	9	.692	88
Jhonny Pereda	SEA	0.5	82	2	.685	102
Nick Madrigal	LAA	0.3	52	0	.680	105
Nicky Lopez	2 Tms	0.3	226	1	.603	73
Ali Sánchez	NYY	0.3	67	1	.617	72
Javier Báez	DET	0.1	156	2	.664	83
Christian Franklin	BAL	0.1	37	0	.593	87
Kyle Tucker	LAD	0.0	515	11	.680	92
Andruw Monasterio	BOS	0.0	307	6	.728	100
Luis Vázquez	BAL	0.0	0	0	.000
Trey Mancini	LAA	0.0	14	0	.747	94
P.J. Higgins	CIN	0.0	32	0	.545	48
Ronny Simon	PIT	-0.1	34	0	.656	82
Vidal Bruján	NYM	-0.1	13	0	.258	-23
Zack Short	2 Tms	-0.2	62	0	.442	32
Miles Mastrobuoni	SEA	-0.3	30	0	.434	29
Reese McGuire	CHW	-0.3	34	0	.445	36
Owen Caissie	MIA	-0.4	301	13	.712	92
Gage Workman	2 Tms	-0.4	41	2	.585	51
Jeimer Candelario	LAA	-0.4	20	0	.422	20
Nelson Velázquez	2 Tms	-0.5	91	4	.659	81
Patrick Wisdom	SEA	-0.5	48	1	.367	-2
Carlos Santana	ARI	-0.5	26	0	.279	-23
Jorge Soler	LAA	-0.6	361	12	.664	87
Moisés Ballesteros	2 Tms	-0.6	258	6	.600	69
Christopher Morel	2 Tms	-0.8	85	0	.440	25
Nick Castellanos	SDP	-0.9	122	4	.560	51

What a year for Willson Contreras. There have certainly been some controversial moments this year., but he has been a hitting machine for the Red Sox.

Luis Torrens is surprisingly high on this list, especially considering his offensive numbers, but catchers often can provide a lot of value with defense and framing.

Meanwhile, Kyle Tucker has dropped all the way down to a 0.0 WAR, which is mind-boggling.

For two of the hitters traded at the deadline, I’m not sure many would have projected the Brett Bateman would be at 0.7 and Moises Ballesteros at -0.6 (he was at 0.0 with the Cubs). Defense certainly has a lot to do with this number, but Bateman has also been a better hitter with a 113 wRC+ compared to 18 since the trade from Ballesteros, a miserable .167/.217/.202 slash line. I honestly though Ballesteros would be coming back up with the Cubs to be the primary left-handed DH in September and beyond, and I was dead wrong.

Christopher Morel has had a pretty awful season, but he did get a walk-off against the Brewers. Of course, it was on an error and the Mets lost the other two games of the series.

Ex-Cubs Pitchers

Name	Team	RA9-WAR	WAR	G	IP	ERA	xERA
Dylan Cease	TOR	5.0	5.0	24	144.1	2.37	2.67
Paul Blackburn	NYY	2.6	0.6	51	74.0	1.70	3.57
Michael Soroka	ARI	2.5	2.5	18	95.1	3.40	4.29
Sean Newcomb	CHW	2.2	1.7	49	75.0	2.28	3.80
Aroldis Chapman	BOS	2.0	1.4	46	44.2	1.81	2.76
Anthony Kay	CHW	1.9	0.9	27	132.0	4.09	4.92
Trevor Megill	MIL	1.7	2.2	52	51.1	2.28	2.54
Brooks Raley	2 Tms	1.4	0.8	54	48.2	2.22	3.50
Aaron Civale	2 Tms	1.2	0.6	25	94.2	4.66	4.63
Bryan Hudson	CHW	1.0	1.1	57	55.0	3.27	3.09
Jason Adam	SDP	0.9	-0.1	36	32.1	2.51	3.43
Nate Pearson	2 Tms	0.8	0.3	30	33.2	2.41	4.29
Hayden Wesneski	HOU	0.7	0.7	6	32.2	3.86	3.86
Tommy Nance	2 Tms	0.6	0.5	48	48.1	3.35	4.08
Jose Cuas	KCR	0.4	0.2	13	14.0	1.93	5.24
Trevor Williams	WSN	0.3	0.2	8	17.0	2.65	3.22
Mark Leiter Jr.	ATH	0.3	0.6	36	33.2	4.28	4.19
Brad Keller	PHI	0.2	0.2	32	31.1	4.02	3.33
Michael Fulmer	2 Tms	0.2	0.1	4	4.2	0.00	4.26
Richard Lovelady	2 Tms	0.2	-0.4	33	30.1	3.86	5.76
Pierce Johnson	CIN	0.2	0.0	44	38.1	4.46	5.35
Carl Edwards Jr.	NYM	0.2	0.0	2	6.0	1.50	2.75
Cam Sanders	2 Tms	0.1	0.4	19	21.1	5.48	3.97
Brooks Kriske	ATH	0.1	0.1	2	2.2	0.00	2.45
Craig Kimbrel	3 Tms	0.1	0.1	38	39.0	4.15	4.23
Manuel Rodríguez	TBR	0.1	0.0	1	1.0	0.00	1.18
Codi Heuer	CLE	0.0	0.1	8	9.2	4.66	4.78
Jeremiah Estrada	SDP	0.0	0.6	33	31.0	3.48	3.38
Eli Morgan	KCR	0.0	-0.3	16	19.1	5.12	7.24
Taylor Rogers	MIN	-0.1	0.2	54	47.2	4.91	4.18
Shawn Armstrong	CLE	-0.2	-0.1	38	33.0	4.91	3.98
Charlie Barnes	2 Tms	-0.2	-0.2	5	13.0	6.92	7.44
Keegan Thompson	COL	-0.2	0.2	5	12.0	8.25	7.59
Tom Cosgrove	WSN	-0.2	0.1	16	15.0	4.80	3.15
Yovanny Cruz	2 Tms	-0.3	-0.1	10	9.1	5.79	5.39
Andrew Kittredge	BAL	-0.5	0.3	46	40.1	3.35	4.02
Caleb Kilian	2 Tms	-0.6	0.2	49	47.2	4.91	3.54
Chris Martin	TEX	-0.7	-0.2	16	14.0	9.00	7.62
Hunter Bigge	TBR	-0.7	0.0	18	19.1	6.98	4.05
Alex Lange	KCR	-0.8	0.0	50	51.2	5.75	4.90
Michael Rucker	SEA	-0.8	0.1	28	30.0	6.30	3.90
Brendon Little	TOR	-1.1	-0.5	22	20.2	8.27	4.39

Dylan Cease is by far the best player on this list. Some of the big name free agent starters over the past couple of years have not fared so well. Framber Valdez has been somewhat disappointing, while Corbin Burnes and Black Snell have had injury problems. But Max Fried, Ranger Suarez and Michael King have been effective. The Cubs decided to go the trade route this season for their big starter acquisition with Edward Cabrera, which has not been great.

It will be interesting if the Cubs go back for a big free agent pitcher in the future. Clay Holmes might be someone I’d hope they’d sign.