The best former Cub from every MLB team

Engage in this exciting offseason activity.

• By
  
  Al Yellon
  
• on October 23, 2023 9:00 am

I must credit Adam Sanford of our SB Nation Tampa Bay Rays site DRays Bay for inspiring me with this idea. Check out his article on the top former Ray from every MLB team, according to bWAR.

So here’s the question: Which player, who once played for the Cubs, accumulates the highest bWAR for each of the other 29 MLB teams in the Modern Era (since 1900)? Here’s the complete list. Keep in mind that Cubs history spans a long period, so some players represented the listed team when it existed in a different city, and some played a long time ago. The WAR figure mentioned is only the number posted for the listed team, not for the Cubs:

Arizona Diamondbacks: Luis Gonzalez, 30.0
Atlanta Braves: Greg Maddux, 66.2
Baltimore Orioles: Rafael Palmeiro, 24.4
Boston Red Sox: Nomar Garciaparra, 41.3
Chicago White Sox: Lance Johnson, 21.3
Cincinnati Reds: Lonny Frey, 34.5
Cleveland Guardians (Indians): Kenny Lofton, 48.6
Colorado Rockies: Carlos Gonzalez, 23.8
Detroit Tigers: Billy Rogell, 26.4
Houston Astros: Joe Niekro, 23.1
Kansas City Royals: Willie Wilson, 42.4
Los Angeles Angels: John Lackey, 24.8
Los Angeles Dodgers: Ron Cey, 47.7
Miami Marlins: Cliff Floyd, 16.9
Milwaukee Brewers: Jonathan Lucroy, 17.3
Minnesota Twins: Gary Gaetti, 27.1
New York Mets: Howard Johnson, 22.0
New York Yankees: Tony Lazzeri, 46.4
Oakland (Philadelphia) Athletics: Jimmie Foxx, 61.2
Philadelphia Phillies: Robin Roberts, 69.8
Pittsburgh Pirates: Wilbur Cooper, 48.1
San Diego Padres: Phil Nevin, 17.8
San Francisco (New York) Giants: Larry Doyle, 42.7
Seattle Mariners: Jamie Moyer, 34.2
St. Louis Cardinals: Rogers Hornsby, 91.5
Tampa Bay Rays: Ben Zobrist, 35.3
Texas Rangers: Rafael Palmeiro, 44.6
Toronto Blue Jays: George Bell, 21.2
Washington Nationals (Montreal Expos): Andre Dawson, 48.4

I initially planned to follow Adam Sanford’s method in his Rays article by building a 26-man roster and starting lineup from this list. However, it turns out to be impossible. Out of the players mentioned above, only six are pitchers. You could put together an impressive starting rotation with these guys: Greg Maddux, Joe Niekro, Robin Roberts, Wilbur Cooper, and Jamie Moyer, with John Lackey as a sixth starter. Unfortunately, there are no relief pitchers with sufficient bWAR to make this list.

Additionally, Rafael Palmeiro appears on the list twice, representing both the Orioles and Rangers. Six players on this list had minimal playing time with the Cubs: Robin Roberts (11 games with a 6.14 ERA in 1966), Jimmie Foxx (85 games for the Cubs in 1943-44, with only three of his 534 home runs), Carlos Gonzalez (15 games at the end of his career in 2019), Phil Nevin (67 games for the 2006 Cubs), Jonathan Lucroy (27 games with a .566 OPS in 2019), and Billy Rogell (33 games in 1940 after a successful career as the Tigers’ starting shortstop in the 1930s). All the others played at least one full season with the Cubs. The only players who had a significant career with the Cubs were Maddux, Dawson, and Hornsby. Ben Zobrist’s time with the Cubs was memorable for obvious reasons, but he only posted 6.7 bWAR in his four years with the team.

Out of the 28 different players, six are Hall of Famers: Maddux, Lazzeri, Foxx, Roberts, Hornsby, and Dawson, with a few others who might be inducted in the future (Moyer, for example).

This was an enjoyable exercise, and I hope you had fun reminiscing about these players.

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