Chicago Cubs: Villains who would join the Cubs

Chicago Cubs: Safe to say he is still not liked by many Cubs fans even after having a brief run with them

It was May, 2008 when the Cubs brought in 38-year old Jim Edmonds. Many fans wanted to puke at the thought of the former Cardinal All-Star wearing Cubs blue. Edmonds not only did a ton of damage against the Cubs, .270/.392/.538 with 32 homers and a .930 OPS, but he got into it with Cubs players in the past. Remember the game with him and Carlos Zambrano in 2004?

Edmonds played hard and did not back down from anything. Regardless of the past, Edmonds was brought to Chicago to help give the team a veteran bat and outfield glove. In his 85 games as a Cub, he did a pretty good job. He hit .256/.369/.568 with 19 homers, 135 OPS+ and .937 OPS. Better than expected at his age.

Safe to say some fans (including myself) did warm up to him that year. He made the final catch in the division-clinching game against his former team in September. Like him or not, he was a big part of that 97-win team. He even said he wanted to be accepted as a Cub when he was in Chicago..something that sparked a spat with former manager Tony LaRussa.

After that? He went right back to being a Cubs villain…even though he did not play much longer. Eighty-five games in Chicago does not compare to the 1,105 games he played as a Cardinal and all the damage he did at Wrigley in red. Outside Chicago, most baseball fans probably do not even remember Edmonds was a Cub.

Thanks for 2008, at least.