Chicago Cubs: Ex-Cubs who dominated the team after moving on

Chicago Cubs: While some might not remember, Derrek Lee’s damage against the Cubs was brief but brutal.

After being part of the 2003 Marlins which broke the hearts of Cubs fans, Derrek Lee was acquired for Hee-Seop Choi the following season. For the next seven years Lee became a fan favorite at Wrigley Field. A two-time All Star, Lee hit .298/.378/.524 with 179 home runs and 574 RBI in 924 games a Cub. He was traded away to Atlanta in late 2010 and eventually ended up being dealt from Baltimore to the Pittsburgh in 2011.

This is a bit different than the first two cases. Lee’s tenure with the Pirates was fairly brief and was at the very end of his career. The Cubs were lucky to get Lee’s prime years. Regardless, Lee destroyed Cubs pitching when he faced them as a Bucco in 2011. Sample size was fairly small, five games and 20 at-bats. He made the most of that though putting up a slash of .474/.500/.947 with a 1.447 OPS, three homers and nine RBI.

Why mention this if the sample size was small? Mainly due to the fact that one of those home runs he hit was a go-ahead grand slam at Wrigley Field in the pouring ran off Carlos Marmol with two outs in the ninth. Yeah it was September 3 and the Cubs were going nowhere, but it was still a brutal loss. His other two home runs against the Cubs were hit in his Pirates debut at PNC Park, the first one was off Carlos Zambrano.