Chicago Cubs: Grading the players on their first half performances

Chicago Cubs: Overall the rotation has been pretty good with a few kinks in the road.

Jon Lester: B

There have been magnificent and awful stretches from Lester this year. Overall a 3.72 ERA, 1.3 WHIP, 4.16 FIP, 8.9 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 94 1/3 innings. He is missing more bats than last year, which is notable. Overall these are alright numbers to expect from Lester at this point in his career.

Cole Hamels: A

No doubt the best starter on the staff so far. Hamels leads the team in ERA (2.98) and is posting a 3.57 FIP, 1.2 WHIP and 97 strikeouts in 17 starts. Just pray his injury is not overly serious.

Kyle Hendricks: A-

Had a slow start but overall has a 3.49 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 1.18 WHIP and a 1.8 BB/9 in 16 starts. The Professor has been merely doing his thing and making the extension worth it so far, not much else to say.

Yu Darvish: D+/C-

Alright, I know the numbers (5.01 ERA, 5.29 FIP, 4.5 BB/9) should give this an F grade. However, the stuff looks excellent, and he has had some excellent starts on the road along with some bad ones at Wrigley. He needs to control the walks (which have improved) and the home runs given up at home. No more excuses in the second half though.

Jose Quintana: B-

Despite some average-looking numbers which include a 4.19 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in 101 innings, Quintana has been more good than bad. Like last year, a few bad outings have ballooned his numbers. He has had three starts out of 18 appearances which he has given up five or eight runs. The rest of the 15 have been three runs or less. He still needs to generate more swings-and-misses and pitch well down the stretch.