Wells: ERA 4.44 FIP 3.80 xFIP 3.96/ 6.99 K/9, 2.8 BB/9/ 2.7 WAR He's really not been below average. FIP and xFIP have him well above average. Z has also been pretty underrated this year. He's not been worth his contract by any stretch, but his xFIP is better than it was in 2007, his K/9 is higher than it's been since 2006 and his BABIP is higher than it's been in his entire career. He's pitched ok this year. Gorzo is a young pitcher who's been decent this year and has strong minor league numbers. There's really no reason to think he can't be at least decent next year, if not better. As a team, the Cubs' pitchers are 11th in the majors in WAR. That's well above average and close to very good. The Cubs' starters are 12th in the majors in xFIP. It's not going to be a dominant staff, but it'll be good enough next year to not shell out $18+ mil over 4 years for a 32 year old Cliff Lee. Isn't Cliff Lee the kind of pitcher that seems like he would age pretty gracefully? And 11th in WAR is well above average? It's certainly above average but where does it rank among contenders? Isn't that the baseline scenario?