CheeseIsGood's Million Dollar Musings - MLB DFS Strategy: Tuesday, July 5th

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Happy Tuesday! Well, this is a tough slate. There are a whole mess of kind of OK pitchers who are priced like aces, but are very much not aces. This leaves us with 24 offenses that are completely viable, and not much separation in any sort of top tier. Yippee?

There is also a bunch of games with at least a Yellowish weather concern, although at this point in the day, only the Twins-White Sox look to be in any real jeopardy. Just be sure to check the afternoon weather report or tune into Crunchtime before locking in your pitchers.

Trying To Pitch On A Tuesday Night

These Are Not Aces

Nick Pivetta vs Rays – 23.6% K, 8.3% BB, 3.23 ERA, 3.99 SIERA
Jameson Taillon at Pirates – 19.8% K, 3.2% BB, 3.32 ERA, 3.79 SIERA
Jeffrey Springs at Red Sox – 27.8% K, 5.6% BB, 2.25 ERA, 3.10 SIERA
Luis Garcia vs Royals – 25.7% K, 6.8% BB, 3.54 ERA, 3.57 SIERA
Alex Wood at Diamondbacks – 22.5% K, 6.3% BB, 5.03 ERA, 3.58 SIERA
Michael Kopech vs Twins – 23.2% K, 11.4% BB, 2.78 ERA, 4.58 SIERA
Ian Anderson vs Cardinals – 19.6% K, 11% BB, 5.31 ERA, 4.64 SIERA

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There is not a one of these pitchers that I see any need at all to prioritize spending on. That doesn’t mean they aren’t playable, but that I’m not going to sacrifice bats in order to get anything here into my lineups. On DK, all seven of these pitchers are between $8,500 – $10,300, and on FD between $8,000 – $10,100. In a vacuum, none of them look to be worth their salaries at first glance.

In my estimation, the best skill set here belongs to Jeffrey Springs. However, not only is he in Boston, he’s also coming off 10-days rest. While he wasn’t injured, the Rays are never a team to trust with pitch count to begin with, so there’s at least some innings concern. His opponent Nick Pivetta continues putting together quality starts, but the strikeouts only appeared twice, and otherwise they have been disappearing. I prefer him to Springs due to the matchup, but this is not a $10k pitcher to me.

If I’m going to spend the $10k on one of these guys, it’s Luis Garcia. But like with Pivetta, this is really just not a $10k pitcher. He’s fine, with moderate occasional strikeout upside, but he needs a lot of batted ball help to be better than just fine. Both Garcia and Pivetta have put up a couple of 30-pt DK starts this season, and it’s in the range of outcomes, but the more realistic expectation is 15-20. It’s just not thrilling for the salary.

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About the Author

CheeseIsGood
Dave Potts (CheeseIsGood)

One of the preeminent baseball minds in all of fantasy, Dave Potts (aka CheeseIsGood) has won contests at the highest levels of both season-long and DFS. He is a 2x winner of a $1,000,000 1st-place prize in DFS; having won the 2014 FanDuel baseball Live Final and following that up by taking down a DraftKings Milly Maker Tournament in 2015. In addition, he’s won the Main Event championship in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship and the NFBC Platinum League, which is the highest buy-in entry league. His consistent success in the NFBC tournaments earned him a prestigious spot in their Hall of Fame. Dave can also strum a mean guitar while carrying a tune, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see him do so on one of his MLB Crunch Time appearances. Follow Dave on Twitter – @DavePotts2