CheeseIsGood's Million Dollar Musings: Thursday, August 19th
Happy Thursday! We’ve got another early start today with games spread throughout the day. We’re looking at a 1:10pm ET early slate with six games on DK and five games on FD. The evening slate is a smaller 4-gamer starting at the usual 7:05pm ET. In order to get this out early enough to be useful, I’m going to go with a somewhat Cliff Noted version for the early slates. (It ended up being a little longer than intended, oh well). I’ll then be on an early edition of Crunchtime with Blender at 12:30pm ET, where we’ll cover any additional thoughts or changes to these early slates.
Early Slate Pitching
Four Up Top
Zack Wheeler at Diamondbacks (DK)
Dylan Cease vs A’s
Shane McClanahan at Royals
Luis Garcia at Royals
Decent Real-Life Pitching
Cole Irvin at White Sox
Mike Minor vs Astros
Chris Flexen at Rangers
Madison Bumgarner vs Phillies (DK)
The Phillies-Diamondbacks game is not on the early FD slate, which changes things quite a bit there. Zack Wheeler is the top pitcher on this slate for DK and at just $10,200, it’s not hard to fit him in. The strikeouts come and go, but the consistency and pitch count keep him at the top of this list. Although he’s had several double-digit K outings this season, that shouldn’t be the expectation, but it’s nice to know it’s possible. Even without them, the control and innings in a good matchup make him the clear SP1.
If you’re paying up for another pitcher on DK, or looking for the SP1 on FD, it’s Shane McClanahan vs Dylan Cease, with Luis Garcia a little further back. McClanahan has been a steady 27%+ strikeout pitcher and Tampa has finally taken the gloves off, letting him throw 100 pitches last week. I’d still only plan on 90, but that’s plenty here at home with his skill set. But when we start looking at strikeouts and pitch count upside, Cease is ahead of him. Cease’s 30.8% K rate this season is tops on this slate and it’s moved up to 33.6% over the past month while his control has improved. While I do prefer the matchup for McClanahan, I have a very slight preference for Cease here, even before seeing the $1,000 discount on FD. I would be completely happy with either of these two pitchers.