DOCOFS: The Warmup Lineup Advice
Today is the start of the DOCOFS on DraftDay and 25% of the total prize pool for the series is up for grabs tonight in “The Warmup”. This tournament has a $10 entry with a $10,000 prize pool. Multiple entries are permitted in this tournament, but you will ONLY get series points your lone top score. For more specific information on the entire DOCFOS check out this column on Rotogrinders. Now lets take a look at some players who might be some help to you in getting off to a quick start in Draftday’s first event of the DOCOFS.
Pitchers
This is sizing up to be a huge field and although a team stack may be an appropriate strategy for the tournament, you still need to hit on starting pitching. Here are some guys to consider for tonight.
Jerome Williams – $10,565 As great as Gio Gonzalez and Yu Darvish are, they are sitting around $19K in this tournament and I just don’t think spending that much of your cap on starting pitching is a great strategy. Now taking a guy who has allowed double digit hits in back to back starts doesn’t sound wise either, but I think there is some upside with Jerome. Oakland’s lineup resembles something out of the Pacific Coast league, and the fact this game is in Oakland is not really a bad thing. The Coliseum has more foul territory than any other yard in the majors and with Williams sporting a 3-1 record with a 3.30 ERA in his career vs. Oakland, I think he may be a decent value today.
Kyle Kendrick – $4930 I don’t like taking crumby pitchers, but the price looks too good on Kendrick to pass up today. He is 75% cheaper than the most expensive pitching option, and it really shouldn’t take too much for him to pay himself off. Washington has been a very good team this year, but most of their success has come from their starting pitching, not their bats. The Nats lineup the last couple days featured guys by the name of Bernardina, Moore, Nady, & Flores who surely are not going to strike much fear in Kendrick. Historically he has been good against Washington (1-0 1.96 ERA in last 4 starts vs. Nats), and although he may not get a “Win” going against Gio Gonzalez, they are only worth 2 points in DraftDay’s scoring so you are not missing out on too much.
Studs
Now that you have saved some cash with cheap starting pitching, it is time to find some studs hitters to go splurge on for tonight.
Ryan Braun – $11,750 Not sure if it was the drama from the positive drug test, but Braun got off to a terrible start this year. Like most great players who start slow, it is only a matter of time before they catch fire and that is exactly where Braun is right now. He has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games hitting .411 over that span. Madison Bumgarner is not the easiest of opponents, but Braun has a sold track record going 4-13 with two doubles and a home run. With this game in Milwaukee I really like his chances of having a big game.
Adrian Gonzalez – $8750 Here is another guy that has definitely under performed thus far this year, but he has such a great swing it is only a matter of time he gets rolling. Tommy Hunter is a bit of gas can and although he looked good in his last start, this Red Sox/Baltimore game has the highest Over/Under on the board in Vegas for a reason. A-Gone is 3-9 vs. Hunter in his career, but I have hunch he sends one deep tongiht.
Albert Pujols – $9960 You wouldn’t think taking Albert would be considered very risky, but considering he is still the 2nd highest price first baseman on DraftDay I think he is. With these large field tournaments you need huge upside and despite his struggles at the plate he is more than capable of having a 2 or 3 HR day. Luckily for him Oakland is sending Tom Milone to the mound and Pujols has had a great luck vs. him and the entire Oakland staff so far this season (.440 off Oakland pitching & 2 Doubles off Milone).
Hanley Ramirez – $8780 The head to head batter vs. pitcher matchup is one of the many factors to look at when deciding on players and I definitely think HanRam could be primed for a nice offensive output today. Jamie Moyer is older than dirt and Ramirez is batting .340 with 4 Home Runs against him in his career. He is batting .308 at home (compared to .182 on the road) and has hits in 8 out of his last 10 games. Just put him in today because you are almost surely to get positive results.
Value Plays
The key to winning these large field events is finding the players that nobody else has and praying they come up huge. Here are some guys that may fall into that category.
Austin Kearns or Greg Dobbs – $4,470 & *$4000) I am not sure if we are going to see one or both of these guys in the lineup today, but they both could provide great production at a terrific value. I usually don’t advocate Dobbs versus left handed pitchers, but Jamie Moyer is nothing but a soft tosser and lefties are actually hitting for a better average against Moyer than right handed hitters. Dobbs is coming off a nice 3 hit game and could provide some good points for a minimum salary. Kearns on the other hand has had Moyers number over his career batting .368 against him.
Xavier Avery – $4,000 – Whenever no name rookies come up they are undervalued and Avery definitely falls into that category. For the minimum salary you are getting a leadoff hitter from a potent offensive team with 7 hits over the past 5 games and facing a pitcher with one of the highest ERA’s in the league. He is not a household name, but the value on Avery is too good to ignore.
Jonathan Lucroy – $5845 – Lucroy is looking more and more legit this year as this pick is based on more than his 2 home run, 7 RBI day yesterday. He has been great most of the year getting hits in 16 out of the last 17 games while batting .413 with 19 RBI over that span. He went 5 for 11 with a triple and two RBIs in the games in San Francisco from May 4-6. Throw in the fact that he has dominated left handed pitching to the tune of a .433 average, and he looks like a nice high upside pick at catcher tonight. UPDATE: Lucroy has the night off tonight.