DraftStreet GPP High-Ceiling MLB Lineup
Hello everyone, hope you had a great 4th of July yesterday. With all the fireworks and celebrations going on, you probably weren’t nearly as concerned with your baseball lineups as you normally are. I found myself in the same predicament. Between all the family events and parades I barely found time to make a team this weekend…let alone research my players. But it was a nice little break from the daily stress of my teams. However, now that the 4th has come and gone, it’s time to get back into the swing of things (no pun intended).
Ever since I started playing daily leagues, I have always been more of a fan of the two and three man leagues, but recently I have started to play a lot more of the 6-man, 10-man, and GPP leagues. I have always held to the theory that in order to win the large leagues you need to spend all of your money on your hitters and just hope to get lucky with cheap pitching. But lately I have had a change of heart on this strategy, basically all you have do is score a lot of points, simple as that.
Well I won’t go as far as saying simple, but I have found that going with all expensive hitters and cheap pitchers is rarely ever a good strategy to take. It’s extremely hard to put up high scores consistently because you are completely relying on hitting which is more inconsistent than pitching. Therefore, I am officially altering my strategy for medium and large-field tournaments.
So here is my new approach to win large-field tournaments. While you definitely need to put up a lot of points, it doesn’t have to all come from your bats. I like to make my teams with players that have a higher risk/reward rather than go for players that consistently get you 3-5 points. So when selecting my hitters, I like to look for guys that have the potential for monster games.
Whether it is home runs, stolen bases, or RBI’s, you need to find players that have the ability to score ten points on any given night. Players that come to mind are: Matt Kemp, Ryan Howard, Jose Reyes, Jose Bautista, Curtis Granderson, Adam Dunn (just because of his price), and so on.
Now onto the pitching. When picking your arms the first thing I like to look for is pitchers that are facing easy matchups. My favorite four opponents for my pitchers are the A’s, Mariners, Padres, and Giants. Especially when you can get a pitcher that is facing one of these teams at home. Next, look at pitcher’s home/away numbers and make sure you don’t take a pitcher that is terrible on the road or one that is facing a team in a hitter’s park. Finally, always pay attention to strikeout numbers because that is where pitchers score all of their points. So the moral of this story is to not be afraid to spend some money on pitching. I wouldn’t take the top three most expensive pitchers, but don’t be afraid to spend a little more in order to get more consistent points.
With that being said, here is the team I have put together for Draftstreet’s $11 150-man GPP tonight:
| Player | Salary | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Victor Martinez | $6,756.00 | In my opinion, he is the best hitting catcher in the league. Anytime he is below 7K I would take him. Plus he has a .571 OBP against Haren. |
| Michael Morse | $6,121.00 | The Nationals face Ramon Ortiz who hasn’t had a start in more than a year. I think they blow the game open with Morse and Werth being the stars of the show. |
| Dustin Pedroia | $6,598.00 | Who loves lefties? Dustin loves lefties! |
| Adrian Beltre | $8,789.00 | Beltre has been on an absolute tear and the Orioles haven’t named a starting pitcher yet. Whoever it is will be in for a long night. |
| Jimmy Rollins | $6,587.00 | It amazes me how many other SS’s are more expensive than Rollins. He is a great start against Volstad as he has a .423 average with 26 at bats. |
| Nelson Cruz | $7,746.00 | Cruz has also been great lately, especially in that lovely hitters park they call Arlington. |
| Josh Hamilton | $9,310.00 | Hamilton is my most expensive player, but he is worth the price tag tonight. The Orioles should have an inexperienced pitcher. |
| Jayson Werth | $4,017.00 | Werth has not been great this year, but for 4K against a guy that hasn’t made a start in a long time, I like the value. |
| Adam Dunn | $1,500.00 | Dunn with a multi-hit game yesterday! I’m not going to say that he is out of his slump, but for $1,500 I am willing to try it. |
| Ryan Howard | $6,401.00 | Ryan Howard has absolutely crushed Volstad in his career with 7 HR and 11 RBI’s in 24 at bats. |
| Randy Wolf | $8,963.00 | Wolf isn’t going to amaze you with his strikeout numbers, but he has been very consistent this year, especially at home. |
| Cole Hamels | $14,990.00 | I am a little concerned about the hand injury, but Hamels has been amazing on the road with a 2.19 ERA and faces a Marlins team that he has struck out many times in the past. |
| Fernando Salas | $2,351.00 | I am hoping that this game stays close with Volquez and Garcia on the mound, if it is then there is a good shot Salas gets a shot at another save. |
| Jaime Garcia | $9,671.00 | This guy has been amazing at home and not very good on the road. He gets the Reds at home which means Drew Stubbs will give him a couple K’s. |
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About the Writer: Derek ‘Notorious’ Farnsworth has been playing fantasy sports ever since he could walk. He loves sports so much he swears his first words were “Michael Jordan.” He recently graduated with a Master’s degree from the University of Utah and is excited for their entrance into the PAC-12. He was introduced to daily fantasy sports last year by clicking on one of Draftstreet’s famous referee ads, and quickly climbed the RotoGrinders Rankings towards the Top 25. He also loves betting on sports and the occasional craps table.