MLB Grind Down: Saturday, May 31st Page Three
Tampa Bay at Boston
| Tampa Bay | Boston | ||||||||
| Jake Odorizzi | Vegas Moneyline | Rubby De La Rosa | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | BOS (-113) | RIGHT | 9.0 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.283 | 0.793 | 0.348 | 21.8% | SP vs. Left | 0.250 | 0.590 | 0.297 | 16.7% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.225 | 0.659 | 0.301 | 25.2% | SP vs. Right | 0.344 | 0.937 | 0.431 | 8.6% |
| Batter Splits | TBR BvP  | TBR vs R | Batter Splits | BOS BvP | BOS vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
- Jake Odorizzi – While Odorizzi just pitched quite well against these Red Sox in his last start (6 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 1 walk and 5 K’s), he’s really struggled away from Tropicana Field. In five road starts this season he owns a 1-3 record and a 6.29 ERA. However, most of those poor road starts came early in the season and he’s now pitching his best ball of the year. During the month of May, Ororizzi has posted a 2.45 ERA and 35 strikeouts in just 25 innings. Pitching in Fenway Park against a dangerous Red Sox lineup is not ideal, but his recent success makes him an option on multi-pitcher sites and sites that heavily reward strikeouts. Rating = 5.5
Salaries: $5500 FD, $13102 DS, $11850 DD, $8600 DK, $87500 FF, $19000 SS, $11800 FTD
- Rubby De La Rosa – Prior to undergoing Tommy John’s surgery back in August of 2011, Rubby was making some noise as a starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers in his rookie season. In ten starts that season, he posted a solid 3.91 ERA and struck out 55 batters over 55.2 innings. Tommy John’s does not appear to have hurt his arm strength, as he’s still capable of bring a 95 MPH heater and has racked up 8.78 K’s/9 at AAA Pawtucket. His command appears to still be a huge issue which makes limits him to GPP use only in my opinion. Rating = 4.5
Salaries: $4600 FD, $12687 DS, $ DD, $5500 DK, $ FF, $ SS, $ FTD
Batter Grind Down
Tampa Bay
Wil Myers – Myers has been very quiet at the plate lately (as has the rest of this Rays team), but he’s been drawing a ton of walks (seven in the last five games) and that patience is inevitably going to pay off. While it’s somewhat meaningless, it’s worth noting that he doubled in his only other AB against De La Rosa. He’s also had success at Fenway Park during his short career
Additional Plays: Evan Longoria
Boston
David Ortiz – Odorizzi has struggled against lefties in his career, making Ortiz a very strong play. Big Papi posted a 1.092 OPS against right-handed pitching last season and owns a career .991 OPS at Fenway Park.
Additional Plays: A.J. Pierzynski, Grady Sizemore, Mike Carp
Pittsburgh at LA Dodgers
| Pittsburgh | LA Dodgers | ||||||||
| Brandon Cumpton | Vegas Moneyline | Hyun-Jin Ryu | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | LAD (-155) | LEFT | 7.0 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.271 | 0.630 | 0.289 | 18.3% | SP vs. Left | 0.284 | 0.728 | 0.327 | 17.6% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.208 | 0.480 | 0.236 | 13.9% | SP vs. Right | 0.239 | 0.615 | 0.277 | 20.9% |
| Batter Splits | PIT BvP | PIT vs L | Batter Splits | LAD BvP | LAD vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
- Brandon Cumpton – I’ll keep this one simple; Cumpton has pitched quite well when given the opportunity (2.55 career ERA), but he offers very limited strikeout potential (4.82 K’s/9 this season in MLB and 4.73 K’s/9 at AAA). Rating = 5
Salaries: $4200 FD, $11112 DS, $9800 DD, $6500 DK, $73900 FF, $15100 SS, $11700 FTD
- Hyun-Jin Ryu – Ryu flirted with perfection his last time on the mound in a dominating win over the Cincinnati Reds. He’s had a pair of rough starts this year, but still owns a very solid 5-2 record and 3.10 ERA through nine starts. Both of his bad outings have come at home this season, but he posted a very strong 7-4 record and 2.32 ERA at Dodger Stadium last season. The Pirates have several players in their lineup that feast on left-handed pitching, which hurts Ryu’s fantasy outlook slightly, but I still like this matchup for him. Rating = 6.5
Salaries: $7800 FD, $18534 DS, $13600 DD, $9900 DK, $95000 FF, $23500 SS, $16400 FTD
Batter Grind Down
Pittsburgh
Andrew McCutchen – McCutchen absolutely crushes left-handed pitching and posted a 1.130 OPS (.388 batting average) against southpaws last season. He already owns a homerun against Ryu in just three previous meetings and he’s hitting .324 so far this month.
- Additional Plays: Starling Marte, Jordy Mercer (for extreme value)
LA Dodgers
Yaisel Puig – Puig continues to prove that he’s one of the best hitters in baseball as he’s currently hitting .346 on the season. He sports a 1.095 OPS against right-handed pitching this season and is hitting .404 during the month of May.
Additional Plays: Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez
LA Angels at Oakland
| LA Angels | Oakland | ||||||||
| Tyler Skaggs | Vegas Moneyline | Tommy Milone | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| LEFT | OAK (-120) | LEFT | 7.5 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.289 | 0.785 | 0.351 | 17.5% | SP vs. Left | 0.289 | 0.772 | 0.338 | 14.6% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.231 | 0.662 | 0.298 | 19.4% | SP vs. Right | 0.240 | 0.698 | 0.311 | 19.0% |
| Batter Splits | LAA BvP | LAA vs L | Batter Splits | OAK BvP | OAK vs L | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
- Tyler Skaggs – It’s taken longer than many scouts thought, but Skaggs appears to have finally established himself as a legit MLB starting pitcher. He sports a respectable 3.97 ERA and 1.14 WHIP this season and has pitched much better on the road (1.80 ERA in four road starts). This Oakland lineup is relentless however, and they made things difficult for Skaggs when they met last month. Rating = 4.5
Salaries: $6500 FD, $15230 DS, $13750 DD, $8000 DK, $NA FF, $22700 SS, $11300 FTD
- Tommy Milone – After a shakey start to the 2014 campaign, Milone has been locked in over his last four starts; posting a 3-0 record with a 1.07 ERA and .84 WHIP. He’s been dominant at the Oakland Coliseum this season where he owns a 2-0 record and 1.35 ERA and has also pitched very well at home his entire career (2.97 career ERA). He’s in play today in both cash games and GPP’s, but makes for a better play on multi-pitcher sites that don’t have a huge emphasis on strikeouts. Rating = 6
Salaries: $5900 FD, $12702 DS, $11200 DD, $8500 DK, $93400 FF, $22900 SS, $10500 FTD
Batter Grind Down
LA Angels
Albert Pujols – Pujols has gone a bit cold at the plate, but seeing Tommy Milone may wake up him. In his career, he’s 7 for 16 against Milone with six of those hits being doubles. He owns a career 1.043 OPS against left-handed pitching and his cold spells don’t seem to last too long.
- Additional Plays: Mike Trout, Chris Iannetta, Howie Kendrick
Oakland
Josh Donaldson – Donaldson has turned himself into an elite MLB hitter. He went deep twice last night and now sports the following line through just 54 games; .285 batting average, 47 runs scored, 15 homeruns and 45 RBI’s. He absolutely mashes left-handed pitching (1.141 OPS this season) and is my top hitting choice of the day.
- Additional Plays: Derek Norris, Yoenis Cespedes
Cincinnati at Arizona
| Cincinnati | Arizona | ||||||||
| Johnny Cueto | Vegas Moneyline | Brandon McCarthy | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | CIN (-110) | RIGHT | 7.5 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.172 | 0.471 | 0.216 | 22.0% | SP vs. Left | 0.288 | 0.742 | 0.327 | 18.8% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.176 | 0.551 | 0.253 | 26.2% | SP vs. Right | 0.290 | 0.763 | 0.344 | 12.3% |
| Batter Splits | CIN BvP | CIN vs R | Batter Splits | ARI BvP | ARI vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
- Johnny Cueto – Cueto is one of the early season candidates for this years NL Cy Young award as he’ll bring a 1.83 ERA into tonight’s game against Arizona. Despite the very impressive numbers, his last two starts have not been his best work and he took losses in both of them. He only faced this Arizona team once last year and it’s an outing he wishes he could forget as he was pounded for 11 hits and 7 earned runs in just 4.1 innings of work. He’s still a solid play for both cash games and GPP’s, but i’ll be weary of paying his inflated price until he settles back down. Rating = 7.5
Salaries: $9700 FD, $23447 DS, $19300 DD, $12500 DK, $131400 FF, $32000 SS, $16900 FTD
- Brandon McCarthy – McCarthy has been up and down all season, but I’m still pretty optimistic that we haven’t seen the best of him yet. He’s the ultimate GPP option as we’ve seen him blow up for 7 earned runs in three innings versus the White Sox, but also fanned 12 Phillies over seven innings. Rating = 5
Salaries: $5900 FD, $13689 DS, $14200 DD, $7200 DK, $56000 FF, $18700 SS, $11500 FTD
Batter Grind Down
Cincinnati
Jay Bruce – Lefties are hitting .299 off of McCarthy this season and Bruce is the most formidable of the lefties in the Reds lineup with Votto on the DL. He’s extremely reasonably priced across the industry and is in a great spot here in the very hitter friendly Chase Field where he blasted Arizona pitching to the tune of a 1.795 OPS last season.
Additional Plays: Billy Hamilton
Arizona
Paul Goldschmidt – I don’t think it’s wise to pick on Cueto much, but Goldy is in play here as he always seems to hit well at Chase Field and he’s had success against Cueto in the past (2 for 6 with a homerun)
Detroit at Seattle
| Detroit | Seattle | ||||||||
| Drew Smyly | Vegas Moneyline | Chris Young | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| LEFT | DET (-127) | RIGHT | 7.5 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.172 | 0.467 | 0.208 | 27.9% | SP vs. Left | 0.205 | 0.650 | 0.293 | 12.6% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.261 | 0.771 | 0.340 | 23.0% | SP vs. Right | 0.211 | 0.701 | 0.308 | 7.5% |
| Batter Splits | DET BvP | DET vs R | Batter Splits | SEA BvP | SEA vs L | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
- Drew Smyly – Smyly has been a bit of a disappointment for the Tigers since moving to the rotation, but despite his struggles he still owns a respectable 3.86 ERA this year and has 40 strikeouts in 44.1 innings. .He’s been incredibly tough on left-handed batters, allowing just a .199 wOBA against them this season and this matchup versus a lefty-loaded Seattle lineup that ranks near the bottom of MLB in OPS versus LHP certainly improves his fantasy outlook. Rating = 5.5
Salaries: $6600 FD, $12265 DS, $12250 DD, $6000 DK, $60600 FF, $13800 SS, $NA FTD
- Chris Young – Young looks to have turned to clock to the days of when he used to pitch for the Padres. Through the first nine starts this season he owns a 3.30 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He has been fantastic at Safeco Field so far this season, posting a 1.65 ERA and .89 WHIP in four home starts. However, his strikeout rate leaves a lot to be desired and tonight’s matchup against this dangerous Detroit lineup is not ideal. He’s really only an option on the sites that factor in WHIP into their scoring and that don’t weigh strikeouts too heavily. Rating = 4.5
Salaries: $5700 FD, $8254 DS, $12500 DD, $7000 DK, $50300 FF, $15700 SS, $8000 FTD
Batter Grind Down
Detroit
Victor Martinez – V-Mart is completely locked in at the plate this season and just continues to heat up. He homered again last night and is now owns a 1.171 OPS during the month of May. He’s a tremendous play on the sites where he’s catcher eligible.
Additional Plays: Miguel Cabrera, Torii Hunter
Seattle
While i’m not overly high on Smyly in this matchup, this Seattle lineup is so lefty-heavy that it’s difficult to predict where the damage may come from.