MLB Grind Down: Thursday, May 8th - Page 2
Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox
| Chicago Cubs | Chicago White Sox | ||||||||
| Jake Arrieta | Vegas Moneyline | Scott Carroll | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | CWS (-120) | RIGHT | 8.5 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.196 | 0.660 | 0.303 | 18.5% | SP vs. Left | 0.290 | 0.656 | 0.310 | 0.0% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.234 | 0.710 | 0.328 | 20.2% | SP vs. Right | 0.133 | 0.251 | 0.156 | 17.6% |
| Batter Splits | CHC BvP  | CHC vs R | Batter Splits | CHW BvP | CHW vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Jake Arrieta – Arrieta pitched well in his first start of the season, but he’s had an ERA over 4.70 in each of the last two seasons. The White Sox offense has been very good this season and their entire lineup provides tough outs. He’s a below average fantasy option tonight. Rating = 4
Scott Carroll – Carroll pitched well in his minor league starts this season and so far so good in the majors. He has now made 2 major league starts and owns a 0.68 ERA. He’s only struck out 3 batters over 13 innings though and didn’t strike out many batters in the minors either. That really hurts his fantasy value, even against a Cubs’ offense that is ranked 29th against RH pitching this season. Rating = 5
Batter Grind Down
Chicago Cubs
Anthony Rizzo – Rizzo seems to have a good game every time he doesn’t make the Grind Down and then proceed to go 0/4 every time that I recommend him. Hopefully that’s not the case tonight. Rizzo has great power against RH pitching and the Cubbies are actually expected to score some runs tonight.
Additional Plays: Starlin Castro
Chicago White Sox
Alexei Ramirez – Ramirez is a very productive fantasy player, but he continues to fly under the radar. He has nice power (4 HR’s), good speed (5 SB’s), bats in the middle of the order, and he is very affordable across the industry. Arrieta has not been great against RH batters in his career.
Additional Plays: Jose Abreu, Gordon Beckham
Miami at San Diego
| Miami | San Diego | ||||||||
| Jacob Turner | Vegas Moneyline | Ian Kennedy | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | SDP (-148) | RIGHT | 7.0 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.255 | 0.698 | 0.323 | 11.6% | SP vs. Left | 0.253 | 0.787 | 0.345 | 24.0% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.288 | 0.806 | 0.362 | 16.7% | SP vs. Right | 0.255 | 0.704 | 0.325 | 19.4% |
| Batter Splits | MIA BvP | MIA vs R | Batter Splits | SDP BvP | SDP vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Jacob Turner – Turner has not been sharp in his first two starts. He has an ERA close to 10.0 and has given up 5+ in both outings. The good news is that he gets the cure for pitching blues with a matchup against the Padres in Petco. The Padres are ranked dead last against RH pitching this season (team .257 wOBA) and have scored fewer runs than any team in baseball. Turner is in play thanks to the matchup. Rating = 5
Ian Kennedy – Kennedy has pitched well this season, but has surprisingly struggled at home. His season ERA is at 3.43 and he has struck out 44 batters in 42 innings. He appears to be turning the corner and I think he makes a terrific play tonight against the Marlins who have not been great offensively away from Marlins Park. Rating 8
Batter Grind Down
Miami
Giancarlo Stanton – You can never rule out Stanton when he’s not facing an ace. Stanton has terrific power and has hit Kennedy well in his career. Stanton is batting .301 with an OPS of .981 against RH pitching this season.
Additional Plays: Christian Yelich
San Diego
Everth Cabrera – Something has to give in this matchup. Either Turner will finally pitch well or the Padres will finally score some runs. Cabrera is dirt cheap across the industry and is an on-base machine. He also has great speed and can steal a base or two.
Additional Plays: Jedd Gyorko, Will Venable
Kansas City at Seattle
| Kansas City | Seattle | ||||||||
| Danny Duffy | Vegas Moneyline | Hisashi Iwakuma | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| LEFT | SEA (-132) | RIGHT | 7.0 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.243 | 0.560 | 0.248 | 18.4% | SP vs. Left | 0.217 | 0.600 | 0.265 | 19.6% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.181 | 0.556 | 0.285 | 23.5% | SP vs. Right | 0.226 | 0.668 | 0.295 | 22.9% |
| Batter Splits | KCR BvP | KCR vs R | Batter Splits | SEA BvP | SEA vs L | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Danny Duffy – Duffy will be making his 13th start in the last 3 years (2nd this season). He has an ERA under 3.00 in his career and has pitched well to start the season. Tonight he faces a Mariners’ offense that is ranked 23rd against LH pitching (team .292 wOBA). Duffy is not going to pitch deep into this game though and should be avoided for our purposes. Rating = 4
Hisashi Iwakuma – Iwakuma was one of my favorite pitchers in daily fantasy baseball last season. He was just so consistent with a 2.66 ERA and a K/9 of 7.6. This will be his 2nd start of the season and while I do like Iwakuma moving forward, he only threw 81 pitches in his first start and I’m going to wait another start or two before targeting him in cash games. Rating = 6
Batter Grind Down
Kansas City
This game is expected to be very low scoring and the Royals are underdogs. Target batters from some of the other teams that have better matchups.
Seattle
Corey Hart – The M’s have a lot of LH batters in their lineup and I’m not too high on the lefty/lefty matchup for most of them. I do like the RH Hart though. He has great power against LH pitching and should be batting in the heart of the lineup.
Additional Plays: Stefan Romero
San Francisco at LA Dodgers
| San Francisco | LA Dodgers | ||||||||
| Ryan Vogelsong | Vegas Moneyline | Josh Beckett | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | LAD (-154) | RIGHT | 7.5 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.273 | 0.768 | 0.339 | 16.6% | SP vs. Left | 0.289 | 0.835 | 0.376 | 20.3% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.313 | 0.885 | 0.401 | 13.8% | SP vs. Right | 0.228 | 0.689 | 0.309 | 25.5% |
| Batter Splits | SFG BvP | SFG vs R | Batter Splits | LAD BvP | LAD vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Ryan Vogelsong – Don’t look now, but Vogelsong has back to back quality starts. That said, he is still sporting a 4.60 ERA with a 1.54 WHIP and 23 K’s over 29 innings of work. Tonight he faces a very dangerous Dodgers’ lineup that has a team .334 wOBA against RH pitching which is the 4th best in baseball. He should be avoided in all leagues. Rating = 3
Josh Beckett – Beckett has pitched pretty well this season. He has a 3.14 ERA with a 1.03 WHIP and is averaging over 1 K per inning pitched. Tonight he faces a Giants’ offense that is ranked 24th against RH pitching this season. This may be the first time in quite a while that I actually recommend Beckett as a cash game play. Rating = 8
Batter Grind Down
San Francisco
Brandon Belt – Belt had been in a terrible slump until yesterday when he hit a HR and a double off of Gerrit Cole. Tonight he faces another RH pitcher in Beckett who gave up a .376 wOBA to LH batters last season. This may be a nice time to buy low on Belt.
Additional Plays: Angel Pagan
L.A. Dodgers
Hanley Ramriez – Han-Ram is my top SS tonight, and yes I have him ranked over Tulo against a lefty. Ramirez is cheaper and has been mashing the ball at Dodger Stadium this season batting .329 with 10 XBH’s. This will be a test of splits vs. BvP as Hanley is only 2/17 off of Vogelsong in his career.
Additional Plays: Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig