Taking Down the $2,000 Draftstreet Wednesday GPP
Last time I wrote an article about entering GPP’s and the strategy that I was going to try out, I ended up taking second in the 150 man tournament which was my highest finish in a GPP so far. I’m hoping that if I try this again, I can place in tonight’s GPP too.
Strategy Recap: When entering a GPP or a tournament that has 20 or more players, you always have to remember that in order to win or even place, you must score a lot higher than your average score. This means that you have to change your strategy up a bit and take riskier players. You don’t want to take a guy like Ichiro that will cost you $6,000 and get you 3 points. You want to take a guy like Drew Stubbs that costs about the same but can either get you 10 points or -2 points on any given night. The trick is to find those guys on the right night.
When I enter head to head matchups, I try to take players that can get 1 point per $2,000 of salary. This means that with a $100,000 salary, I want my team to score 50 points. This is usually a pretty decent score in a head to head match and if you can reach this number consistently, you will win more often than not. However, in a GPP, a score of 50 points will put you right in the middle of the pack which is not where you want to be.
So my goal for a GPP is to change my goal of 1 point per $2,000 of salary to 1 point per $1,000 of salary. This means that my goal for my team is 100 points. If you keep this in mind when picking each of your players, it is easy to see which guys you should pick and which guys you should stay away from. Obviously a pitcher that is $20,000 is not going to be able to get you 20 points so I stay away from the really expensive pitchers and look for pitchers in the $7,000 – $12,000 range.
That being said, I have put together an all star cast that is hopefully good enough for me to place in Draftstreet’s $22 GPP tonight. I usually stay away from the GPP’s, but I like my new strategy and have a good feeling about the team for tonight. Check it out:
$22 DraftStreet GPP Lineup
| Position | Player | Opposing Pitcher | Salary | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Carlos Santana | Buehrle | $5,286.00 | Santana is good against lefties and has the potential for huge games. Perfect guy for a GPP. |
| 1B | Mark Teixeira | Chen | $8,252.00 | Teixeira is 9/16 with 6 HR’s and 13 RBI’s against Chen. I will take my chances with those numbers every time. |
| 2B | Robinson Cano | Chen | $9,061.00 | Cano is great against lefties and should have lots of RBI chances against Chen. |
| 3B | Jose Bautista | Beaven | $8,418.00 | Bautista is finally out of his slump and is going to homer again tonight, mark it down. |
| SS | Jhonny Peralta | Pavano | $5,260.00 | Carl Pavano has not been good on the road and Peralta has been great at home. I like that combo. |
| OF | Curtis Granderson | Chen | $8,031.00 | Once again, the Yankees should be able to hit around Chen. Look for Grandy to be a big part of that. |
| OF | Mike Stanton | Cook | $6,242.00 | Cook is not a very good pitcher, especially in a hitter park. Stanton goes yard at least once. |
| OF | Drew Stubbs | Detwiler | $5,826.00 | Stubbs is a lot like Santana. He is a great GPP guy because he will either go for 10 points or -3. |
| U | Joey Votto | Detwiler | $6,961.00 | Votto also kills lefties and has been playing really well as of late. |
| U | Albert Pujols | Maholm | $10,512.00 | Check out these PvB stats: 21/36 with 7 doubles and 2 HR’s. That’s not even fair. |
| SP | C.J. Wilson | Santana | $12,404.00 | Wilson has been great against the Angels in his career and gets to pitch away from the hitters park in Arlington. |
| SP | Mark Buehrle | Carmona | $10,256.00 | Buehrle has been really good at home this season and the Indians have struggled with lefties all year long. |
| RP | Joe Nathan | Penny | $1,539.00 | Relief pitchers are hit and miss, but I think Nathan has a good shot at a save. |
| P | Chris Perez | Buehrle | $1,768.00 | I only had enough money left over for Perez, maybe he can come through. |
If you are looking for any player tips for tonight, feel free to use any of these guys. I think a lot of them have the potential for big nights. And if you are entering the GPP, then I will see you in there. Good luck!
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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.