The GPP Scene: MLB Week 5

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84) Last Updated 2014-05-15 23:10:06

Hello Grinders, and welcome to the Week 5 edition of the GPP scene. It was a boring and uneventful week for me in the DFS world and my pocketbook is a little bit lighter because of it. With tournament play, dry spells are inevitable and I’ve hit one at the current time. Before you read any further, just know that this week’s recap is going to be a bit boring. The 15 entries for the week had a grand total of zero cashes, which I expected to happen at some point given the fact that less than 10% of entries are paid out in the FanDuel Line Drive GPP. The odds of a totally dry week with 15 entries are relatively high, so I should be thankful that this was the first week for that. Anyhow, let’s get to the breakdown!

Here’s the way it will work. I will enter the $10 FanDuel Line Drive GPP five days a week with three different teams, and only those three teams. The teams will be composed of the following:

¹ – This is my general GPP strategy on FD.

I’ll document the results of each team along with my profit and loss and return on investment as the days go by, with some final analysis for the week at the end of the article. Let’s get to the week one results!

TUESDAY, MAY 6

Team #1 – I mini stacked Cleveland and Minnesota against each other with less than stellar pitchers on the mound in Samuel Deduno and Josh Tomlin. Neither team did a whole lot that was noteworthy, and Cleveland’s offense stalled after four runs in the first two innings. A 4-2 final when you mini-stack both teams isn’t going to get the job done. * FINISH: 29.75 PTS / 1284 OF 1674 FOR $0.

Team #2 – There were limited options for aces tonight so I opted for Kershaw despite it being his first start of the DL. He did fine and finished with 20 fantasy points, but the bats were meager at best. Negatives from Carlos Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera (yeah I was on the Indians tonight), and Alex Rios didn’t help. * FINISH: 34.25 PTS / 1086 OF 1674 FOR $0.

Team #3 – I couldn’t pass on Robbie Ray at a bare minimum $3,000 salary, and neither could 30.6% of my closest friends. He was very solid against Houston and finished with 13.33 fantasy points. A lot of the big bats came through as well as Miguel Cabrera and Tulowitzki had big nights again. Unfortunately, this was a high scoring night and my ancillary bats didn’t do enough to make it pay off (Posey, Gomez, and Rios were negative). * FINISH: 47.58 PTS / 511 OF 1674 FOR $0.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7

Team #1 – I mini stacked Angels and Yankees against each other with gas cans Nuno and Santiago on the mound. This team held promise early as the score was 6-1 after two innings, but it faded fast and Jake Peavy was underwhelming as the pitching choice with only seven points. * FINISH: 29.25 PTS / 866 OF 1340 FOR $0.

Team #2 – Wainwright got the nod as the top pitcher of the day against the strikeout-happy Braves and performed admirably with 8 solid innings. Unfortunately, the hitters were total garbage as Molina, Santana, Zobrist, Hardy, and Soriano combined for negative points. * FINISH: 28.50 PTS / 890 OF 1340 FOR $0.

Team #3 – I hit on another punt pitcher as John Danks didn’t pitch all that poorly against the Cubs and almost matched Wainwright with 15 fantasy points. However, the bats were cold again as Tulowtizki finally had a bad day and I was just off in general. I was on the wrong hitters on this day. * FINISH: 34.75 PTS / 581 OF 1340 FOR $0.

THURSDAY, MAY 8

Team #1 – The mini stacks of choice were Toronto vs AJ Burnett and Texas vs. Franklin Morales, and they paid off for the most part. Toronto blew up for 12 runs and Texas mustered five, and a good pitching performance probably would have meant a solid cash. I even fit David Price on this team! The problem: Price was terrible against the Orioles and only put up five fantasy points. That’s tough to swallow considering this team placed in the top 20% despite a bad performance from an ace pitcher. Although it won’t show in the final results, this stack was a success. * FINISH: 41.25 PTS / 221 OF 1340 FOR $0.

Team #2 – Not wanting to double up on Price, I used Iwakuma as the next highest pitcher on the board as my ace. Of course, he ended up with 19 fantasy points and had I flip-flopped the pitchers team #1 would have been soaring to a top 20 finish. Alas, those are the breaks. The hitters I paired with Iwakuma didn’t do enough to get us to cash-ville, though this team would have been a solid play in H2H and double up formats tonight. * FINISH: 36.50 PTS / 363 OF 1340 FOR $0.

Team #3 – I went with the punt pitcher vs. the Cubs strategy again and it failed miserably as Scott Carroll got shelled by the Cubs and finished with zero points. His bare minimum 3K price tag was begging for a punt, so I used him on FD and hedged by stacking Cubs in other GPP’s. That worked well, but this team did not. Fortunately, the hitters weren’t good here either and this team was buried at the bottom. * FINISH: 17.50 PTS / 1095 OF 1340 FOR $0.

FRIDAY, MAY 9

Team #1 – The mini stacks were the Angels vs. Dustin McGowan and the Blue Jays along with Baltimore vs. Scott Feldman and the Astros along. Both teams only scored four runs but I had a good chunk of production from each team. I also included Vargas as the pitcher on this squad and he was great with 17 fantasy points. I needed just a little bit more offense, though, and this team was jussssst short of cashing. * FINISH: 42.00 PTS / 146 OF 1340 FOR $0.

Team #2 – Jose Fernandez was the easy choice as the ace of the day against San Diego, and he was highly owned as 39% of people had him in this GPP. We all know how this turned out. An underwhelming five points later, this team was doomed from the start. The hitters were decent here thanks to solid days from Votto, Machado, and Peralta, but there was no overcoming the dud from Fernanadez (who has now been placed on the DL). * FINISH: 28.50 PTS / 717 OF 1340 FOR $0.

Team #3 – I used Vargas in a second entry here as my punt pitcher, so again that was solid. However, the big bats failed me again, as Posey, Miggy Cabrera, Rios, and Choo combined for less than five points for their high price tags. * FINISH: 32.50 PTS / 511 OF 1340 FOR $0.

SUNDAY, MAY 11

Team #1 – I mini-stacked Arizona and the White Sox going against each other with two young pitchers going in Noesi and Anderson. The Arizona bats did fine as both Montero and Parra homered. However, three of the White Sox bats scored negative points and that won’t help you earn any cash. Hamels was a solid pitching choice here with 16 points but I couldn’t overcome the poor performance from the White Stockings. * FINISH: 36.50 PTS / 383 OF 1340 FOR $0.

Team #2 – Kershaw was once again the easy choice as the day’s ace, and the big homer by Brandon Hicks was a killer. It cost him 2 points for the two runs and likely 4 points for a win as the Dodgers were ahead until that. Those points were the difference between cashing and not cashing as my bats were solid here. Parra, Heyward, and Reyes all made solid contributions, but the damage was done by the Hicks late HR. * FINISH: 42.25 PTS / 177 OF 1340 FOR $0.

Team #3 – Robbie Ray was the choice as punt pitcher at home against the Twins and was underwhleming with 8 fantasy points. The hitters here were bad too and this team was just not good. Kinsler managed 8.5 points with a home run but the rest of the bats only totaled about five. * FINISH: 21.75 PTS / 1096 OF 1340 FOR $0.

FINAL RESULTS: THROUGH FIVE WEEKS

MY ANALYSIS

This week was just bad. I had a few good squads but the nature of MLB GPP’s is that dry spells will happen. The key is enduring them and not allowing them to mess with your research process. Next week is a new week and hopefully we can get back on the right track. The good news is that the overall season results are still quite positive. See you next week — hopefully with some more entertaining news!