The GPP Scene: Year 2, Week 2

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First off, I would like to thank the community for the positive feedback that was delivered from last week’s article. I am glad that this series is useful in helping others with their tournament lineup construction. Now, the next step is to get into positive territory for the year. After all, this will certainly be more fun for me if I make a profit!

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:

Team #1 – Two-team stacks with 4 hitters from each team, finished off by whatever pitcher I like best that fits within my remaining cap. 1
Team #2 – My favorite expensive pitcher of the day with a team of lesser hitters.
Team #3 – A total punt at pitcher surrounded by a team of better hitters.

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 second week of results!

MONDAY, APRIL 13

Team #1 – Oakland (vs. Houston) and Los Angeles Angels (vs. Texas) mini stacks with Andrew Cashner at pitcher vs. Arizona. This started off well, as the bats performed up to expectations. The squad managed three home runs, with Brett Lawrie and Colin Cowgill as cheaper bats leading the charge. Heading into the late games, this team had a chance to finish very highly. Cashner did his part by pitching deep into the game and racking up strikeouts, but he was unable to get a win as his defense let in four unearned runs early. Those extra four points would have been nice, but I couldn’t complain about Cashner’s 15 points and this team’s decent finish.

Team #2 – I used Jon Lester as my ace here, and as we fast forward a week, that was probably not a wise move. Something is not right with the Cubs’ lefty, as he has seen a small dip in velocity and for some reason can’t throw to first base. He never got comfortable against the Reds and had a rough outing here. His price tag also limited the bats I could get. Other than super punt Colin Cowgill (leading off at minimum price) who hit a home run, the bats were underwhelming here, too.

Team #3 – There weren’t any appetizing cheap pitchers this evening, so I opted for Rubby De La Rosa because he was essentially the cheapest and got to pitch in Petco Park. He was outpitched by Cashner but still got a win thanks to the aforementioned Padres defense. Yasiel Puig, Mike Trout, and David Freese all had solid nights at the plate for this team, but it wasn’t quite enough. The other expensive bats were poor and this squad — though good — was just short of the GPP cashing threshold.

TUESDAY, APRIL 14

Team #1 – Toronto (vs. Tampa Bay) and Texas (vs. LA Angels) mini stacks with Odrisamer Despaigne at pitcher vs. Diamondbacks. Toronto only scored two runs despite a good matchup, and I had the wrong Texas guys in my mini-stack. The Rangers scored eight runs, but I failed to roster either player that hit a home run for the squad. Even though Despaigne had a solid 13 point outing, the bats were nowhere near good enough to boost this team up.

Team #2 – Matt Harvey was easily the top pitching choice of the night, which shows in his almost-40% ownership level in a tasty matchup against the Phillies. He had his share of struggles in this game, but he still managed a win and 15 FanDuel points. I had a few solid bats here in Roughned Odor and Angel Pagan, but nobody was truly outstanding. This was a solid squad on a low-scoring night, but it wasn’t quite good enough for a GPP cash.

Team #3 – The wheel stopped on Kendall Graveman as my punt pitcher, though it wasn’t a pick for the faint of heart. He actually held his own, finishing with 12.33 fantasy points. I’ll take that from the cheapest pitcher on the board. Unfortunately, none of the big bats came through as Brain McCann, Edwin Encarnacion, and Adrian Beltre combined to go 0-for-13. That’s not going to get the job done. This was a tough night.

THURSDAY, APRIL 16

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Team #1 – Philadelphia (vs. Washington) and Miami (vs. NY Mets) mini stacks with Chris Archer at pitcher vs. Toronto. Archer was the key to this squad, despite the stack. He was a mere 8% owned on a four-game slate, and he put up a massive line of 7 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts against a tough Toronto offense. That really boosted this team. The Marlins were solid all around and put up five runs, but the Phillies scuffled as they seem to do every night. However, there was enough production from Archer and the Miami bats to propel this team into the money.

Team #2 – I used Madison Bumgarner as my ace of the night, as he was one of only two viable choices, with the other being Cole Hamels. The decision became irrelevant, as both studs pitched poorly and did not reach value for their expensive price tags. Bumgarner logged just 7 FanDuel points in this contest, and I’m really starting to get tired of taking ace pitchers with cheap bats for this experiment. It just doesn’t work in GPP’s. Martin Prado hit a home run but the rest of the bats were poor, as per the norm with this team.

Team #3 – Pegging the right batters has been a bit of a chore of late. Punt pitcher Aaron Sanchez wasn’t very good, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Buster Posey logged 4.25 fantasy points, and the rest of the “expensive” bats combined totaled just 0.5 points. Yes, that’s the correct total. Yikes! I think it would have been more gratifying to see this team finish dead last just for kicks.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18 (DAY GAMES)

Team #1 – Washington (vs. Philadelphia) and Cleveland (vs. Minnesota) mini stacks with Carlos Martinez at pitcher vs. Reds. I was teaching at the boot camp on Saturday and messed up my own lineup. My presentation was right before roster lock time, and I didn’t catch that Wilson Ramos wasn’t starting — a rookie mistake! The good news is that it wouldn’t have mattered. Neither of these team eclipsed four runs on the day, and a good performance from Martinez was wasted. The only offensive highlight was a solo home run by Bryce Harper.

Team #2 – The one time that my cheap hitters finally come through, the ace pitcher hits the skids. Jordan Zimmermann was downright bad in a favorable matchup here, as he labored through 6 1/3 innings with just three strikeouts en route to his second loss of the season. This team had some solid bats, but it was weighted down by -1.25 from Wil Myers and 0 from Jhonny Peralta. They were also two of the higher-priced bats on this squad, so it was disappointing to fall just short of a cash here.

Team #3 – Kyle Hendricks is an improving young pitcher, and I really liked him as a punt option with the wind blowing in at Wrigley and the Padres in town. The bullpen coughed up his win by allowing four runs in the ninth inning, but this team would have been just shy of the cash line even with a win from Hendricks. The bats were solid here, as Freddie Freeman homered, Kris Bryant reached base five times, and Melky Cabrera had four hits. In fact, I’m really surprised this team only finished in the middle of the pack on a shorter slate.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18 (NIGHT GAMES)

Team #1 – Milwaukee (vs. Pittsburgh) and Seattle (vs. Texas) mini stacks with Zack Greinke at pitcher vs. Colorado. None of the late games had totals above 8 runs, so scoring was going to be at a premium. I went with a pair of more affordable stacks given the low totals, and that allowed me to fit a really good pitcher in with the stacks. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong teams. Milwaukee and Seattle combined for just five runs, and I didn’t have the one player who hit a home run from these two teams. Greinke wasn’t exactly masterful, either, so it just wasn’t a good day for this squad.

Team #2 – Felix Hernandez was the ace choice for the night, and it was an easy choice since Greinke was already on Team #1. King Felix didn’t disappoint, as he struck out twelve batters over seven sterling frames, logging 22 FanDuel points and a victory. Predictably, the bats were awful once again. Howie Kendrick and Jean Segura were the only hitters to top 5 fantasy points, and that’s simply not good enough. I really need to start picking better punt batters, or this team is going to stink up the join all year.

Team #3 – Any time a pitcher is $5,000 on FanDuel, I am generally intrigued enough to use him for purposes of Team #3 unless he is pitching in Coors Field. Chris Heston made a lot of sense, as he was facing a poor offensive team and had pitched well in his first start. He came through again with 7 2/3 solid innings and 16.66 FanDuel points. That’s a massive score for a $5,000 price tag. The bats didn’t slack off, either, as four players logged 5.50 FanDuel points or more, led by a home run from George Springer off C.J. Wilson. This was a nice day for Team #3.

Final Results: Week Two

Statistic Team #1 Team #2 Team #3 Overall
Total Score 289.57 301.82 302.64
Average Score 28.96 30.18 30.26
High Score 50.50 42.75 44.50
Low Score 8.66 18.08 9.33
Entry Fees (Seas) $100 $100 $100 $300
Winnings (Seas) $90 $10 $100 $200
Profit/Loss (Seas) -$10 -$90 $0 -$100
ROI (Seas) -10.0% -90.0% 0.0% -33.3%

My Analysis

As you can probably tell from my writing this week, I am really getting annoyed with wasting money on Team #2. Getting an ace pitcher on FanDuel really forces you to skimp on bats, and that’s difficult to do with accuracy. I truly think that GPP success hinges on picking the right mini-stacks or taking a gamble on a cheap pitcher. The results continue to show this. Team #2 is right there with Team #3 for the best average score yet the bottom line results are significantly worse. Once again, it wasn’t the best week, but at least three minimum cashes are at least enough to keep the bobber floating in the water. I will set my sights on a bigger cash in the coming week. Thanks as always for reading!

About the Author

stlcardinals84
Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84)

Justin Van Zuiden (aka stlcardinals84) is a longtime RotoGrinders contributor and show host. He’s appeared in numerous Live Finals, has logged countless 6-figure wins in a host of different sports (including 5 in PGA), and is a former DFS Writer of the Year Nominee by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. You can find Justin’s ‘Covering The Bases’ series on weekends during the MLB season. He is also a main contributor of sports betting picks at our sister site, ScoresAndOdds, and is a co-host on the RotoGrinders Game Night show on SiriusXM. Follow Justin on Twitter – @stlcardinals84