DFS Alerts
Stephen Piscotty scratched Saturday; Robbie Grossman replaces
Piscotty has been scratched from the Oakland Athletics original confirmed lineup and will not start in Saturday’s matchup against the Seattle Mariners due to a presently unspecified reason. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by Robbie Grossman, who will now play left field and slot into the eighth spot in the order, which bumps Matt Olson, Mark Canha, Jurickson Profar, Ramon Laureano, up to fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively. However, the remainder of the Athletics lineup will stay intact offensively as they face off against left-hander Yusei Kikuchi at home this afternoon.
As reported by: AthleticsPR via Twitter Other tagged players: Robbie Grossman
Tim Anderson scratched Saturday; Jose Rondon replaces
Anderson has been scratched from the Chicago White Sox original confirmed lineup and will not start in Saturday’s matchup against the Minnesota Twins due to a sore right wrist. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by Jose Rondon, who will now play shortstop and slot directly into Anderson’s vacated sixth spot in the order. However, the remainder of the White Sox lineup will stay intact offensively as they face off against right-hander Kyle Gibson on the road this afternoon.
As reported by: Scott Merkin via Twitter Other tagged players: Jose Rondon Interested in Ownership
I’ll be interested in seeing Mike Trout’s ownership on a night where he finds himself in a favorable matchup with the platoon advantage but a night where Andrew Cashner is also pitching in Coors. Trout isn’t someone you can fit into cash game builds if you’re set on pitching Hyun-Jin Ryu but he’s possible to squeeze into your lineups if you pitch Tyler Skaggs on FanDuel and pair Skaggs with another lower priced option on multi-SP sites.
Built for Coors
Davis Mattek and myself have a running joke that anytime a speedster with a below average offensive skill-set finds himself in the lineup in Colorado that the player is “Built for Coors”. Essentially it’s a way to help remind ourselves that 1) any player with a pulse sees a big boost in projection by simply playing in Coors and 2) that Coors Field helps inflate extra base hits even more so than HRs because of how big the outfield is. While Broxton is below average offensively as a whole, he has shown a bit of pop against left-handed pitching (.190 ISO) throughout his career. That power combined with his speed and price tag make him a cash game target on Saturday’s main slate.
Kyle Gibson is a great mid-tier arm vs. White Sox
Gibson gets a nice matchup at home with the White Sox, who have been a below average offensive team so far in 2019. Gibson is quietly enjoying a solid year; he has a 4.47 ERA, but a 3.44 xFIP, 3.79 SIERA, 18% K-BB, and solid 46.5% GB rate all suggest that his ERA is likely higher than it should be. It would be nice if Gibson used his slider more, as it is his only pitch out of 5 in his arsenal with an xwOBA allowed lower than .340 on the year with a .203 mark. The White Sox as a team have a 93 wRC+ and 26.5% K rate on the year vs. right-handed pitching. They have struggled on offense of late and will come into this game with a 3rd-worst .288 xwOBA over the past 10 days. At just $8.5k on Draftkings and $8k on Fanduel, Gibson offers decent K upside and arguably the best floor-ceiling combo of any pitcher in his price range. Gibson will also have a good shot at getting the ‘W’ as the Twins are -220 favorites this afternoon. The White Sox have a 3.89 implied line vs. Gibson and the Twins.
Bombs Away
Andrew Cashner in Coors? Oh baby. It just so happens that behind Cashner is one of the league’s worst bullpens as they have the highest xFIP (5.16) in the league by a wide margin and have already given up 111 HRs. Story went yard twice last night, including a walk-off, and couldn’t ask for a much better follow up matchup.
Sneaky Stack
The Astros are a stack that I really like a lot today in tournaments. They face the lefty David Price who has been solid in his last 5 starts, meaning people might be afraid to stack against him. This should keep the Astros ownership somewhat down but I do like a lot of these right handed power bats. Price’s struggles are mostly to righties and the Astros are first in the Majors in both ISO and wOBA to left handed pitching this season. My favorite bats are Bregman, Correa, Diaz, and Marisnick.
Sneaky Stack
The Astros are a stack that I really like a lot today in tournaments. They face the lefty David Price who has been solid in his last 5 starts, meaning people might be afraid to stack against him. This should keep the Astros ownership somewhat down but I do like a lot of these right handed power bats. Price’s struggles are mostly to righties and the Astros are first in the Majors in both ISO and wOBA to left handed pitching this season. My favorite bats are Bregman, Correa, Diaz, and Marisnick.
Great Matchup For A Stud Lefty Bat
Freddie Freeman is one of my favorite overall plays on the slate. He gets to face Dakota Hudson who just gets crushed by left handed bats. Hudson this season is giving up 274 ISO, 452 wOBA, and a 40% hard hit rate to lefties. With Coors on this slate and the fact that Freeman is expensive his ownership should be lower in tournaments.
The Best of a Thin SP #2 Group
If you are looking to go cheap tonight, this is probably the best place to go. It’s not necessarily about the individual numbers for Skaggs, either. It’s just that he feels like a better option than a pitcher at Coors Field or Joe Musgrove against the hard hitting Dodgers. We have seen upside from Skaggs in the past, too, and he matches up fairly well against a Texas offense that tends to be lefty-heavy. Skaggs has held lefties to a .306 wOBA for his career with a respectable batted ball profile. Again, this isn’t an elite arm, but you’re getting him at a dirt cheap price tag, and he’s pitching as a home favorite against Mike Minor. That says something, especially when you consider how much more expensive Minor is as a pitching option on this slate. I’m on board with Skaggs as a great cheap play, especially on multi-pitcher sites where you need to get a cheap arm in order to fit in priority bats.
Top Saturday Night Arm
When trying to determine who the “top” pitcher is, it’s a tough call on a main slate with only a few ace caliber options. Ryu almost has to get the nod out of respect for his high floor, good matchup, and elite 2019 numbers. He has a 1.52 ERA and an xFIP in the mid-twos, his walk rate sits at an absurd 1.9%, his swinging strike rate sits at a career-best 11.8%, and his strikeouts are well above league average. The Pirates aren’t a great offense against LHP, and all this screams to play Ryu here. The only risk, as always, is the ever present risk of quick hook from his manager. In terms of floor, there’s no doubt that Ryu is the top play. However, he doesn’t come with a cheap price tag, and it’s hard to fit Ryu in if you want to prioritize some of the bats at Coors Field. I’m going to try to make it work in cash games, but I don’t mind going lower in GPP formats.
Good Pitcher In Tough Matchup
Atlanta’s young pitcher Mike Soroka gets a tough matchup against the Cardinals. Soroka has done a good job this season limiting fly balls and hard contact, allowing only one home run in his 7 starts. Soroka has also done a great job keeping the ball on the ground with a 61% groundball rate to right handed hitters. I know it’s only a five game slate but he could end up being sneaky just because of the tough matchup, so I like him in tournaments.
Great Matchup With Solid Upside
Dakota Hudson will likely be a solid major league starter at the back end of the St. Louis rotation, as his ground ball skill set will serve him well. Think of him as a similar pitcher to Marcus Stroman. However, Hudson has had major issues with left-handed bats, as lefties have hit .349 against him with a .439 wOBA and a 43% hard contact rate. Enter Freddie Freeman. He is on fire right now with six home runs in his last nine games, and Hudson will likely struggle against his all around ability. Freeman has a wOBA over .400 against righties this season, which adds to the appeal. Expect Freeman to do some damage here, and he checks in as my top cash game bat on the slate on a projected points per dollar basis.
Cheap Coors Exposure
The Orioles don’t project quite as well on the other side of the Coors Field game tonight, but they are certainly capable of doing some damage. Kyle Freeland has undoubtedly regressed in 2019, with a sub-20% strikeout rate, a walk rate that has crept above 10%, and a slew of other troublesome metrics. His SIERA and xFIP are both over 5.00, and his hard contact rate has skyrocketed. Freeland is largely splits neutral, so I will lean on power hitters that are decent against left-handed pitching. Hanser Alberto and Trey Mancini have posted wOBA marks well over .400 against lefties this year, while Renato Nunez has also made an impact of his own. In addition, don’t sleep on Keon Broxton as a value. This is a nice way to get very cheap exposure to Coors Field, and Broxton had two hits including a home run in last night’s series opener. He sits at $2,700 on FD, $3,500 on DK, and $6,500 on FDRAFT. That’s too cheap for a guy that is projected to be hitting fifth at Coors, no matter how talented the player may or may not be.
Cheap Pitching Option
Pitching today is tough because we need to find a cheap option to pair with our Coors stack, the guy I like is Tyler Skaggs. Skaggs in his last two starts has gone at least 5 innings while throwing over 100 pitches. A lot of the power from this Texas lineup comes from the left side and and this season Skaggs has a strikeout rate of 24%, which is decent. I think there is upside in tournaments at his cheap price across most sites.