DFS Alerts
Attack White Sox Batters With Right Handed Pitching
If you need a cheap pitcher that isn’t named Steven Matz, Lance Lynn is your guy. Lynn is typically better against righties, he has a 27% strikeout percentage in the 2017-2018 season. On top of that he gets a Whitesox lineup that strikes out 25.5% of the time against right handed pitching. There is some risk here with Lynn but if you need a cheapie with a great matchup, Lynn should be in consideration.
Best Point Per Dollar Pitcher Of The Slate
It is rare that my favorite pitcher of the slate is a value play but Matz is that guy tonight. Not only do I want to jam in a lot of expensive one off bats in my dodgers stacks but Matz helps me do that. He was pitching hurt last year and now gets to go up against a Rockies offense that is out of coors field. That should help Matz out and on top of that he gets an extreme pitchers umpire today. If he can just avoid Arenado and Story, I think Matz could be in for a big night.
Too Cheap on FanDuel
Now this is probably more salary relief play on FanDuel but I do think he is still a great play on DraftKings. Joc will be batting second against a bad righty in a great hitters ballpark. This is a perfect spot for Joc to hit one out of the park tonight and I think he is one of the best salary relief plays on FanDuel and still a good value even on DraftKings.
Cheap SS with Great Matchup and Ballpark Upgrade
This is one of my favorite value plays on the board today. Brandon Crawford gets a great matchup, against a bad righty who he has good BvP against and a park upgrade. On top of that he is really cheap and helps roster a SS position that I don’t love. He is one of my favorite salary savers on the board today and a lock in most my lineups.
Home Run Hunting
The Orioles Kevin Gausman has been a little better of late, but the home runs keep coming. He has allowed reverse splits power throughout his career and has given up 8 long balls in six starts this season. Ownership naturally congregates around R vs L and L vs R matchups, but for Oakland, don’t overlook the righty power of Khris Davis and Matt Chapman in tournaments. Both guys hit the ball hard and in the air and come in with ISO’s of .267 and .247 against righties so far this season.
Other tagged players: Matt Chapman
High Upside Lineup
Cole Hamels has rediscovered some of his old strikeout ability with an impressive 26.4% strikeout rate after falling to 17% last season. But, in order to ramp those K’s back up, he’s had to sacrifice all of his soft contact ability. He has allowed a frightening 48% hard hit rate this season, and there’s no way he’s going to be able to keep up a .271 BABIP against righties with this much hard contact. There’s enough contact throughout this Red Sox lineup to offset his strikeouts and enough right-handed power to make him pay for the hard hits. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are the prime plays here, followed by Hanley Ramirez and Xander Bogaerts. You can fill in with cheaper bats later in the lineup.
Other tagged players: JD Martinez, Hanley Ramirez Right Back Here For A Stack
The White Sox are having a tough time filling a rotation right now, and they are in big trouble when they don’t get good outing from their starters with a weak bullpen. Hector Santiago is an extreme fly ball pitcher against righties, and there are going to be home run issues in this ballpark. I would generally prefer the Twins against right-handed pitching, but I still like the idea of a stack here, centered around Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar and Robbie Grossman. Because of the weak bullpen, I would look to add a lefty or two to a stack here as well.
Other tagged players: Eduardo Escobar, Robbie Grossman Promising Skills Worth Reaching For
It’s fitting that Cahill and Morton are both on this slate, as I like to call Cahill a ‘poor man’s Morton’. They both had a late career strikeout surge, and while we have a lot more sample size to believe in Morton’s, so far this season Cahill is right back to the 27% strikeout range that we saw him at before he got injured last year. He has a high ground ball rate like Morton, the only thing he hasn’t shown as much of is soft contact ability. But in tournaments, I’m willing to risk some hard hits in a good ballpark like Oakland for the sake of a pitcher with strikeout upside against an Orioles team that continues to strike out at a high clip. They come in with the 5th highest K rate in the league against right-handed pitching.
The Old Man Is An Ace
Morton has been brilliant outside of one bad start this season and I consider him to be an ace both in DFS and in real life. For the year, he has a 31% strikeout rate with an elite 57% ground ball and just 23% hard hits allowed. If you’re either striking batters out, or inducing soft ground balls, there’s just not much that can go wrong. I don’t see any reason to think that one bad start from 10 days ago was anything but an outlier. Hopefully, the salary will keep him from being over-owned, but even at substantial ownership, I’d still want to be on board here in tournaments with his upside in a good matchup.
Strikeouts Everywhere
When in doubt, roster the pitcher that is facing the San Diego Padres. The battle between Maeda + Morton for SP1 is truly a tough one, and while the Padres anecdote is a bit tongue in cheek, facing the Padres certainly gives Maeda more room for error than Morton has against the Diamondbacks. Maeda’s game logs are scattered with disappointing single digit DK point performances but the right hander has shown very strong strikeout upside (28.8 K%) this year. The Padres strikeout at the highest rate in the league (27.9 K%) against right handed pitching and this game being played in elevation (Monterrey, Mexico) doesn’t really matter if Padres hitters are unable to put a bat on the ball.
Back to the Well
Pitching is the tough position to figure out for Saturday’s main slate. SP1 seems to be either Morton/Maeda while your SP2 on DraftKings is a battle between Steven Matz and Jameson Taillon. The former gets the nod for me despite a nightmarish experience rostering Zack Wheeler in cash last night (hey, I still made a few bucks!). Perhaps something I overlooked last night is that despite having terrible season long numbers against right handed pitching a HEALTHY Rockies lineup does project to be better against RHP than LHP. Matz has been pitching better than his high ERA (4.98) would indicate (3.80 SIERA) and has flashed some strikeout upside this season (27.4 K%). He’s had some control issues (4.15 BB/9) but hopefully pitcher friendly ump Mike Estabrook can help him out with that on Saturday night.
A Little Aggressive
Rostering Jose Bautista in cash may seem a little aggressive considering he wasn’t even on a Minor League, much less Major League, roster a month ago but I’m fine with taking a flier on a cheap Bautista at what is not a very deep position for Saturday’s main slate. Prior to Bautista’s Big League call up he was hitting the ball well as he went 10/15 in his last four games in AAA (small sample size alert). Encouragingly, Bautista did barrel a ball in his Braves debut last night and he should bat middle of the order again for one of the hottest offenses in baseball.
Cash Game Lock
Me, last night: “Man, Dozier has been bad. And it’s not that he’s been unlucky, he’s just not hitting the ball hard.” Dozier last night: “Watch this.” Needless to say, Dozier had a three hit game last night (HR + 3B) on his way to a 25 DK pt fantasy performance. I am not making the same mistake I did last night by fading him and I would suggest you don’t either. Dozier’s price is accessible because he has been so bad and this is a very exploitable matchup against the southpaw Hector Santiago. Lock Dozier into your cash game lineups and move on.
Not Fancy
Hanson isn’t anything fancy but look for him to leadoff again for the Giants at the hitter friendly SunTrust Park against Brandon McCarthy. One thing Hanson does have is speed and this does project to be a good stolen base matchup if Kurt Suzuki is behind the plate – both McCarthy and Suzuki have been bad in terms of stolen base prevention over the course of their careers. Hanson’s multi-position eligibility (2B/SS) comes in handy on DraftKings as it’s near impossible to pass up on Brian Dozier in cash games. Similarly on FanDuel, you’re not playing Hanson over Dozier, but more so looking at lineups with one of the two in your utility spot.
A Nice Salary Saver at Pitcher and a Quality SP #2 Choice
The results have been a little up and down for Taillon so far this season, but we are getting a bit of a discount on him right now. This could be a nice buy low spot on the talented young hurler. I wouldn’t expect him to get blown apart too often this season, as his skill set is solid with low hard hits allowed and a ground ball rate that puts him among the best pitchers in the league. That’s a nice combination to have. Even though the strikeout upside may not be all that immense on a full season basis, there are some potential strikeouts to be had in this Brewers lineup. This is a sneaky spot for a potential upside game, making Taillon a great SP #2 choice in multi-pitcher formats.
