DFS Alerts
Max Kepler scratched Saturday; Byron Buxton replaces and will bat ninth
Kepler has officially been scratched from the Minnesota Twins lineup for today’s game against the Cleveland Indians due to a foot contusion. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by Byron Buxton, who will take over the outfield duties and bat ninth. This lineup change will move Kennys Vargas up to cleanup, while Eddie Rosario, Jorge Polanco, and Jason Castro each slide up one spot to sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively. However, the remainder of the Twins initial confirmed batting order will remain the same.
As reported by: Mike Berardino Other tagged players: Byron Buxton
Despite recent solid outings, R.A. Dickey still has a 2.4% K-BB% versus LHB
Despite tossing a gem against an exploitable San Francisco lineup his last time out, R.A. Dickey continues to be an extremely hittable pitcher at this stage of his career, allowing at least five runs in three of his last five starts, including eight just two short starts ago, but he always seems to somehow do just enough, consistently enough, to limit damage that the Atlanta Braves are able to keep utilizing him as an innings eater in the rotation for their young and eventually up and coming squad. This year, Dickey has seen a drastic drop in his already low strikeout rate, down to 14.0% to go along with a 9.4% walk rate. As usual with his knuckleball, Dickey has managed to induce groundballs at a respectable clip (48.7%) and limit hard contact to just 28.2% of the time. With the aforementioned low strikeouts and high walks, it’s difficult to imagine Dickey’s 4.91 ERA improving with a terrible, but relatively in line, 5.35 SIERA. When attacking Dickey with opposing batters, a problem arises with a bit of guesswork in figuring out which individual batters to utilize against him, as the nature of a knuckleball makes at bat outcomes relatively unpredictable. This makes the Milwaukee Brewers more of an offense to stack or an offense to fade in tournaments this afternoon since there should be plenty of baserunners with a high probability of home runs but it remains difficult to predict where said production will come from. Eric Thames (148 wRC+, .407 wOBA, .318 ISO vs RHP) and Travis Shaw (139 wRC+, .393 wOBA, .268 ISO vs RHP) are the clear top hitters to target in any tournament stack, while Domingo Santana (116 wRC+, .358 wOBA, .174 ISO vs RHP), Hernan Perez (.236 ISO vs RHP), and Keon Broxton (.233 ISO vs RHP) are on a definitively lower tier, though with power upside, making them more of secondary options and are logical fits as hitters to round out a Brewers stack in tournaments opposed to individual one-offs given Dickey’s volatility.
As reported by: FanGraphs Other tagged players: Eric Thames, Domingo Santana, Hernan Perez, Keon Broxton, R.A. Dickey Potential delay in MIL-ATL game only concern in Saturday's early MLB forecast
There really isn’t much to report and it looks to be a great day for baseball across the Major’s this fine Saturday afternoon. The only game with a realistic rain delay chance comes to us in Atlanta where some isolated storms could pop up during the game. Fortunately, there aren’t any starting pitchers worth targeting in the contest so the rain concerns really don’t play a factor in our decision making for hitters in this game. Be sure to check out David’s (our fantastic occasional weekend fill-in meteorologist) full forecast on the MLB Weather page linked below. Also, don’t forget to follow David Wolter on Twitter, as he will be posting updates and answering questions there all season long, @DavidWolter1.
As reported by: RotoGrinders MLB Weather Page Jacob Faria has a 23.7% K-BB% and 12.4% SwStr% through three MLB starts
Jacob Faria is off to a stellar start to his Major League career, allowing no more than one earned run in any of his previous three outings and pitching into the seventh inning each time while managing at least eight strikeouts in two of the aforementioned three starts. Faria is set to take the mound today against a Baltimore Orioles squad that hit Tampa Bay Rays ace, Chris Archer, around a bit on Friday evening leading to a disappointing outing from the usually reliable pitcher. However, the fact remains that this is still a team that owns a 22.8% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching and ranks just 20th in wOBA despite some decent power (.178 ISO). More importantly for Faria, the Orioles have just a 6.7% walk rate against righties, which is tied for third-worst in the entire league. Though Faria has exhibited great control through three big league starts (5.3% BB%), walks were a bit of an issue in the Minors, evidenced by his 9.1% walk rate in AAA this season, and while it’s obvious that this youngster is going to hit some bumps in the road, the low walk rate for the Baltimore makes it far less likely for that the first blowup start will come this afternoon. Additionally, Faria’s strikeout abilities have clearly carried over to the Majors pretty well, as he has posted an elite 29.0% strikeout rate after recording a 34.7% strikeout rate in 11 starts at AAA. This gives Faria just as much upside as Corey Kluber on Saturday’s early slate, making him a viable pivot in large-field tournaments on FanDuel and an ideal SP2 alongside Kluber on DraftKings
As reported by: FanGraphs Jed Lowrie scratched Saturday; Franklin Barreto will replace and bat seventh
Lowrie has officially been scratched from the Oakland Athletics lineup for today’s game against the Chicago White Sox due to an unspecified reason. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by Franklin Barreto, who will take over the second base duties and bat seventh. This lineup change will move Ryon Healy up to the three-hole and Bruce Maxwell up one spot to sixth, while the remainder of the Athletics initial confirmed batting order will remain the same.
As reported by: Susan Slussler Other tagged players: Franklin Barreto Howie Kendrick scratched Friday; Andres Blanco replaces and will bat seventh
Kendrick has officially been scratched from the Philadelphia Phillies lineup for tonight’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks due to an aggravated hamstring. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by Andres Blanco, who will take over the second base duties and bat seventh. This lineup change will move Freddy Galvis up to the two-hole, while the remainder of the Phillies initial confirmed batting order will remain the same.
Other tagged players: Andres Blanco Rangers-Yankees to start in a delay on Friday
No start time has been announced as of yet. Neither pitcher in this game is appealing given the high total and potency of both offenses, so avoiding Darvish and Tanaka makes a lot of sense. The bats here are still in play, but given the large number of teams with high totals this evening, pivoting off of potential risk isn’t a bad idea given that both offenses are up against competent starters. Tanaka has struggled far more than Darvish this year, so a Rangers stack in a large-field tournament definitely has some upside.
As reported by: Erik Boland
Cheap bats in the two spot could help players paying up for pitching
If you’re paying $10K or more for Chris Archer or Stephen Strasburg tonight, there are a couple of very cheap bats in the two spot tonight that will allow for bigger expenditures elsewhere tonight. Erik Gonzalez (239 wRC+, 50 Hard% last seven days) bats second against Adalberto Mejia for one of the hottest offenses in the majors. He costs the minimum on FanDuel and is SS eligible on DraftKings for $3.2K. Matt Olson costs barely more than the minimum on either site and bats second for Oakland against Mike Pelfrey, whom LHBs have a .368 wOBA against since last season. Players can also wait to see the confirmed Dodger lineup against lefty Kyle Freeland, which may include some cheap RHBs. However, Freeland has generated a 63.6 GB% against RHBs, and just 38% against LHBs. Cam Perkins led off for the Phillies in their last game and costs less than $3K in Arizona against Patrick Corbin with the platoon advantage if that were the case again tonight.
Other tagged players: Matt Olson, Cam Perkins
Arizona has widened the gap with top implied run line, as Cleveland drops off late
Perhaps the drop from 5.65 runs to 5.37 later in the day has some to due with the absence of Cleveland’s hottest hitters Jose Ramirez, but they drop to the fourth highest run total now as Arizona (6.18) has moved over six. Their 1.43 run increase since open is the largest of the day by an entire run, while they were at 5.9 runs for a lot of the afternoon. Washington, which has remained fairly steady around 5.6 implied runs all afternoon, is now second highest. Both of the top Vegas offenses are facing rookie pitchers making their first career starts (Luis Castillo and Mark Leiter). Players can see line movement for all games on the Vegas Odds page.
As reported by: RotoGrinders Vegas Odds Other tagged players: Luis Castillo A few delay risks in Friday's evening weather forecast
None of the potential delay spots are particularly concerning with the worst of it possibly in Atlanta. The Braves host Milwaukee and Jimmy Nelson, where rain could arrive in the middle innings, where a delay is possible, but not certain. Boston (vs LA AL), New York (AL) (vs Texas) and Cleveland (vs Minnesota) all carry a small risk of a delay as well. While some of the pitchers in these games could draw interest and this forecast probably shouldn’t alter that much, at least all of the top pitchers tonight (Archer, Strasburg, Wood) appear to be dry. Read David’s full report on the Weather page and follow him on Twitter (@DavidWolter1) for further updates.
As reported by: RotoGrinders Weather Page Ownership among pitchers and hitters expected to be well spread out on a full slate
With no Coors game, Yu Darvish pitching to Aaron Judge and more than one-third of the offenses tonight having an implied run line of 4.8 or greater, batter ownership is expected to be well spread out tonight. Currently, no hitter projects to be in more than 15% of lineups on either site, but remember that projections are updated throughout the evening up until first pitch. Bryce Harper is the only hitter expected to reach even that number on DraftKings, while Arizona bats appear as if they may be most popular on FanDuel. Pitcher ownership appears as if it may be well spread out among the Chris Archer, Stephen Strasburg, Alex Wood trio. Players looking to break away from the pack to find a less popular arm could consider J.A. Happ, who has struck out 17 of his last 53 batters and has a favorable matchup in Kansas City. Premium subscribers can find ownership projections for all players on the Projected Ownership page.
As reported by: RotoGrinders Projected Ownership Other tagged players: Stephen Strasburg, Alex Wood, J.A. Happ, Bryce Harper Josh Rutledge scratched Friday; Dustin Pedroia replaces and will bat second
Rutledge has officially been scratched from the Boston Red Sox lineup for tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Angels due to an unspecified reason. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by Dustin Pedroia, who will take over the second base duties and bat second. This lineup change will move Andrew Benintendi down to the five-hole, while Hanley Ramirez, Jackie Bradley, and Sandy Leon each slide down one spot in the batting order to sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively.
As reported by: Ian Browne Other tagged players: Dustin Pedroia Yadier Molina scratched Friday; Eric Fryer replaces and will bat eighth
Molina has officially been scratched from the St. Louis Cardinals lineup for tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates due to knee soreness. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by Eric Fryer, who will take over the catching duties and bat eighth. This lineup change will slide Jose Martinez, Aledymys Diaz, and Paul DeJong each up one spot in the batting order to fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.
As reported by: Jim Hayes Other tagged players: Eric Fryer Clarifying incorrect beat report, Tommy Pham WILL remain in lineup, Dexter Fowler will receive the day off
A Cardinals beat writer tweeted an erroneous updated St. Louis Cardinals lineup for tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates that included Dexter Fowler batting second and playing center field, not Tommy Pham. It was later revealed that the original lineup including Pham was, in fact, the correct one, meaning that Pham remains in center field and will bat second. Be sure to check out the MLB Starting Lineups page for any further clarification.
As reported by: Derrick Goold Other tagged players: Dexter Fowler Yankees (131 sOPS+) and Brewers (116 sOPS+) are top two teams against fly ball pitchers
Yu Darvish and Mike Foltynewicz each have a ground ball rate hovering around 40% this season and for each of the last two calendar years, about five points below average. That could be a problem tonight because they are facing the top two offenses against fly ball pitchers in power friendly parks. The Yankees have a 131 sOPS+ against fly ball pitchers, the Brewers 116 sOPS+. Eric Thames (260), Manny Pina (161), Domingo Santana (152), and Travis Shaw (139) have been the best against fly ballers for the Brewers, while the first seven batters in the Yankee lineup tonight are all above a 130 sOPS+. Darvish throws a bunch of different pitches, but likes to keep them low in the zone. Didi Gregorius is the best matchup per PlateIQ from the left side zone wise, while hitting cutters and sliders well this year. Darvish stays down, but more often outside against RHBs. Aaron Judge and Matt Holliday seem to be the best matchups there with Holliday being a bit more rounded with success against a number of pitches, while Judge hasn’t done too much with the cutter. Foltynewicz has pretty extreme splits favoring LHBs, which would make Eric Thames and Travis Shaw worth a good look on PlateIQ. Both look strong against the pitcher’s heat map. While Foltynewicz has favored curveballs more recently over sliders against LHBs, both batters have hit that pitch particularly well, while both have been about average against fastballs.
As reported by: RotoGrinders PlateIQ Other tagged players: Aaron Judge, Matt Holliday, Eric Thames, Travis Shaw, Yu Darvish, Mike Foltynewicz