Alex Rodriguez Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Chris Archer has struck out 19 of his last 52 on the road with one of those starts in Colorado and has been pitching better away from home over the last couple of months. He’s dropped his walk rate down to league average, while maintaining and even increasing an elite strikeout rate with a reduced 28.2 Hard% and league average 13.2 HR/FB since the beginning of July. The Yankees have been unable to take much advantage of the short RF porch against RHP (87 wRC+, 28.4 Hard%, 11.9 HR/FB). This isn’t as concerning a matchup for him as it would be in years past. Archer is a strong play tonight, made stronger by the Yankees more concerned about doing service to Alex Rodriguez (47 wRC+ vs RHP this season) in his last game, by batting him third tonight. While he has to be considered for the special $696 price on FanDuel, where he'd hit value with a walk or ground out RBI, there's really no interest in Yankee bats. ARod does have two HRs in 18 career PAs with a 104 mph aEV against Archer in six batted balls since last season, but he is just not generating any bat at all anymore. Those numbers may as well have been a decade ago.

Eduardo Rodriguez has pitched a bit better recently, but still has gotten through six innings in just one of his last four starts. His 3.18 ERA is a bit lower than his league average peripherals (4.16 SIERA, 4.00 xFIP) since the break due to an 83.3 LOB%. Boston is a tough park for southpaws. He has a career 12.0 K-BB% with a 15.2 HR/FB at home and the Yankees have just an 18.1 K% vs LHP. It’s tough to absolutely hate him in a secondary role for just $5.2K on DraftKIngs, but players should consider focusing on some affordable Yankee bats here if paying up for pitching. Alex Rodriguez bats cleanup and perhaps players will want to use him just for the nostalgic effect as it may be the last time. It's certainly not for his offense this year as he has just a 77 wRC+ vs LHP, but still an above average .178 ISO. You could do worse in the cleanup spot for less than $3K ($2.2K on FanDuel) and he does have a 95.5 mph aEV with a HR on 11 batted balls against the opposing pitcher tonight. Unfortunately, just Didi Gregorius (145 wRC+, .163 ISO) has an above average wRC+ against LHP this season and also the second highest ISO vs LHP behind ARod. The interesting thing is that Eduardo Rodriguez has exhibited a reverse platoon split in his short career with a .357 wOBA for LHBs, though batters from either side are right around .370 this year, while RHBs have 11 of his 12 HRs. Gary Sanchez is a very interesting Catcher play tonight. He's been hitting well since callup and has a 204 wRC+ over the last week, while costing just about $2.5K on either site.

Vance Worley has pitched out of the pen since April and has occasionally gotten an excessive amount of called strikes in the past, but has little swing and miss ability (6.1 SwStr% this year) and is not a pitcher players should really be looking at in Yankee Stadium tonight, although he may be able to get a few batters looking in a weak lineup and cover his $4.7K DraftKings price if necessary. Two Yankee bats might potentially provide some value tonight. The obvious one is Carlos Beltran (123 wRC+, .207 ISO vs RHP since 2015), who strangely costs just $3.7K on both sites. LHBs have a .342 wOBA against Worley since last season. RHBs have just a .309 wOBA and Alex Rodriguez has just a 53 wRC+ and .149 ISO against them, which makes it a bit surprising to see him batting 5th, but he did homer last night and costs $3K or less on either site.

The Yankees don't strike out a bunch (18.2% K%), but struggle overall against LHP (81 wRC+, .297 wOBA, .128 ISO). The Yankees have gone extremely right handed with their lineup tonight as the take on Carlos Rodon at U.S. Cellular Field. Rodon has had some issues with RHB so far in his career (4.26 xFIP, .353 wOBA) but has not been as terrible as we are led to believe. Rodon's primary problem has been his control and walking far too many batters, but he has been substantially better at limiting walks so far this season (7.9% BB%). Although the Yankees lineup is almost entirely filled with RHBs tonight, it's not enough to get off Rodon as a tournament target. The RHBs that replaced McCann and Ellsbury are not anything special and may even be a downgrade from the two lefties. Feel free to fire up Rodon as planned. The only real options in the Yankees lineup if wanting to attack Rodon are Carlos Beltran (158 wRC+, .410 wOBA, .318 ISO vs LHP) and Alex Rodriguez (103 wRC+, .330 wOBA, .211 ISO vs LHP).

Cole Hamels generally ends up with strong numbers, but is very unpredictable start to start. In fact, this year, with a 2.79 ERA, he has estimators closer to four with a career high 9.1 BB%. He still holds some upside in a not so terrible spot (Yankees 87 wRC+ vs LHP) and could be considered on two pitcher sites with some tight pricing tonight, though an $11.3K cost on DraftKings makes him a bit of a risk. He's also allowed 15 HRs this year, so a few Yankees bats at reduced prices might be interesting here. Carlos Beltran (152 wRC+, .329 ISO vs LHP this year) costs $3.7K on either site. Alex Rodriguez (121 wRC+, .235 ISO vs LHP) can still hit lefties and costs under $3.5K. Mark Teixeira (82 wRC+, .066 ISO vs LHP this year) is off to a rough and injury riddled start, but homered last night and costs just $2.2K on DraftKings.

Although Yankee Stadium is known for having a short RF porch, it's a good atmosphere for RH power hitters as well and Tommy Milone is a lefty who has allowed five HRs in 23 innings this season with a 0.98 GB/FB and 11.0 HR/FB for his career (though a few more ground balls this season). Carlos Beltran (152 wRC+, .329 ISO vs LHP this season) is a top OF play tonight for $4.5K or less, while Alex Rodriguez (110 wRC+, .248 ISO vs LHP this season) costs less than $4K. Rob Refsnyder (103 wRC+ vs LHP) is the value play in the 2nd spot for $2.8K on either site, but has shown little power in the majors thus far.

Patrick Dean has an 18.1 K%, but just a 5.8 SwStr%, leaving a lot of batted ball opportunities for Yankee hitters tonight. RHBs have taken advantage of them with a .362 wOBA and 34.8 Hard%, though lefties have been limited to just a .293 wOBA and 21.7 Hard%. So though they both have a wRC+ below 10 over the last week Alex Rodriguez (141 wRC+, .267 ISO vs LHP since last season), who missed a few games in Colorado, and Carlos Beltran (141 wRC+, .307 ISO vs LHP this year) are the strongest plays here, though Beltran's cost is a bit excessive. Rob Refsnyder (94 wRC+ vs LHP career) is the value play in two spot though. He's $3K on DK, but barely above min-price on FD. Though he bats 8th, those looking for a punt Catcher, might do worse than Austin Romine (103 wRC+ vs LHP this year) for $2.5K or less.

Your pitching options aren't strong tonight (understatement) and some of the more usable ones may be affected by weather. This is what brings Jhoulys Chacin into potential consideration tonight. He followed up a complete game 10 strikeout performance with four walks and one K. He preceded it with no more than four strikeouts in five straight starts. The Yankees have just a 26.1 Hard% at home and 25.1 Hard%, 88 wRC+ vs RHP this season despite last night's outburst. For just $5.9K on FanDuel, Chacin doesn't even have to be good. From an offensive standpoint, the Yankee bats are cheap with not a single on above $4.4K on either site. That would be Carlos Beltran (127 wRC+, .220 ISO vs RHP since 2015). He has a 240 wRC+ and 52.4 Hard% over the last week. Other Yankee bats, such as Gardner (109 wRC+, .153 ISO vs RHP since 2015), Rodriguez (111 wRC+, .212 ISO vs RHP since 2015) and McCann (104 wRC+, .205 ISO vs RHP since 2015) are good values at $4K or less.

There's a lot going in the Yankees favor here. They are facing an extreme fly ball pitcher in Jered Weaver, who has allowed a wOBA above .340 to batters from either side since last season. Kevin reported that the wind may be blowing out to RF 15-20 mph in his morning report and the Yankees have the top run projection at 5.47 runs. Equally important with all of the high priced arms on the mound, not a single bat in this lineup is above $4.3K on DraftKings or $4K on FanDuel. This is the lineup players will want heavy exposure to, allowing them still to afford a high priced arm. Carlos Beltran (126 wRC+, .184 ISO vs RHP this season) has a 60.0 Hard% over the last week. He is probably the top bat here and the most expensive on either site. Alex Rodriguez (111 wRC+, .214 ISO vs RHP since 2015) costs about $3.5K. He has five career HRs off of Weaver (33 PA) and a 103 mph aEV on two batted balls last season. Brian McCann (105 wRC+, .207 ISO vs RHP) is a top power option behind the plate at a similar cost to ARod. Stack your affordable Yankees in a great spot tonight.

David Huff returns to the major leagues in Yankee Stadium. He has thrown just 100 major league innings since 2013 and has a career ERA of 5.08 with estimators just below five. The Yankees stack up on RH bats, but really, batters from both side have hit him well in his career (.368 wOBA vs LHBs, .345 wOBA vs RHBs). Despite an inability to generate much offense this season, this is a lineup with a lot of value in it with only their leadoff many above $3.8K on either site. The two big bats are Alex Rodriguez (142 wRC+, .271 ISO vs LHP since 2015) and Carlos Beltran (102 wRC+, .204 ISO vs LHP since 2015) with the value or punt plays filling in around them. Rob Refsnyder has just a 95 career wRC+ vs LHP in limited opportunities, but plays 2B, bats 2nd, and costs less than $3K against a bad pitcher. Starlin Castro is a similar bat at a similar cost at the same position batting 5th. You have to drop further for Austin Romine, but this is a Catcher who has been about an average hitter vs LHP this season (100 wRC+, .146 ISO) for $2.5K. The Yankees are projected for a slate high 5.28 runs (before the lineup came out).