James McCann Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

The White Sox are priced as though they are facing an ace, but in reality they are facing a pitcher in Vargas that has a 5.21 xFIP, 5.08 SIERA, 42.9% FB rate and 10.5% K-BB. Vargas has the platoon advantage against just one batter in the White Sox lineup tonight in his first start with his new team. The White Sox have been ice cold with a league worst 71 wRC+ over the past 30 days, which will hopefully drive down ownership for this matchup. Jose Abreu (.348 xwOBA vs. LHP this year), James Mccann (.330), Eloy Jimenez (.323), Tim Anderson (.311), and Leury Garcia (.303) are all in play. All White Sox hitters are available under $4k on Draftkings and are also available on Fanduel for $3k or less; they have some solid cash options in the lineup and make for an interesting GPP stack as well, as there is some leverage to be had with Vargas projected as one of the higher-owned pitchers on the slate. The White Sox currently have a 4.23 implied line.

Since returning from the IL on 5/29 James Paxton has made 3 starts, coming against the Padres, Blue Jays and Mets. Despite the decently easy matchups, Paxton has struggled to a 7.15 ERA / 5.96 xFIP / 5.40 SIERA with an ugly 13.5% BB rate, 39.4% hard contact rate and 54.5% FB rate. Paxton’s most recent start was his worst, giving up 6 earned runs over just 2 2/3 innings to the Mets at home. The White Sox have swung the bat well recently with a .329 xwOBA over the past 14 days as a team and are likely to be very low-owned today vs. Paxton and the Yanks. Jose Abreu (.379 xwOBA vs. LHP on the year), Yonder Alonso (.356), James McCann (.355), Eloy Jimenez (.336), Tim Anderson (.335), Leury Garcia (.311) and Yoan Moncada (.287) are all options in the projected lineup versus Paxton. Besides Moncada, all White Sox bats are priced $4.4k or less on Draftkings. Moncada has been by far their hottest hitter with a scorching .503 xwOBA over the past 14 days. The White Sox will also have the benefit of a very hitter friendly umpire in Nic Lentz.

Matt Boyd is another pitcher who has made some changes in 2019 and looks like a brand new guy. His 31% K rate, 3.16 ERA, 3.39 SIERA, 25% soft contact rate and 16.1% SwStr are all career bests. Per Statcast, Boyd has started throwing his sinker less and his four seamer more, a wise decision considering his sinker was his worst pitch last year with a .375 xwOBA against. Boyd’s four seamer in 2019 has been more effective with a spin rate of over 100 RPM more in 2018, leading to a whiff rate that is 12% higher. Boyd gets a matchup with the White Sox in Chicago this afternoon, who have been slightly below average vs. LHP with a 93 wRC+ and 24.6% K rate. The White Sox have just two players in their projected lineup (Jose Abreu, James Mccann) who have an xwOBA .320 vs. LHP since 2018. Boyd will also get to work with a pitcher’s umpire in Tony Randazzo. Boyd’s price is still plenty affordable at $10k or less on both major sites. The White Sox have a 3.81 implied total vs. Boyd and the Tigers this afternoon.

Only DraftKings knows why Sean Manaea exceeds $10K in Detroit this afternoon, but despite a couple of strong outings against weak offenses in two of his last three starts, there may be some merit in attacking him with right-handed Detroit bats. All nine for the Tigers bat from that side this afternoon, with a 4.42 implied run line. Against Manaea, RHBs have a .355 xwOBA and 39 Hard% since last season. While his actual wOBA is .270-272 against batters from either side of the plate this season alone, 12 of his 14 HRs have been surrendered to RHBs with a 42.4 Hard%. The Tigers do have some proficient bats against LHP, led by Nick Castellanos (181 wRC+, .254 ISO vs LHP last calendar year) and Jeimer Candelario (152 wRC+, .259 ISO). Both catcher options as well: James McCann (134 wRC+, .189 ISO) and John Hicks (114 wRC+, .147 ISO). Even Jose Iglesias (109 wRC+, .151 ISO), who bats second today, has been above average against southpaws.

Both Jeimer Candelario (153 wRC+, .261 ISO) and Nick Castellanos (182 wRC+, .291 ISO) have hit LHP extremely well over the last calendar year and could be a nice one-two punch at the top of the lineup against Jaime Garcia tonight (RHBs .341 wOBA since 2017). If players wanted to consider a full stack, Miguel Cabrera (145 wRC+, .196 ISO) and James McCann (129 wRC+, .200 ISO) have had success as well with Candelario the only one of the four below a .390 xwOBA over that span.

Detroit has made some bad pitchers look good recently, but Matt Moore (10 runs in his last start) may not be one of those. He's tied for the worst xwOBA (.405) and 95+ mph EV (45%) on the board and pitches in the most positive run environment on the board tonight. No other park is even close in terms or pure run scoring. Unfortunately, he has an extreme reverse split (LHBs .436 wOBA, .432 xwOBA since last seaon) and the Tigers have just one of those, who's not very good (Leonys Martin 59 wRC+ vs LHP last calendar year). Still, the Tigers have a 4.82 implied run line here that's near the top of the board, which speaks volumes on Moore, and fortunately, he's pretty bad against RHBs too (.340 wOBA, .352 xwOBA). Nick Castellanos (174 wRC+, .311 ISO) and James McCann (168 wRC+, .245 ISO) have been lefty-mashers, both exceeding a .400 xwOBA over the last calendar year. John Hicks (108 wRC+, .383 xwOBA, .224 ISO) has done some damage himself. Jeimer Candelario (105 wRC+, .132 ISO) is the only other competent bat against southpaws. Everyone else is below a 70 wRC+ and .300 xwOBA against lefties over the last calendar year.