Matt Moore Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Stacking against Matt Moore is never a bad idea in DFS. In 2018, Moore had a 6.79 ERA, 5.06 xFIP, .365 xwOBA and 1.68 HR/9 over 102 innings in 2018. The Blue Jays will stack their lineup with 9 RHB vs. Moore this afternoon in Toronto, many of these guys can be had at an affordable price. Danny Jansen is arguably the best catcher play on the board today, leading off and priced at $3.8k on DK. Brandon Drury remains cheap at $3.5k and will be in the 2 spot. Randall Grichuk (.360 xwOBA vs. LHP in 2018) has nice upside at an affordable price of $4.3k. Lourdes Gurriel, Kevin Pillar and Freddy Galvis are lineup-filling options towards the bottom of the order than can be had for under $4k.

To say that Matt Moore has struggled this season would be a severe understatement, as the veteran left-hander has allowed at least three earned runs in all but one of his 11 games started and has lacked the ability to get out of the fourth or fifth inning on multiple occasions, which has forced the Texas Rangers to utilize their weak middle relievers out the bullpen more often than they likely had hoped. Moore hasn't faced many left-handed hitters in 2018 since he's been so awful against right-handed hitters, but he's been equally, if not, even worse when gaining the platoon advantage over the last two seasons. Moore has recorded strikeout rates of 15.7% to righties and 14.6% to lefties thus far, all while surrendering hard contact at a 44.2% clip against righties and 58.1% against lefties, a recipe that doesn't indicate any sort of positive regression coming his way in the near or distant future. Those horrendous numbers have all added up to a 5.47 xFIP and 6.58 xFIP, respectively, while his wOBA allowed equates to 0.384 versus righties and 0.516 versus lefties. All this is basically just a long-winded way of saying that Moore is no longer an MLB quality starting pitcher, and a full Houston Astros stack is firmly in play on Sunday's slates, essentially making the full stack the preferred option in tournament formats. George Springer (0.257 ISO, 0.454 xwOBA, 47.0% HH% vs LHP since 2017) and Alex Bregman (0.247 ISO, 0.388 wOBA vs LHP since 2017) lead the way at the top of the lineup with solid power and on-base ability over the last two seasons versus left-handed pitching, while Jose Altuve (0.375 wOBA vs LHP since 2017) and Evan Gattis (0.247 ISO vs LHP since 2017) closely follow with their respective skillsets against southpaws. Max Stassi has one of the smallest sample sizes facing lefties in the Astros order, but he's been tremendous when given the opportunity, racking up a 0.276 ISO, 0.487 xwOBA, and 48.8% HH% since 2017, elevating him into tournament consideration at the backend of the Astros order. Attacking Coors Field batter may be the optimal method for cash games on the DraftKings main slate, but don't sleep on this Houston squad as a likely under-owned stack in tournaments that possesses just as much upside as either team squaring off at Coors this afternoon.

Matt Moore is pitching at home in Texas tonight. The natural inclination would be to stack his opponent and it would be difficult to argue with that approach tonight. The A's are one of three teams above five implied runs tonight (5.56) and just about every bat in the lineup save the nine hitter (Jonathan Lucroy 33 wRC+ vs LHP last calendar year) is in a position to do some damage tonight. RHBs have a .342 wOBA (.348 xwOBA) against Moore since last season. Chad Pinder (127 wRC+, .380 xwOBA, .160 ISO vs LHP last calendar year) costs just $2.4K on FanDuel. While batters from both sides have a hard hit rate and ground ball rate between 37% and 38.5% against Moore since last season, it's actually been LHBs that do the most damage against him (.450 wOBA, .434 xwOBA). Matt Olson (105 wRC+, .200 ISO) may be the top play in the lineup. He has a lineup leading 231 wRC+ and 66.7 Hard% over the last week.

The Rangers at White Sox features two of the worst pitchers on the board. Both Matt Moore and Carson Fulmer reach a .400 xwOBA and 90+ mph aEV this season. The problem is offense, or lack of it in these lineups, with both teams carrying an implied run line between 4.6 and 4.9 runs. The Rangers have dropped their best hitter, Joey Gallo (115 wRC+, .324 ISO vs RHP last calendar year) to the sixth spot due to a -19 wRC+ over the last week. Nobody else in the lineup combines a 100+ wRC+ with an ISO above .200 against RHP over the last 365 days. Shin-soo Choo (107 wRC+, .194 ISO) and Robinson Chirinos (93 wRC+, .215 ISO) come closest. On the other hand, the White Sox do have some talent in the top half of the order against LHP: Tim Anerson (129 wRC+, .217 ISO), Jose Abreu (154 wRC+, .263 ISO), Matt Davidson (122 wRC+, .268 ISO) and Welington Castillo (130 wRC+, .213). Matt Moore actually has a severe reverse split (LHBs .449 wOBA), but has been bad against RHBs too (.341 wOBA), which may give Nick Delmonico (117 wRC+, .174 ISO) significant value for $3K or less.

It's more than an understatement to say that Matt Moore is off to a rough start to the 2018 campaign, as the left-hander has made it past the fifth inning in just two of his seven starts and has allowed a whopping 15 earned runs in his last 9.2 innings pitched, spanning two outings. Moore is having the same issues as he did last season, surrendering a 50.0% hard-hit percentage and 42.3% fly ball rate thus far, and while those numbers may be a bit fluky due to sample size, Moore did finish the 2017 campaign with a career-high 34.7% hard-hit percentage, possibly indicating a continued trend moving forward. Even with the presumed positive regression in those departments, Moore is an extremely attackable pitcher at this stage of his career, evidenced by an abysmal 13.1% strikeout rate to right-handed batters that was accompanied by a 9.0% walk rate, 47.3% hard-hit percentage, and 5.88 xFIP this season. Now that Moore is out of the friendly confines of AT&T Park in San Fransisco for half of his starts, he's likely to continue seeing his advanced statistics decline at a rapid rate and a matchup with this righty-heavy Houston Astros lineup doesn't appear to be a spot for him to begin getting back on track. In fact, George Springer (0.458 xwOBA, 0.281 ISO vs LHP in 2017/18), if he's able to return from a left elbow contusion that kept him out of Saturday's lineup, Carlos Correa (43.5% HH%, 0.467 xwOBA, 0.200 ISO vs LHP in 2017/18), Jose Altuve (0.392 wOBA, 0.193 ISO vs LHP in 2017/18), and Alex Bregman (0.386 wOBA, 0.244 ISO vs LHP in 2017/18) all have the ability to cause him a plethora of trouble at the top of the batting order, while Evan Gattis (0.204 ISO vs LHP in 2017/18) possesses the necessary pop at the bottom third of the order to become viable as a contrarian one-off target in tournaments. This vast diversity of stacking combinations make the Astros an ideal stack in tournaments on Sunday's early main slate as well, so feel free to load up on their bats in all formats this afternoon.

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.

Matt Moore has one quality start in five for the Rangers and the Tribe has a 5.91 Vegas run line that's third best on the early board. What's interesting here is that Moore's .355 xwOBA is bad, but not terrible, while his 3.1% Barrels/BBE is one of the lowest marks on the board and he's a reverse platoon pitcher (LHBs .432 wOBA since last season), though that's not to say RHBs don't have some success against him as well (.349 xwOBA). None of the three left-handed Cleveland bats in the lineup exceed an 80 wRC+ against same-handed pitching since last year, but Yonder Alonso does have a .245 ISO. Francisco Lindor (132 wRC+, .210 ISO) and, surprisingly, Roberto Perez (110 wRC+, .237 ISO) are the two right-handed bats above both a 100 wRC+ and .200 ISO against southpaws since last season (Jose Ramirez is not in the lineup). Rajai Davis (64 wRC+, .108 ISO) may provide some utility as an incredibly cheap leadoff option, but he hasn't done much against LHP since his heroic bomb against Chapman in the 2016 World Series.

Matt Moore in Texas has worked out about as expected with his lone strong start last time out against his old team the only road adventure he's had this season. He returns to a difficult park to face, perhaps the hottest offense on the board. The A's have mauled their way to a 110 wRC+ vs LHP this year and a 136 team wRC+ over the last week. Moore's reverse platoon split that has LHBs above a .400 wOBA and xwOBA since last season matters just where Matt Olson (83 wRC+, .183 ISO vs LHP career) is involved, the lone LHB in the lineup. No cause for concern, as RHBs have a .330 wOBA (.344 xwOBA) and equal 36% hard hit and ground ball rates against Moore since last season as well. Only the Rockies have a higher implied run line than Oakland's 5.36 mark tonight. Aside from some of the more obvious power hitters, Jed Lowrie (116 wRC+, .154 ISO vs LHP since last season) is the hottest bat in the lineup (196 wRC+, 50 Hard%) with a price tag beginning to reflect that ($4K or more on either site). Khris Davis (112 wRC+, .242 ISO, 48 Hard%) and Matt Chapman (112 wRC+, .198 ISO, 57.4 FB%) are top bats as well.

After tattooing the generous Martin Perez last night, the Rays face another struggling left-hander in Matt Moore tonight. The interesting thing about Moore is that he has a reverse split with LHBs above a .400 wOBA against him since last season. The Rays will still stack eight right-handed batters before the lone lefty (Mallex Smith). Not to worry though, RHBs have still generated a .346 xwOBA with a 36 Hard% (36.8 GB%) against Moore since last season. As was the case last night, the Rays don't offer a lot of firepower against LHP, but do offer value with only Carlos Gomez (79 wRC+, .159 ISO vs LHP since 2017) and Smith above $3K on either site tonight. Daniel Robertson (103 wRC+, .184 ISO) out of the leadoff spot and C.J. Cron (119 wRC+, .276 ISO) batting cleanup are high value plays on either site.