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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 5/19
ARI | ATH | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | PHI | PIT | SEA | SF | STL | TB | ATL | NYY | OAK | SD | TEX | TOR | WSH
Have you not heard yet? The hottest goss (I promise no Avengers spoilers) is that the Los Angeles Angels will call up top prospect slash future OC-heartthrob Griffin Canning to start against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. What a Friday for the rooks! We got Vlad, Kieboom, and Rengifo all in one night, and now Griffin Canning. It's almost like a symbolic passing of the torch with all these young guys arriving this week. New replacing old, etc. And no, that was not an Endgame spoiler. Leave me alone, nerds! I haven't even seen it yet you bought all the tickets! Normally, I'd save the prospect posts for Mike or Grey, but I don't want you dear readers and even dearer web crawling robots missing out on another sexy call up this weekend. So let's talk about Griffin Canning. Sounds like a very dangerous game or the new coolest extreme sport they might play at Hogwarts. Griffin's got a 0.56 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 17/2 K/BB ratio through his first three starts at AAA Salt Lake Bees (bzzz), which to be fair, looks a whole lot better than anything the Angels starters have been doing over the past four weeks. Canning features four solid pitches including his mid-90s fastball and a real nasty curve. His past struggles have all been related to his command but he's thrown 66% of his pitches for strikes so far this year and the 3.3 BB% indicates he may have figured things out. Griffin doesn't necessarily profile as an top end ace, but he could be a solid back of the rotation starter and help your fantasy team immediately. Rookie pitchers may be my kryptonite (not a spoiler), but what are you waiting for? The prospect sweepstakes has begun and Griffin Canning is worth a flier in all leagues. The Angels think he's got the stuff to help them win right now and methinks he could do the same for you. Here's what else I saw Friday in fantasy baseball:
Sometimes simple is better, and the simplest answer today is SP Jose Berrios ($10,100).  He's the third highest cost on the FanDuel slate for a very good reason: The Twins are playing the last place Orioles.  That's right, the Orioles are so bad, they've sunken below the sluggish Red Sox in the AL East.  It doesn't hurt that Berrios is sporting a 2-0 record with a 1.26 ERA at home so far this year, and is carrying a .93 WHIP overall.  Now on to the picks. New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
No Doubt
Name Team Opponent 1 Opponent 2
Trevor Bauer CLE @MIA SEA
Blake Snell TB @KC @BAL
Justin Verlander HOU @MIN @LAA
Luis Castillo CIN @NYM SF
German Marquez COL @MIL ARZ
Patrick Corbin WSH STL @PHI
Rich Hill getting injured; Khris Davis hitting .247; topping my 3 wood after waiting for a long time on a par 5 approach shot; these guys on the list in your starting lineup. Well Alex, what are things that you have no doubt about? Wager: Suck It Trebek! Not to be confused with Luis Mendoza (the speedster duck), you can bet that nobody that owns Castillo will be yelling for him to stop any time soon. I don't expect it to happen this week with a visit to the Mets and home for what is more a gentle Giant(s) lineup than a Thanos, world killer Giant(s) lineup. No, there's not a spoiler there. I haven't seen it yet anyway. If you're curious about how good Luis Castillo has been, he's only given up 2 barrels on the season (2nd best among pitchers, min. 50 batted ball events), 31% hard hit rate is 13th best, 85.1 mph avg. exit velocity is 15th best, and the best swinging strike rate of his career so far on this young season at 14% along with his lowest contact percentage allowed as well.
[brid autoplay="true" video="407853" player="10951" title="FantasyBaseball2019BuySellHold5"] *blows dust off cover to the book, "Raimel Tapia, Fantasy Sleeper"* Just found this book on a shelf in this Colorado-area bookstore.  "I think this is yours."  The bookstore owner holds up a copy of, "Josh Rutledge's Fantasy Sleeper."  Haha, no, that's not mine.  "It says "Property of Grey Albright."  Can I just read from one of your other books in peace without paying for it?  No wonder bookstores are all going out of business, you don't leave your customers alone!  Any hoo, as I was saying about Raimel Tapia, he was a 2015 Pick-to-Click, a 2016 Gotz-to-Getz-Him, a 2017 This-is-the-Year and a 2018 Absolute-Must-Own for a reason.  He has 15-homer power and 25-steal speed who shouldn't hurt you in average (think .270).  The problem for so long has been the Rockies' inability to kowtow to fantasy owners and play the sexy guys.  Not unrelated, Garrett Hampson is due for everyday playing time in 2023.  However, something interesting has happened recently -- interesting is subjective but if you're reading this I assume it applies -- Ian Desmond has been getting benched regularly.  Finally!  If Tapia gets 5+ starts a week, he is a Pick-to-Click-Gotz-to-Getz-Him-This-is-the-Year-Absolute-Must-Own in all leagues.  Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
Things can change in a hurry in baseball, and when they do, things can change even faster in fantasy baseball.  Since last week, we’ve seen the horrific collision between Starling Marte and Erik Gonzalez, the Pirates promotion of shortstop Cole Tucker, and Tucker’s sudden fantasy relevance.  He went from being a 2% owned player in CBS leagues, where he was probably only hanging around on keeper/dynasty league type rosters, to being a 30% owned player who has a legitimate shot to obtain at least some degree of mixed-league relevance this year.  It’s just another reminder that, in leagues both deep and shallow, you need to stay on top of things and not let a potential asset to your roster get away. The players we’ll be looking at this week may not have the upside of a Cole Tucker type, but may be worth a look for those of us searching for help in AL-only, NL-only, and other very deep leagues.
If you came here for NFL Draft coverage, you’re in the wrong place. However, I do enjoy the adjectives given to the young “glass eaters” of the gridiron. If your team drafted a guy with “oily hips” or “elite wiggle” you’re winning. If anything can tie into oddly descriptive words for twenty year old men, it’s OPS! Two weeks ago in this space, we recommended adding Christian White Walker, Trey Mancini, and Maikel Franco. The latter has come back down to earth since his hot start, but Walker and Mancini are still raking. Along with most of the top SP getting rocked this year, the 1B position has been chaos as well. Walker, Mancini, Pete Alonso, and Daniel Vogelbach are all in the top 10 at the position. Hunter Dozier is eleventh. If you drafted Edwin Encarnacion, Max Muncy, or Jesus Aguilar hopefully you stashed one of these other “plug and play guys” until they figure things out.
Happy Friday everyone! FanDuel has us set up for a full 15 game slate and I have to admit, I'm really excited about the pitching today. I'm like a kid in a candy store....orrrr a grown-@$$-man with control problems when it comes to eating in a pizza shop? Either way, I'm hungry and we have our choice of Max Scherzer ($12,300) versus the Padres or Jacob deGrom ($10,300) versus the Brewers, but my muy favorito is The Big Maple himself, James Paxton ($11,000), who gets a coveted start in San Francisco. Paxton is coming off two beastly starts against the Red Sox and Royals, where he went 14 IP, 0 ERs, 24 Ks<insert eye-popping wolf gif here>. The lowly Giants pose a minimal threat to the left-handed Paxton, and will have just one batter with an ISO over .200 over the last two seasons in Evan Longoria. Let's take a look at some more of my favorite plays from this massive FanDuel slate. New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
[brid autoplay="true" video="406626" player="10951" title="Fantasy Baseball 2019 Mailbag Week 5"] Since the Jays were calling up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. today, the Nationals and Angels thought it was a good idea to drop their own sizzle in low-key fashion like wearing an Elmo doll at the Met Gala.  If Carter Kieboom is Barbara Hershey to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s Bette Midler, then who is Luis Rengifo?  That jerk husband of Barbara Hershey's who held her back all of those years?  Bette's giant Marmaduke?  Is it embarrassing that I know Beaches by heart?  Not at all!  According to Prospect Mike, Carter Kieboom's outlook is, "Kieboom is a plus-hit/plus-power shortstop who split time between High-A and Double-A in 2018. His numbers dipped in the more advanced league, but he still hit .260 with five homers.  15-20 homers is a realistic power ceiling and he won’t sell out for it, meaning a decent average as well.  I've also become a decent dart-thrower practicing on a picture of Grey."  What the eff, my dude?  Carter doesn't have great speed, which is a bit of a bummer since that always translates, but he could hit for power and average as a middle infidel.  Hopefully, this means the end of days for Brian Dozier.  Remember, this is the team that promoted and played Juan Soto last year.  Mean's while, the Angels called up Luis Rengifo.  Doesn't his last name look like an acronym of an obscenity on social media?  "You really think Killary would've been better?  RENGIFO, grandma!"  The biggest question for me with Rengifo is Brad Assmunch.  Does he even know what he has?  I highly doubt it.  Watch him play La Stella over Rengifo.  Here's what Prospect Mike said, "Rengifo can hit from both sides and he can basically play anywhere on the field. There’s also just enough power to make him really interesting if he sticks in the middle infield. He’ll probably get written off as a super-utility player, but he has a disciplined approach (75 walks, 75 strikeouts across three levels). Oh, and he swiped 41 bags this year to go along with seven homers and a .299 batting average. I know you’re not supposed to scout stat lines…but damn, that's almost as sexy as the thought of Grey being run over by a car."  C'mon!  Rengifo and Kieboom's projections are both at the Prospectonator.  They're, hmm, how do I put this?  Interesting.  Surprised to see Rengifo ranked above Kieboom for projections.  Think I'd go the other way with them, but they are slightly different, based on needs.  I do know I needs me some upside and added them in multiple leagues.  ALL ABOARD THE UPSIDE TRAIN!  Chugga-chugga Shin-Soo Choo!  Chugga-chugga Shin-Soo Choo!  Chugga-chugga Shin-Soo Choo!  Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
The bullpen upheaval has begun in earnest. If you need saves you're about to get your chance to bid for some. The NFL draft also starts tonight, so I went with NFL movie themed tiers.
  • Mike Scioscia's spirit must be haunting the hallways of Angel stadium. Brad Ausmus tried to get twelve outs from Ty Buttrey but he only had 11 in him and gave up a run and the lead to New York. Hansel Robles, who hadn't pitched the day before, was called on for the last out of the loss. I'm more confused about the LA situation than ever.
  • Mychal Givens notched an honest to goodness save Wednesday. A six-outer, to boot! Maybe that means manager Brandon Hyde is starting to realize that Givens his only real fit for the ninth.
  • Ryan Brasier has grabbed the upside to the Boston closer Schwartz. He's viewed as the more straight-line ninth inning guy, while Matt Barnes has more value as a fireman.
  • Baseball is weird. Shane Greene has eleven saves and two earned runs. He's the second best closer in baseball on one of it's worst teams.
  • With David Robertson on the IL the Phillies have been turning to Hector Neris mainly. That's shocking for Gabe Kapler. When Neris has his split-piece working it's nasty, though. We can back the Kapler meddling threat level to yellow for now.
  • Both Jose Alvarado and Diego Castillo needed some well-deserved rest this week. Kevin Cash turned to Emilio Pagan for back to back saves. Pagan was cast off by Oakland after they traded for him and didn't get the reliable reliever they expected. Their loss could be Tampa's gain.
Ron Swanson: Lover of meat, woodworking, hunting, whisky, and breakfast foods. Also, a promising rookie pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. That's Erik Swanson, dummy. Who keeps inviting the random italicized voice and why is it so condescending?
Donkey Teeth and B_Don discuss the ins and outs of young Erik Swanson's game, only hours prior to Swanson's second major league start against the San Diego Padres. They then take a look at an early pitching breakout candidate, Matt (Matthew?) Boyd. Can these guys please stop changing their names on us already?
In the final segment, a bunch of hot pickup names are flipped around, fresh off the grill: Cole Tucker, Michael Chavis, Renato Nunez, Hunter Dozier, Mike Soroka, Mike Tauchman, Jesus Luzardo, and Alex Reyes, just to name more than a few. Grab your sausage and prepare for pleasuring on this week's episode of the world's #1 fantasy sausage podcast.