Ah, I remember the hazy days of last Thursday, when it was all aces all the time on the mound. Now we’re deeper into the rotation and life is a little more interesting, pitching wise. If you’re DFS-ing it on Draft.com today (and if you’re reading this, you probably are!), you might want to grab a pitcher relatively early, just to get it out of the way (depending on the size of the draft you’re embarking upon: the smaller the draft, the safer it is to wait with pitchers, obviously). You have 4 solid-ish options and then the ground gives way and you’re in danger of falling off the fantasy baseball pitching cliff. I’d look to nail down Jose Quintana along with some big hitters.
Let’s take a look at who’s out there on the board for today.
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Jose Quintana, SP: Early – As mentioned, I think Quintana’s the guy to grab if you can. He’s today’s top-rated starter per Stream-o-Nator (SON) (aside: are you a DFS fiend? You’re subscribed to Rudy’s tools, right? One good win thanks to these tools – and trust me, you will get that win – will cover your subscription for the year. But if you won’t take my word for it, try the 3-day free trial). Quintana’s coming off a sharp spring and facing the…rebuilding, shall we put it delicately, Marlins. Also in this time slot, Luke Weaver would be your next best option. Lastly, Marcus Stroman is way down on SON’s list ($0.1 SON $, compared with Quintana’s 15.4), but as always I’m also excited to see what he can do.
Trevor Bauer, SP: Middle – I’m intrigued about Shohei Ohtani’s first start (batting! Pitching! Looking cute! [#girltalk] He does it all!) SON, too, is intrigued: it has him pegged as its 4th favorite of the day — and the top 4 p.m. (“middle” slate) starter. But we all know the tale of his, shall we say, mixed results in spring (an ERA of 27.00. Ouch). I might sit back and grab some popcorn and watch how this one goes, and consider him for next time instead. So, if you miss out on Quintana, Rich Hill, or Weaver, perhaps let Ohtani fall to someone else and rather go for Bauer, whom SON has at 5th overall today. Safeco Field is kind of a happy place for him: in 21.2 IP there, he has an ERA of 1.66.
Rich Hill, SP: Late – Let us pray to the blister gods (totally a thing) on Rich Hill’s behalf this year. I’m with SON — if I couldn’t get Quintana in my draft, I’d look immediately to Rich Hill, and hope he’s going to K all the Giants today. He’s got a 2.37 ERA in Dodgers Stadium and a 1.65 ERA versus the Giants over 3 years. Nom! (That’s me biting the head off a peep.)
Manny Machado, IF: Early – If Jose Altuve’s available, he’d be your best bet for an early-start IF, but if he isn’t, you could do worse than Manny Machado, who at 2 for 5 (with 4 BBs) in 2018 so far, seems to have come to play this year. Here’s hoping for a better season generally from him, and a good day versus Jose Berrios. He’s played well against him in the past (small sample size alert!), going 4 for 8 with 1 HR.
Miguel Cabrera, IF: Early – It seems weird to be touting Miggy after last year’s disasters, but I’m going to say, cautiously, that he’s off to a pretty good start (on Friday, he went 2 for 6 with 1 BB, 1 R, and 2 RBIs). Hittertron likes him a lot for today’s match-up versus Pittsburgh’s righty Trevor Williams. Note that this suggestion is for the first game of the Tigers-Pirates double-header.
Bryce Harper, OF: Middle – Grab him if you can! He’s Hittertron’s number 1 overall today, for his lefty-righty match-up against Cincinnati’s Sal Romano (aside: I Googled Sal Romano and then fell down a Mad Men rabbit hole). Over 3 years, Bryce has hit .302 versus righties. In 87 IP in 2017, Romano had an ERA of 4.45 and a WHIP of 1.47. Mind you, he had a pretty good spring (4 ER in 12 innings, 15 K, 2 BBs), but I like Bryce’s chances against him. Next up on the OF list would be Mike Trout, for his match-up versus Daniel Gossett in Oakland. You know everyone’s going to try to draft both these guys, but I’m hoping you nab at least one. Or if I had to look for another middle-slate OF, I would not turn my nose up at George Springer, either (see more on the Astros, below).
Carlos Correa or Alex Bregman, IF: Middle – Target one of the Astros’ middle infidels versus the Rangers’ Mike Minor: the poor man is ranked stone-cold last on SON today, in the second-most hitter-friendly park in MLB last season.
Cody Bellinger, IF: Late – He’s off to a pretty horrible start (thanks, player I drafted everywhere!), with a glorious .000 AVG thus far (1 BB and 1 R, though! yay.). But I’m keeping the faith for this lefty-righty match-up versus the Giants’ Chris Stratton (and his 10.9% walk rate in 2017). Yasiel Puig (OF) may be a good bet, too. For a late-ish slate game, you could also look at Starling Marte (OF), as long as he’s starting in the second Tigers-Pirates game at 6 p.m. versus Francisco Liriano.
Draft Card:
Here’s the 6-person team I drafted for the Draft.com slate beginning at 1:05 Eastern today:
- Jose Quintana (SP)
- Jose Altuve (IF)
- Cody Bellinger (IF)
- Bryce Harper (OF)
- Eddie Rosario (OF)
I’m reasonably happy with it … except, ya, that last one? Eddie, there? He was my last-round (and I was picking 6th), panic “&%$*#$@ I need another outfielder and my queue is empty and I have 5 seconds left!” pick—you know the drill. And then as soon as I hit “Draft” I realized OZUNA was still available <facepalm> (cautionary tale about ensuring your pre-ranking is deep enough. Because dear God, those 30-second rounds go quickly. Sure, a quick draft gives you more time for the Easter egg hunt with the kids [or maybe you’ve taken the combo April Fool’s approach and just told the kids there are Easter eggs to be hunted outside, so you can get an extra hour’s sleep], but make sure you’re prepared). Here’s hoping today we see more of the “in” in Kevin Gausman’s inconsistency when Rosario squares up against him.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Or happy when it…snows? For the White Sox at Kansas City game today, the forecast wavers between “Snow showers” and “Snow,” so beware possible postponement. Everywhere else, it’s cloudy or dome-y.
Doing Lines In Vegas
The Cubs, fronted by the aforementioned Jose Quintana, are heavy favorites over Miami today, at -181. Vegas is favoring the Angels (with Ohtani at the helm) to beat Oakland, but it’s more of a casual slouch than a lean, at -117.
