I’m somewhere where I don’t know where I am. I began this week in sunshine in Iceland and came back to an ice storm that had me grounded for hours in Toronto (and it’s late April, may I remind you). Facebook (dafuq?) was showing live MLB games. Jose Bautista is a minor leaguer. Everything feels turned on its head. I don’t trust much anymore, but for my FantasyDraft lineup today, I do feel I can trust Chris Sale ($23,400… Yes. I know) as he squares up against the Oakland A’s in O.co Stadium. Sale has pitched there only a couple of times, but he’s fared pretty well, with a 3.21 ERA. There’s a good chance he could hit double-digit strikeouts against the A’s, who are striking out at a 23% clip. So in summary, Sale today should be A’s-O-Ks.
Let’s take a look at other options for FantasyDraft for April 21, the first day of spring. (“No, autumn!” cries everyone in the southern hemisphere.)
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Stacks of stacks: There’s some potential big hittin’ in the forecast today. The Jays take on the Yankees in teeny-tiny Yankee Stadium, the Diamondbacks are at home in Arizona, and the Cubs and Rockies hit up Coors. You’re probably fine taking batters from any of those teams. You know, as long as it doesn’t rain/snow/Samardzijanado.
Carlos Martinez, SP: $21,100 – CarMart (and his pretty, pretty 1.75 ERA) is my early-slate pitcher of choice today versus the slumping Reds. The pitching options for the rest of this slate are tough: expensive expensive expensive, then they fall off a cliff. However, I’m going to pair Martinez with Danny Duffy ($15,900); I’m at the very least hoping for a win out of Duffy. Mike Clevinger ($19,700) would be a better bet, versus the Orioles, but I can’t afford him. Hope you can! [Sidebar: Honorary mention to Blake Snell. I clocked him for today before realizing that FantasyDraft isn’t featuring the Twins-Rays game on any of today’s slates (at least at time of writing), but I thought I’d mention Snell anyway, in case you get the chance to play him somewhere. Stream-o-Nator loves Chris Sale the best of all its children for Saturday, but Blake Snell is ranked second (although Stream-o-Nator would never tell him to his face). He takes on the Twins at home in (the cavernous maw of) Tropicana Field, where so far this year he has a ridiculous ERA of .075.]
James Paxton, SP: $19,400 – Paxton started his season by earning 6 runs in 4.1 IP against Cleveland (they really crucified him that first game on Easter weekend), but he’s settled down verrrry nicely since, with 24 Ks and a 2.65 ERA in 17 IPs. Today he faces the bottom-of-the-AL-west Rangers. My only caveat about this start is that there are thunderstorms in the forecast, so if you need alternatives, Jacob deGrom ($21,200) and Stephen Strasburg ($20,700) are the expensive and chalky plays. As cheaper and second-pitcher late-slate options, consider Hyun-Jin Ryu ($16,400): Stream-o-Nator has him as the 7th pitcher overall today, versus the Nationals. Or perhaps a little Garrett Richards ($15,600) versus the Giants.
Francisco Lindor, IF: $9,100 – Q: Name an AL East pitcher who’s not having a fun time in 2018. A: The Orioles’ Chris Tillman, who takes on Cleveland at home in Baltimore today. His ERA is 11.91, WHIP is 2.82, and he’s Stream-o-Nator’s second-lowest-rated pitcher o’ the day (Derek Holland, pitching in Angel Stadium, gets the dubious honor of being last). Lindor has had a slow-ish start to the season, but he’s Hittertron’s 5th-highest-hitter (on a Coors day, to boot!), for this match-up.
Paul Goldschmidt, IF: $8,400 – After a slow start to the season, Au Schizz is finally starting to heat up (hitting .381 in the last week). Historically, he’s 10 for 27 against Clayton Richard, and this game is taking place in warm, sunny Arizona.
Asdrubal Cabrera, IF: $7,400 – The man has been kind of a hitting machine so far this season, with a line of .343/.377/.600. He’s facing Julio Teheran today. Teheran had a great outing last time versus the Phillies, but Cabrera’s gone 7 for 23 against him in the past.
Dansby Swanson, IF: $6,000 – The man with the fanciest name in baseball (“I’ll fight you for that honor, sir,” cries Cheslor Cuthbert, throwing down his glove) has been a tad on fire this season: .347/.380./.560. This is not the easiest match-up versus Jacob deGrom, of course, but at this price — say, when you’re trying to get Sale into your lineup as well — it might be worth the risk. As a cheapie play for your late slate, try Matt Carpenter ($6,900): this could also be risky, as he’s been so cold to start the season (haven’t we all, Matt. Haven’t we all), but he does have a crazy BVP of 18 for 36 versus Homer Bailey, and for the price, this could be worth a try.
Aaron Judge, OF: $10,600 – Oof, the price, I know. While it feels like personal heresy to suggest anyone against my beloved Jays, I have to discuss the Judge versus Marcus Stroman situation. In 14 ABs in the Stro Show, Judge has racked up 3 HRs and a .631 wOBA. He’s also hitting .345 at home for the season thus far. Meanwhile, Stroman has been brutal to start the season (7.98 ERA, anyone?) and Yankee Stadium has never been a happy place for him: in 22 IP there, he has a 5.73 ERA.
Mike Trout, OF: $11,100 – And here’s your late-slate, teeth-achingly expensive guy. That said, you may indeed want to pay up here, for this match-up versus lefty Derek Holland: I think Trout is Hittertron’s top hitter overall today for a reason. I’m looking at him particularly for his 14 for 45 history with Holland, off whom he’s also hit 3 home runs. But if the Trout is a little rich for you, try the slightly cheaper Angel(fish) in the person of Justin Upton ($9,000), who has a decent wOBA of .373 versus Holland in 9 ABs. He had a bad series versus Boston, but here’s hoping Holland un-clogs him.
J.D. Martinez, OF: $9,400 – Dongy-Kong is hitting .542 in the last week (seriously) and worth every penny of this price. Yes, Sean Manaea has been pretty good lately, but not only is Martinez on this insane tear, he has great splits vs. LHP (.311, versus .291 against righties).
Brett Gardner, OF: $8,500 – I’d run him out for his history versus Marcus Stroman: he’s gone 9 for 37 with 2 HRs. Those are pretty nice numbers in and of themselves, but doubly nice given his position as lead-off hitter in front of the likes of Giancarlo (a.k.a., “God”), Judge and the Notorious DIDI. I’m thinking he’ll be good for a couple of runs for you. If you need cheaper OFs, try Teoscar Hernandez ($6,500) and Michael Brantley ($7,300) for the early and late slates, respectively. (Or how about newbie Lourdes Gurriel?! [$5,600] 2 for 5 with 3 RBIs in his debut!)
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Is it…finally spring? (“No!” shouts everyone in the southern hemisphere.) I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but it actually…<whispers so the weather gods don’t hear>…looks pretty much OK out there. You’ll just need to keep an eye on the Mariners-Rangers game; as mentioned earlier, thunderstorms are forecast in Texas.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Poor Giants: of all the games happening today, Vegas is the most confident that San Francisco are going to tank against the Angels (-216). The Red Sox are also a pretty sure bet versus the A’s, at -191, Vegas thinks. In-too-close-to-call action, we have the Nationals at Dodgers (a very slight edge to LA at -102) and Jays at Yankees (the Yanks get the noncommittal nod, also at -102. I’ll confess this is the game I’m most interested in—obviously because the Jays are my team, but this has been a fun, back-and-forth series so far, with a lot of hitting).
