Today’s a bit of a switcheroo as our buddy Juice is traveling and couldn’t get in for today’s piece. Enter stage left from your guy MarmosDad for a bit of a different look at the beginning of the week instead of our usual Wednesday. It’ll take a bit of masterful manipulation to pull some names from only 4 games, but we’ve got it covered. It’s a bit of a mashup for the lede today too, as both Reese McGuire and Harrison Bader warrant some attention.
You know, you’ve really got to hand it to Reese McGuire (C: DK: $2,400). Since being given a chance in Boston, he’s really pieced things together and seized the opportunity. Just grabbed it with both hands and put a load of effort in to make sure he was in the lineup every day. He’s blasted a couple of dongs in his last 3 games and could lean into one against Jordan Lyles tonight. At $2,400, he’s a value play that makes it easier to fit some bigger bats into our lineups on a Monday evening.
Speaking of masters of their own domain, (and taking advantage of a chance to work in a Jonathan Swift reference at the same time), Harrison Bader (OF: DK: $2,700) is looking to be a master of centerfield for the Yankees since being branded the trade deadline’s Bronx blunder…“Who did we trade that Montgomery guy for? Some chooch in a ski boot?” Well, Bader has finally shed ‘das boot’ and is trying to make up for lost time. In his 5 games since returning, Bader has hits in 3 of 4 starts, 3 runs scored and 6 RBIs. Almost as encouraging, the speed seems to be intact as he stole third base on Friday night. Pop goes the weasel ‘cause the weasel goes pop! I’d say Bader is a goodie.
We’re getting closer to the end of the season now, so this is for our final run but also as a nod to next spring. You can’t be too early with preparations so why not take the tools for a spin to see how helpful they are? You can subscribe via the DFSBot link below and see what an advantage the Razzball tools have been giving us throughout this season. Check it out.
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Roansy Contreras, SP: (DK: $7,500) – Kudos to Juice for running these DFS lineups on the short Monday schedules. It was certainly tough having to pick 2 SP from a list of only 8. In this one, I’m going with Roansy Contreras at home against the Reds. Cinci came through in our upset pick against the Red Sox the other day, but they’re up against a guy that struck out 10 Yankees his last time out and held them to just 3 hits in their last matchup on September 14 at Great American Ballpark. Roansy is throwing to almost a full point less in his ERA at PNC park, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him swab the deck with the Reds today.
Bryce Elder, SP: (DK: $8,400) – No joke, I started putting this together on Sunday morning when only four teams had announced their starters. My placeholder for SP2 was ‘whoever faces Washington’. Atlanta is on the road against the Nats today, but outside of the possibility of a bullpen day I think I’d take anyone against a team that was sitting at 99 losses for the year and looks to be playing out the string. Atlanta has already clinched a playoff berth but should be still going full steam ahead in their quest to take the division from the Mets. The projected starter is Bryce Elder (not sure if I should make a Harry Potter wand reference here) who has averaged over 7 K’s through his last 3 starts. A win is probable but with Elder throwing, we could get a handful of strikeouts too.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B: (DK: $6,100) – Two articles in a row with no Nate Lowe is sacrilege in the house of MarmosDad, so thankfully we still have one more writeup to go on the last day of the season. This one is close to a chalk 1B play and I needed to work in at least one Blue Jay. If Judge didn’t hit 61 and 62 at home last night, this is where all eyes will be turned tonight. I think Vladito is the kind of guy that enjoys that kind of attention. His run during the MVP discussion with Ohtani last year didn’t see him slow down, and with 26 of his homers against RHP this year, Luis Severino could be in for a headache or two from Cake Batter tonight.
Whit Merrifield, 2B/OF : (DK: $3,300) – Whit is 5 for his last 11 AB with 3 HR, so to say that he’s heating up through the stretch run might be a bit of an understatement. Lourdes is still out with an injury and Springer has been DH’ing, so there should be room for Merrifield at 2B or LF, but just double-check before locking in a final lineup before the 7:07 PM ET start.
Rodolfo Castro, 3B: (DK: $2,800) – Grey’s lede in the Buy column on Friday has been pretty good the last couple of weeks, so I figured I’d look him up to see how long this call-up has been swinging a hot bat. Unless you’re one of the Pirates 7 fans, I’m assuming you couldn’t guess how many AB Castro has on the year. 100? Nope. 200? Warmer. Prior to Sunday’s game, Rodolfo Castro had 245 PA in 62 games and 6 homers in September! There’s not much to say other than this isn’t so much a ‘jump-on-him-in-a-keeper-league’ note than a ‘play the hot hand’ one. Grey put it best on Friday when he said, “Grab him now for now.” It doesn’t get much clearer for DFS than that.
Dansby Swanson, SS: (DK: $5,500) – This one is another ‘pick on the Nats’ pick. If you build a stronger lineup and need to save some bucks, I could see you pivoting to a Gunnar Henderson here (DK: $3,900), but Swanson is about as steady as she goes. 21 HR and 18 SB on the year and I’m here for the push for 20/20 (or even 25/25 maybe).
Aaron Judge, OF: (DK: $6,400) – There was a report that a memorabilia company has already put out a $2 million dollar bounty on Judge’s 62nd home run ball. If he hits it tonight in Toronto, after the exchange into Canadian dollars, a lucky fan will be in possession of a $165 billion dollar sphere of leather…plus two black eyes and a bunch of broken bones for free! Thank goodness for universal health care.
Oswaldo Cabrera, OF : (DK: $2,900) I wanted to go with Michael Harris II as a final OF, but he’s pretty pricey ($4,700) and my Merrifield play got scrambled because they took away Cabrera’s 2B eligibility. It’s looking like an unintentional Yankee stack today, but I think that’s just because there are a lot of potential bargains in the mix. The Os-Cab (O-Scab?) registered 2nd on the 7 day player rater from last week with 3 homers, 9 R, 9 RBI in 20 AB. He should be in LF or at 2B and could extend this schmotato run through the start of the week.
*If you followed this to the letter, you’re $2,000 ahead. Feel free to switch out a value play for someone more exciting, or even slot in Harris here instead as he came in less than the $5,000 than I figured he’d be priced at.*
I’m Only Happy When It Rains…
Hurricane Fiona is bringing the wet today across the east coast and has already hammered a lot of the Eastern part of Canada. Make sure to double check radar in case any of it affects the game at Fenway or the Atlanta/Nationals game. As of Sunday morning, everything without a dome or roof was below 10%.
Doing Lines In Vegas…
Let’s double down on our SP pick and take the OVER on Roansy’s strikeouts today if they’re anything like his 3.5 for the last start..
The Yankee/Blue Jays matchup has great offensive potential, but two good starters I’d throw some money on a potential UNDER in that one if it’s 8 or lower, and hope that the SP go deep and save the bullpens from imploding.
Best of luck in the DFS plays today! If you have any questions, shoot me a note on Twitter @MarmosDad. And if there’s anything you want to see from this desk, (Only league tips, How to organize for an auction draft), let me know in the comments. I’ll see you again on the last day of the season for our final DFS writeup!
