Happy Wednesday, Razz-fam! I hope you all had a great start to the week and that your DFS lineups have been full of happiness (and Pasquantinos)! Today’s SPs are similar to the last few Wednesdays. A couple of chalk plays, some mid-level arms that could produce some good results, and a minefield of chaos with rookie starters and/or underperforming hurlers (that also might make you hurl if you play them today). Sign us up for one of these main arms today in Carlos Rodon (DK: $10,800) at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was the most appealing SP today when I went through the list and outside of Max Scherzer and Tony Gonsolin he’ll be the most widely played in DFS lineups. I figured Rodon’s home numbers would be much better than his away, but they’re very similar. He has a slightly higher K/9 at home (12.63) and the rest of his splits are very close. He’s won his last 3 starts and has allowed 2 or fewer runs in each. Outside of a 3 K low at Oakland (August 6) Rodon has struck out at least 7 in every start since the beginning of July. He’s atop the Streamonator today (55.2) and at $10,800 he’s as close to a sure thing as you’re going to get from your SP1.
Otherwise, today is a bit of a different schedule. I tried to focus on the main evening games for most of these picks but I snuck in a couple of afternoon names just in case you want to play more than one lineup. There are 4 games that begin before 4:00 PM ET, two other afternoon games, then a full slate of 9 evening games to mix and match your favorites.
As always, if you are looking to gain an edge over the competition in DFS (or season-long leagues), don’t hesitate to check out the Razzball subscriptions available here. Rudy’s Hittertron and Streamonator are very helpful whether you’re deciding which players to start in DFS or in your weekly roto or H2H lineups. The DFS lineup generator is excellent too.
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Jordan Montgomery, SP: (DK) $6,900 – I originally had slotted our very own Mitch Staniger’s darling George Kirby in for our second SP of the day, but that game starts before our evening mains so I pivoted to Jordan Montgomery at home against the Rockies. Montgomery comes in as the 3rd highest ranked SP on Streamonator for this one at 31.2 and has yet to give up a run through two starts for the Cardinals. He only struck out one Yankee in his first assignment since the trade, but he mowed down 8 Brewers through 6 IP in his last one. At $6,900 he’s underpriced against the Rockies tonight.
Joey Bart, C: (DK) $2,800 – All of the usual MarmosDad catcher picks are playing early games today, so I went out west for the late start in this one. Bart is riding a nice 7 game hitting streak since the beginning of the month and put up 17 FPTS on Monday night against MadBum and the D-Backs. Hittertron isn’t a fan with Bart as the 31st catcher today at -12.2, but this one is more about riding a light schmotato at an affordable price so we can spend the big bucks elsewhere.
Nathaniel Lowe, 1B: (DK) $3,000 – Frequent readers of MarmosDad Wednesdays won’t be surprised by this one (and while we’re here, many thanks to all 4 of you). I did want to go with Vinny Pasquantino as he’s been a flaming hot schmotato for the last week, but the Royals start early today so it’s back to Lowe for this one. Lowe is the 5th ranked 1B on the Hittertron and comes in at a very affordable $3,000. He’s hit safely in his last 6 games and with all due respect to Adam Oller, he’s not exactly facing an early 90’s Dave Stewart at home against Oakland.
Vaughn Grissom, 2B: (DK) $2,000 – I was going to sneak in Jon Berti here as a decent play for runs and SB potential, but I couldn’t pull the trigger now that his price is up near $5,000. I pivoted to Andres Gimenez but he costs $5,000 too. In the end, I went with another of those rookie call-ups we can fit in our lineup in Vaughn Grissom. Grissom has hit safely in all 7 games since his promotion and has 2 homers and 2 doubles in that short sample size. All of that said, he is facing Max Scherzer here, so I understand if you want to go with a safer option (like Ezequiel Duran at home against Oakland at $2,300).
Thairo Estrada, SS/2B: (DK) $4,200 – This is another one with sneaky numbers if you don’t follow the west coast games as closely as some others do. Estrada has 11 HR on the year with 16 SB. He missed a few games at the beginning of the month with a concussion, but has hit in 7-of-8 games since his return and had a HR and SB Sunday night against the Pirates.
Jose Ramirez, 3B: (DK) $5,600 -Time to spend some of those dollars here that we saved with our earlier picks. J-Ram is the best bet to take advantage of a top prospect turned reliever turned back to starting pitcher (Daniel Norris) tonight. RHH are swinging a .393 wOBA against Norris and I assume that’ll be how the switch hitting Ramirez faces his opponent today. Dan ‘The Van Man’ Norris may not be in there long (only his second start since moving back to the rotation) but Jose Ramirez has a good chance of breaking out of his mini slump in this one.
Kerry Carpenter, OF: (DK) $2,000 – With a couple of swipes at Daniel Norris, I figure I’d better pick a Tiger here so that Motown’s faithful don’t start making MarmosDad voodoo dolls. Carpenter had some eye-popping numbers in the minor leagues this year (check out The Itch’s writeups on him) and was long overdue for a call to the bigs. That finally came on August 10th and in his 4th MLB game on Monday night, Carpenter had a 3-4 evening with 2 XBH and 26 FPTS.
Edit : *Carpenter hit another home run last night after I wrote this up!* This will likely be the last day you can get him at his $2000 entry price.
Starling Marte, OF: (DK) $5,100 – Who’s in for the Marte Party? Starling ranks as the 9th OF on the Hittertron today and qualifies as a 5 tool threat that can fill up the DFS sheet. He hasn’t had many games that pop off the page the past couple of weeks but this is more about Marte batting near the top of a potent lineup against a pitcher that has failed to get out of the 5th inning in his last two starts (Jake Odorizzi). $5,100 is pricey for an OF, so I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to go with…..
Yordan Alvarez or Kyle Tucker, OF: (DK) $5,900; $4,500 – I started this with Yordan as one of my big OF, then realized how expensive he is for today. I figured Tucker would be very similarly priced…until I saw that he isn’t. If you want to plug and play both of these, the Hittertron wouldn’t disagree. Alvarez and Tucker are the 2nd and 3rd ranked OF, respectively. Yordan has 22 of his 31 HR against RHP, and Tucker has had similar success (14 of his 21 HR against RHP). Kopech isn’t exactly a soft tosser, but I wouldn’t be surprised if both of these OF turned on a 105 MPH fastball or two.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains…
A bit of wind – 10.5 MPH – on the south side of Chicago (not surprising) and the highest percentage of rain is 14% in Toronto, but that’s covered…literally…by the dome. Other than that there are a few cities that have less than 10% so no real threat to miss any games today.
Doing Lines In Vegas…
There are a few matchups that are tough to call (eg. Yankees/Rays) and a few heavy favorites. The only UNDER that stands out as a possible upset is Pablo Lopez at home vs Mike Clevinger and the Padres at +140.
Best of luck in the DFS plays today! If you have any questions, shoot me a note on Twitter @MarmosDad.
