Howdy everyone. The Great Knoche here, newish DFS writer at Razzball, but certainly not new to Razzball. I’ve been hanging around these parts for around decade. That’s long enough to have accumulated the knowledge to have finished 9th overall in the RCL standings in 2019, That’s long enough to remember when J-FOH also known as Skunkbeard gave out free life advice on the regular. That’s long enough to remember the old, old website and comment section. That’s long enough to remember when Grey’s mustache didn’t have any gray. Anyhoo, I’ve been around a long time. I love me some fantasy baseball, but I am also heavily involved in both DFS and Sports handicapping (More on that later). When Truss threw out an all points bulletin for some help with DFS articles from some experienced, or really any warm body to help, I jumped at the chance to be the Knight in Shining Armor to his Damsel in Distress.
I’ll be bringing you my DFS picks for the main evening slate on Tuesday , May 3rd, 2022. If you play on DraftKings, it is an 11-game slate starting at 6:05 Central time. This article will be primarily focused on the DraftKings slate, so if you play on Fanduel I encourage you to sign up for the DFS tools to help you make the best decisions for your lineups on FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo.
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Joe Ryan, SP: $9,500. I thought about riding Carlos Rodon again, but the Dodgers being on the other side talked me out of it. Joe Ryan on the other hand gets the Orioles tomorrow in Camden. While his 98.6% strand rate won’t continue, his control and K rate are for real and he showed it at every level in the minors before being called up last year. He was my Pre-Season AL Rookie of the year bet and if he stays healthy I like my chances. I also like his chances against the Orioles and their 11 Home Runs so far in 22 games.
Noah Syndergaard, SP: $9,100. Not sure if everyone remembers 2016 since it was 6 years ago, but in baseball years it kind of feels like 3 years. A 23 year old Noah Syndergaard c0-anchored a Mets rotation alongside Matt Harvey and Jacob Degrom. They also had Steven Matz and Bartolo Colon! Anyhoo, Thor is only 29 years old and now 2 years removed from his surgery. While the K’s haven’t manifested yet the pitch values show they are coming, and the ground balls are what’s taking their place and that is OK. Regression fairies may be on the horizon, but I don’t think they are getting out their pixie dust for this start. Most of the Red Sox haven’t seen Thor yet so they should be a little defensive first time through the lineup. (P.S. Streamonator hates this play)
Martin Maldonado, C: $2,100. As per my usual, I will not be paying up for a catcher. I’ll be watching the lineups and seeing who is starting and taking the best value here. Right now my target is Maldonado who matches up with Chris Flexen and the Mariners in Houston. Martin is 3 for 7 with a HR and a double off Flexen and that’s a good enough match-up for me at a bargain price.
C.J. Cron, 1B: $5,300. In case you didn’t know C.J. is short for Christopher John. He is also a junior. So his full real name is Christopher John Cron Jr. Can’t really blame the guy for going by C.J, but I digress. The Rockies are home against Erick Fedde, who has shown improvement in the short season so far with a 3.48 xFIP. His control hasn’t been great so if he starts putting guys on he could get in trouble, and Mr. Cron Jr. should feast with guys on base.
Santiago Espinal, 2B: $3,700. As Grey said, Santiago looks like the guy at 2B for the Blue Jays. While he has cooled off a little bit, he has still hit safely in 8 of his last 10 games with 2 HRs. The Blue Jays get Jameson Taillion in Toronto, and while the matchup isn’t ideal I think most of the 2B prices are overinflated so I’ll ride the hot bat here.
Ryan McMahon, 3B: $4,600. Yes, I know Coors stack…. McMahon has hit 42 of his 63 Home Runs at home and 30 of those have come against righties alongside a .284 batting average. Most of the top options here have much tougher pitching match-ups so I like McMahon and the Rockies here.
Wander Franco, SS: $5,700. Wander is the most expensive SS play on the board, but only $300 more than J.P. Crawford and I can’t figure that one out. Paul Blackburn has been having a good year so far, but he is a career 5.18 ERA guy going against the best young hitter in the game. I’ll invest some money here for Wander.
Kevin Kiermaier, OF: $2,300. With an early investment in pitching and knowing I wanted Wander on my roster I started looking for potential value plays in the OF early while setting up my team here. If you missed it in my first article, I usually set my smartest safest lineup with good pitching for big 50/50 plays and I’ll adjust some things for tournaments. Kiermaier has hit safely in 5 of his last 7 and gives some options for steals as well. The Rays could be ready to rock in Oakland with the wind blowing out. Andres Gimenez’s grand slam looked like a pop-up there this weekend and still made it over the fence with ease.
Luis Robert, OF: $4,600. Robert is finally healthy and gets a nice lefty match-up versus Drew Smyly. He’s 6 for 13 with a Home Run in his last three games and his price is still reduced. He’s a career .336 hitter with 10 HRs and 10 doubles in 41 hits versus lefties. Wind is blowing in from Left tomorrow night, but I still want this match-up.
Sam Hilliard, OF: $3,100. Hilliard should get the start with a right hander on the bump, and completes a bargain Coors stack for me. Let the Rockies reign terror down on Erick the Red.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Potential Rain issues in Detroit and Cleveland about 50% chance. The wind will be blowing in hard at Wrigley.
Doing Lines In Vegas
I did mention I do a bit of Sports Handicapping. I’ll give out a Free Play here every Tuesday, but you can find all my free and premium picks for MLB and a few other sports at The Odds Breakers
The Reds have been awful. They can’t hit, and their best pitcher Tyler Mahle is taking the hill tomorrow night versus the Brewers and Brandon Woodruff. Even with that being said, they are +227 Dogs. That’s about $.30 to $.40 more than I have it at. I’ll look at the F5 Line most likely once it’s posted and see if Mahle can steal the first half of the game at what should be around +215 for a smaller investment.
