For many a year, it’s been well documented that Jorge De La Rosa was a bit of a homeschooler. Of course, that in and of itself isn’t something that would make a person curious; plenty of pitchers have road splits that make them look pedestrian. But Jorge is a Rocky and two things go with that. One, your bats are terrible away and two, your pitching is terrible at home but Jorge is not about that life. He’s had a ton of success at Coors Field which makes my call maybe seem odd given the context but Jorge is doing a bit of a reverse of his already seemingly reversed splits so far this year. Over 32.1 IP this year, Jorge has held his opponents to a 1.67 ERA to go along with 26 K. I know, those Ks don’t sound appealing but they just got a nice bump via the opponent in the Padres. Despite being a heavily righty lineup, San Diego boasts the highest K% against lefty pitchers in all of the MLB and they’re near the bottom in wRC+ and ISO against them to boot. Starting a road pitcher is never safe, of course, so I’m just recommending Of The Rose for tourneys only but there I could see putting him as your SP1 cuz you’re gonna get another cheap option from me below. Ooooh, foreshadowing! So lets not dawdle any longer. Here’s my hot takes for the start of the second half of the DK MLB slate…
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Lance Lynn, SP: $9,200 – Ummmm…where my aces at?!? Managers have decided that the day after the ASG is no big deal and they’re throwing out a lot of mid-tier pitching today for which I fart in their general direction. That said, enter Lynn who is at home vs what was a scuffling offense overall heading into the break. I’ll keep taking advantage of the New York Mess until they clean up their act and begin to hit.
James Shields, SP: $9,100 – Unless you have that Memento disease, you’ll remember up above that I discussed the Rockies road woes when it comes to their bats. With that, enter agent Shields to save the day.
Trevor Bauer, SP $8,500 – Bauer is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, shrouded in mystery, and stuffed into a grape leaf and then coated with chicken broth…wow, confusion has never been so exotically tasty! But yeah, back to Bauer, he’s definitely a tourney-only kind of guy. He’s on the road but in an NL park but said NL park is GABP but that also means he’s facing the below average Reds offense…yeah, that’s me your daily fantasy neighbor hanging out on the bushes that separate our property (PS, that means I’m hedging). For cereals, if you’re doing multi-entry tourney work today, Bauer up.
Anibal Sanchez, SP: $8,200 – The ERA is ghastly but then you see a WHIP of 1.18 and you start going C+C Music Factory. The Orioles K a lot and Anibal owns an 8.03 K/9. K, I get it.
Drew Hutchison, SP: $6,700 – I’ve pointed out Drew’s splits more times than you have to apologize to your wife for passing out in the hallway after a night of drinking. Not that I’ve ever done that…*sighs*, sorry honey! Anywho, You can pair Hutch with Jorge at $6,800 and build a Monster Squad of bats. Wolfman’s got nards!
Michael Montgomery, SP: $6,400 – Of all tourney play suggestions, this one is the tourniest. The Yanks don’t K much over all but they’ve been known from time to time to get eaten up by a lefty arm. I’m not buying Montgomery in season longs but I’m buying him for DFS at this price on this day.
Buster Posey, 1B/C: $4,100 – I’m only listing him because it feels obligatory to list Buster on a day where he faces a LHP in a hitter’s park. He’ll probably be seen on many a cash game roster but I’ll be looking about a centimeter below here…
Welington Castillo, C: $3,100 – Splits be damned, Shia La Boeuf Welington (rolls right off the tongue) has been a different hitter since joining the Dbacks and I see no reason to pay up while he’s hitting at home against a pitcher in Matt Cain who has become league average. A stack of ‘backs isn’t a bad idea so consider this a thumbs up for A.J. Pollock, Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb, and any other AZ bat you have your heart set on.
Adam Lind, 1B: $4,500 – Miller Park has been a haven for left-handed power bats for a long, long time so when I see Adam at this price, I see Lind as my friend. Consider this an ok go for Gerardo Parra, Scooter Gennett, and Pedro Alvarez.
Jason Kipnis, 2B: $4,200 – Fun fact! DK priced their hitters around Tuesday or Wednesday of the All-Star break. So basically, DK thought it would be Cueto going today and not Mike Leake. Pretty much every hitter is priced like they’re gonna face the opposing teams’ #1 which makes pricing looking like a big, stinky #2. Take advantage.
Kyle Seager, 3B: $3,700 – It’s gonna sound crazy and it’s gonna sound dumb. In fact, it’s gonna sound crazy dumb but I like a Mariners stack today. Tanaka hasn’t been himself so far this year. But ya know, that’s what happens when your elbow is partially shredded pork. How many times does shredded pork un-shred by itself if you just leave it on the plate? Exactly. Gimme all the lefty bats here, which includes Robinson Cano, Logan Morrison, and Brad Miller.
Erick Aybar, SS: $3,500 – The Angels are gonna be devils to Miley today. No, not THAT Miley. Gross…yeah, this is a rousing endorsement for all LAA bats, obviously including Mike Trout and Albert Pujols.
Josh Reddick, OF: $3,600 – ‘Member how I said DK had priced people down because they thought they’d be facing the opposing team’s ‘ace’? Yeah, A’s are facing the Twins sooooo…I just don’t know what’s going on here. Lot of cheap Oaktown bats. If I had the ability to add a button to my keyboard right now it would be called the ‘exploit’ button. I’m looking at Billy Burns and Stephen Vogt at the very least here.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
It seems Mother Nature is catching up with the fact that its the middle of July and rain delays shouldn’t be happening. I say this because the coast looks relatively clear for a weatherless slate of baseball in what seems like fo’eva eva…fo’eva eva? Yes, fo’eva eva.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Looks like TORvsTB and CHWvsKC are tied for the high of the day at 8.5 and I didn’t talk about bats from any of those teams…WELP. Lemme just say I don’t like the second half of doubleheader bats and I don’t fully trust either TB nor TOR getting to the opposing staff despite the park factor. To note, Vegas had to swing a lot of lines up or down from the initial open for the same reason DK prolly couldn’t get a good handle on bat prices today. All this to say, I wouldn’t read too much into line movement today unless you see a drastic change from the current line this morning to the afternoon.
