There is one legitimate ace going tonight and his name is Chris Sale. Sale is sharpening up his machete, Jason style, to make mincemeat of the Yankees. You don’t need me to tell you how silly good Chris Sale is though (0.775 WHIP!). He is your de facto #1 cash game option for tonight’s games. Beyond that however, things are pretty ugly. Are you going to trust Samardzija in Coors south? Perhaps Matt Harvey in Coors regular? Maybe Justin Verlander in Baltimore? Ha, of course not! Just making sure you’re paying attention. Since Sale will no doubt be heavily owned in GPPs tonight, it might be wise to throw some darts on two cheaper pitchers and load up on hitting. Choosing those two pitchers tonight is a lot like deciding which of the cabins on Crystal Lake to hide out in while a murdering psychopath is on the loose. Choose wisely or your bankroll will end up decapitated. Along those same lines, Coors will be very popular tonight as well. We know the most popular pitcher and the most popular game tonight’s hitters will come from. If you’re looking to take down a giant tournament, such as the $3 Moonshot, use that information wisely and get out of Camp Crystal Lake alive…pssst, hey you. Yeah you, is that main Friday writer Matt guy gone? You sure? I have an unreasonable fear of hippos ever since an unfortunate accident involving a pair of loose shorts and a childhood favorite board game we all know and love…I’d rather not talk about it. What I WOULD rather talk about is our new 25 man Razzball Exclusive League that’s set to run on this coming Monday, May 16th. We were doing that 10 man thing for too long and as my wife has always said, size matters. Um, I was talking about bank accounts? Hello? This will be a new thing for us and if we fill quickly, we might be able to wrangle this thing into 50, or 75 or even a 100 man league. As I always tell my wife, if you show it some love and give it some time, it will grow…geez, again, we are talking about a bank account. What’s with you? So jump in there and reserve your spot for a chance at Razz glory. Now on with the show…
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Rich Hill, SP: $9,700 – Hill has that sweet, sweet strikeout upside that is so important in the daily game. Tampa Bay is willing to cooperate as well. They currently sit in the top 5 in the league in strikeouts. With the potential to rack up Ks, Hill can still provide plenty of points even if he gets into some trouble.
Stephen Wright, SP: $9,100 – Believe in the knuckleball. The knuckler is a funny pitch and those that throw it are birds of a different feather. When the knuckleball is running hot though, it’s borderline unhittable and you’d be wise to ride it out. Houston continues to lead the league in strikeouts which means, we continue to target them. The way the Sawx are hitting the ball right now, Wright should get plenty of run support and if nothing else, should cruise to the victory.
Jake Odorizzi, SP: $8,300 – Yup, two pitchers from the same game. That will happen when two bad offenses square off. Pick your poison, but I’m 95% certain that a pitcher from this game is going to end up on my roster tonight. Jake doesn’t have the same strikeout upside as Hill, but probably has a better shot at the “W”. Odorizzi also saves you $1400, so it really comes down to roster construction and how much risk/safety you’re looking for.
Junior Guerra, SP: $4,700 – JB mentioned Junior on the podcast a couple weeks back and Streamonator absolutely loves him for this start. I think that has more to do with facing the Padres than anything else, but it still got me digging. Guerra seems like a lot of rookie pitchers that throw hard (he averages 94 MPH on his fastball), he strikes guys out, but that comes with some wildness. Across two levels of the minors last year Guerra had an 11.3 K/9 and a 3.6 BB/9. Yum…and yikes! We’re digging deep here, so there’s obviously risk, but I think it’s worth a shot given the crumby competition, the price tag and the chance for some nice K totals.
Kevin Plawecki, C: $3,000 – Cheap catcher de jour, and this one is in Coors! Yes please!
Miguel Cabrera, 1B: $4,200 – Miggy for the same price tag as Carlos Santana does not compute. The bottom has to fall out on Chris Tillman eventually, but at this price I’d take Miggy against almost anyone.
Chris Carter, 1B: $3,900 – The Padres are likely to either go with a bullpen start tonight or call up some fresh face to square off against the Brewers in Milwaukee. Either way, it’s advantage Carter and his #BOOMSTICK.
Jean Segura, 2B: $3,700 – I’ll be targeting two pitchers whose road starts I’m not crazy about for my 2B tonight. The first is Jeff Samardzija at Coors South. Puke Soup is fine at home and in other spacious parks, but I’m not touching him in Arizona. In turn, I’ll happily take the D-Backs leadoff man for what seems like a discounted price.
DJ LeMahieu, 2B: $3,600 – Another guy I’m not trusting tonight is Matt Harvey. This one’s a little more obvious because of Coors field. That, and Harvey hasn’t even been trustworthy in normal altitude this year. I’ll take whatever cheap Coors exposure I can and DJ fits the bill.
Nick Castellanos, 3B: $4,000 – I’m doubling down on my theory that the bottom has to fall out for Tillman soon. Nick’s price hasn’t caught up to his production yet. He’s been making it rain double digit DK points night after night and I don’t see that stopping tonight.
Jake Lamb, 3B: $3,300 – Back on the Samardzija beat down, this time with the lefty clean-up hitter. Lamb is a baaaad man and is priced much too cheaply for a clean-up hitter in a great park.
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS: $3,800 – Asdrubal doesn’t do a lot for me, but he’s decently priced and has the Coors factor in his favor tonight.
Zack Cozart, SS: $3,300 – Here’s another player that seems much too cheap for his lineup position and skill set. Cozart has been hitting leadoff and doing so very well. Jeremy Hellickson isn’t frightening in the least and if you need to save some dough, you could do worse than Zack.
Bryce Harper, OF: $5,100 – So, you’re maybe not a BvP type of person. Well, just gander in awe at Bryce Harper vs. Tom Koehler. 9 for 28 with SIX homers. Harper provides the perfect Coors pivot tonight.
Michael Conforto, OF: $4,200 – DraftKings typically jacks up all the prices of the Coors hitters on a given night. Tonight however, it doesn’t seem that extreme. I really expected Conforto to be out of my price range, but this is pretty ideal for a player ranked 4th in the league in hard hit % playing in Coors. He’s borderline must-play at this price.
Domingo Santana, OF: $3,300 – $3,300 is apparently the going price for undervalued leadoff hitters. I’m not sure why the Brewers insist on hitting Domingo 1st with what Villar has shown them the past couple weeks, but they do. I mentioned the possible bullpen start up above. Keep a look out, especially if a lefty from the minors gets the spot start, either way I like the Brewer’s bats and Domingo leading the charge.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Rain stinks. I’ve been doing way to much radar watching this past week for DFS and tonight will be no different. There is weather in New York to keep an eye on and Boston looks bad as well. If Boston gets rained out, swap over to Edinson Volquez facing the Braves in Kansas City. There’s some thunderstorms to keep an eye on there as well, but they seem much more scattered than the weather on the East coast. Also on the East coast is Philadelphia and there’s some early thunderstorms to watch out for there too. Hopefully everything is moved out by game time, but that Boston game really worries me.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Edinson Volquez and the Royals are the largest favorite tonight at -160. I’m shocked that Sale isn’t the biggest favorite, he checks in at -145. That’s not even good enough to be the second best favorite. That honor goes to Nate Karns who is a-155 and a very fine option against the struggling Angels. Besides the 10 over/under in Coors the same total exists in Texas where R.A. Dickey and the Blue Jays visit Martin Perez in what is sure to be a high scoring affair. Two games come in at a 7 total over/under. They are, to be expected, the White Sox at the Yankees with Chris Sale ready to deal and Oakland @ Tampa Bay.
