It was May of 2001, Beyoncé was the lead singer of Destiny’s Child, people still listened to Limp Bizkit, I was huddled in some college dorm room taking gravity bong hits, and Barry Bonds was hitting steroid fueled dongs at an alarming rate. Bonds hit 17 that month, numbers we were never supposed to see again in the post-steroid era. Then Edwin Encarnacion woke up from his early season slumber and started rounding the bases at Bondsian rates, imaginary parrot in tow. Unfortunately I didn’t draft E5 on a single team and after watching his recent tear this pains me deeply. It’s not that I didn’t like Encarnacion, I just preferred his teammate Jose Bautista in the second round of my drafts. This my friends is what makes DraftKings such a beautiful thing. Every night I can make up for the mistakes of March and own players like Encarnacion or Nelson Cruz, but wait it gets even better! If you haven’t played daily fantasy on DraftKings before you can play for free by joining.
Anyway, back to Edwin and his scorching hot bat! E5’s price tag is heavy at $5,300, but it’s not often you get to buy in on a player during an epic historic run. So I say go for it, get crazy, spend on him, and pinch pennies elsewhere. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s gets to face former Saints QB Aaron Brooks! I was just informed that this isn’t the same person. Well he was a solid Point Guard for Oregon. Wait it’s not that guy either? So who is this guy? He’s apparently a righty with some rather unimpressive minor league stats. The best thing I can say is he doesn’t walk many batters. Hell! Even better he throws strikes!
Wily Peralta, SP: $8,600 – There are certainly safer calls on the board than Peralta, but it’s easy to play Masahiro Tanaka against a middle of the road offense like the Twins. The real money in DFS is finding the upside at a relatively inexpensive price. Peralta gives you that. He’s sporting a 2.12 ERA, albeit a lucky one according to his 3.37 xFIP and his 84.1% LOB%, but still Peralta gets the Cubs. In fact the only team with a lower overall team wOBA than the Cubs is the Padres. They’re also neck and neck with Braves for the most whiff happy lineup in the majors with a k% of 23.2%. Peralta has cut down on the walks this season and his K% is up a tick. I think he’s a solid bet for 7 innings, 6-7 K’s, and 2 ER’s.
Kelly Johnson, 3B: $3,700 – Admittedly Johnson has been awful this year. He’s done pretty much nothing. Sporting a batting average just above the Mendoza line, KJ has been anything but his usual boring but helpful self. Fortunately for Johnson he gets to face Kevin Correia today. Lifetime against The OG Hodgepadre Johnson is 9 for 28 with 5 dongs. I’m guessing he adds to that total in the matinee at Yankee Stadium.
Starlin Castro, SS: $3,900 – I know, I know, this is a complete contradiction to my suggestion of Peralta earlier, but Castro’s numbers against him are too hard to ignore. He’s 9/19 with a couple of homers and the price is solid.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C: $3,400 – This is all about the wOBA and the price. Salty has the second best home wOBA among catchers in all of baseball and his price is nice at $3,400. I’m typically inclined to punt catcher so I’m happy to get a productive player with a solid price tag.
Garrett Jones, 1B/ OF: $4,100 – Jones rakes at home vs. righties; he gets Ervin Santana at home tomorrow and seems like a great play. I’m more than happy to plug him in at one of my outfield spots or as a cheap 1B option if you’re looking for a contrarian play at first.
Khris Davis, OF: $4,600 – Ummm yeah he’s hitting .478 with a 1.730 OPS and 4 homers in the last week. I’ll give him a roll of the dice, Khrush is worth a look.
Jacoby Ellsbury, OF: $5,000 – Speed plays well in DraftKings and I expect Jacoby to be on base a few times today. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple of runs, and an extra base hit or two plus a steal.
Kolten Wong, 2B: $3,800 – He’s hitting .381 since being recalled and he runs like Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez! Who knows maybe he’ll steal home while his best friend calls the game wearing a stupid hat.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
30% chance of showers in St. Louis but the rest of the games either have retractable roofs or actual nice weather.
Pray for me as I try and conquer Tough Mudder New England on rainy Mt. Snow. Due to my severe mental illness, Sky will be covering the comment answering today. He’ll bestow upon you his fantasy knowledge and if you’re lucky he may even bust out a rendition of Wonderwall by Oasis.
Doing Lines in Vegas
NYY vs Minnesota – The total is 8, The Yanks may score 8 against the Twins alone. I like the over.
Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay – Total is 9, and I like the under. Rubby De La Rosa makes his first start with the Sox and has pitched pretty well with the PawSox this year. The Sox have also had trouble with Jake Odorizzi the last time out.
