I can imagine what Juan Nicasio season long owners are feeling right now. First week was straight gravy with some poutine hiding underneath. Next week? Heart attack with a cliffhanger heading into week 3. This shizz is like Knots Landing and I don’t even know what that show is! Either way, drama central is going on and we out here in DFS land be like okay, okay, Childish Gambino style. That’s the beauty of the Daily Fantasy life: No Ragrets. Or better put, no memory. I don’t care that Juan was terrible in his last start. It happened in Detroit against a stacked Tigers lineup. Back at home in the NL against a good but shaky Brew Crew lineup, I’m willing to take a gamble on Juan at his low end price of $6,100. Why? Pitchers that Ray Searage has salvaged include but are not limited to: AJ Burnett, Francisco Liriano, and JA Happ. So you can write the other two off as bouncebacks but Happ? That’s straight voodoo magic, brosephs, and I’m not about to start a Salem witch trial against this good man. So step into my humble abode as we put Juan in our SP2 spot and forget about it for the day. But what should we do with our SP1 spot, you ask? Well read on. Here’s my telenovela hot taeks for this Sunday DK slate…
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Jon Lester, SP: $9,600 – Admittedly, I don’t mind Corey Kluber at home vs the Mets but if you’re gonna talk to me about the difference of $700 internet ducats, I’d rather take the NL pitcher, thank you kindly. In theory, Lester is a must start because the Rockies were dead last in team wOBA against lefty pitching last year. Of course, they didn’t have the fearsome Ryan Raburn on the team at that time. Scoff on, you scoffers, but that was a sentence put forth with mild gest mixed with haunting foreboding and other fancy words! I’m a fan in cash, not sure I’m as tethered to him in tourneys, though.
Gio Gonzalez, SP: $9,000 – Gio in cash? Ish you cray. Much like the Rockies, the Phillies struggled mightily against lefties last year. Gio always seems to have an inning where he doesn’t know what baseball is, but out side of that he could K 10. And his troll game is a 10 so there’s that.
Patrick Corbin, SP: $8,300 – Shelby Miller was a miss yesterday in my column but my column featured Erasmo Ramirez so you’re going to click this link and listen to a Billy Madison quote and like it, Mister! Oh wait, that was the Wedding Singer…yeah, whatever, it’s a Sandler movie prior to Little Nicky. Same diff. And before you say it, 50 First Dates doesn’t count. That’s basically Wedding Singer 2. But back to the analytics…eh, it’s the Padres and it’s a lefty on the mound. Yes, it’s ‘start lefties against stats from a year ago’ day. Not quite as catchy as National Bat Appreciation Day which today is, but still…
Nick Tropeano, SP: $6,400 – Yeah, it’s a feel good story that the Twinkies finally won a game or two. That’s nice and all but they still whiff plenty and Tropeano had 6 Ks in his last go. Though he looks to be a flyball pitcher and could easily find himself in trouble in this game, he could also fan 8 in 5 without much effort.
Steve Clevenger, C: $2,500 – Steve is a lefty in a top 3 lefty friendly park and is priced under what it takes to redo a deck. I think that’s a good deal? Eh, whatevs, the real news here is it’s Sunday and backup catchers are going to be coming out of their hidey holes all day so stay woke and roster the cheapest one in the friendliest spot. Tools of ignorance one oh one, yo.
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B: $5,100 – If you’ve got the stones and the doubloons to pay up for Goldy, you could be rewarded handsomely. By the way, as a guy I always wonder what being paid handsomely means. Like is some guy gonna show up at my door with chiseled features and aloofly say ‘you’ve won’ and then walk off to his limo? I think about these things because I care, man! But more to the point, Paul’s got a lefty on the mound in Erlin and a need to break a cold streak.
Miguel Cabrera, 1B: $4,200 – Admittedly, Miggy is off to a rough start but this price against Fiers? Feels like an auto-roster to me. After three hits yesterday, I don’t care about your Uber driver, I’m hopping in an M-Cab today.
D.J. LeMahieu, 2B: $3,300 – After getting a day off yesterday, it’s almost assured that the Euro record spinner will bat leadoff today and if you’re not familiar with Lester, he’s the Zoolander of pitchers when it comes to baserunners. For whatever reason, he can’t throw to first base to pick a guy off so it’s open season on the basepaths if one gets on. Since D.J. had 23 swipes last year, it’s time to get out your glow sticks at this price.
Brandon Drury, 2B/3B: $2,800 – I’m definitely not suggesting a Dbacks stack…or am I? Well not intentionally, but if you’re getting a little cash-strapped because of taking Goldy and some high priced arms, Drury can be a nice salary relief move. Drury has a little pop in his bat and could easily have a couple of doubles and an RBI when at his price, you really only need 7 points to feel good about yourself.
Matt Carpenter, 3B: $4,500 – On a day where every 3B seems reasonably priced minus Josh Donaldson, it’s probably a day to pay up for Dongaldson but a Cards stack against rookie hurler Jon Moscot has me intrigued. Consider this an ok from me on Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk here.
Nolan Arenado, 3B: $3,700 – It didn’t pan out yesterday, but Arenado had 22 HRs last year on the road. He is in no way a Coors product so get in while he’s sub-4K. Heck, it’s Lester on the mound. Maybe Nolan walks and steals a base! As mentioned yesterday, if you don’t have at least one contrarian Rockies stack today and you’re doing multi-LU entries, you’re doing it wrong.
Eduardo Nunez, 3B/SS: $3,400 – He’s batted leadoff for the Twins for the last two days and has scores of 19 and 18, respectively. If I were Grey I’d be saying Hot Schmotato alert but I’m not and this isn’t that kind of writeup. But before you ask in the comments, yes, you should pick up Nunez while he’s hot. But back to us DFS’ers, Eduardo isn’t this good but he’s good enough at this price to roster and feel happy about it.
Nick Ahmed, SS: $2,800 – Ok, ok, ok, you got me…I’m probably making a Dbacks stack today but it’s TOTALLY unintentional. Every dang time I try to pay down at a middle infield spot, there they are! Southpaw Erlin is a solid real life pitcher who can get exposed against a good hitting team, even in the safe confines of Petco and on a warm day, balls can fly out of there just as well as those ping pong balls did out of Winona Ryder.
Starling Marte, OF: $4,400 – Every time I see Marte, he makes me think of Bubba Starling and every time I think of him I wonder ‘did I make that up? Was there really a hot prospect at one time named Bubba Starling?’ and then I go google it just to confirm AND THEN I have to put Bubba Starling in the tags for this post because I mentioned him. Sorry, one moment…yup, ok, it happened. One more moment *puts Bubba into the tags*. Who names their kid Bubba nowadays anyways!?! He was doomed from the start. Now back to the Starling that matters: he’s good, put him in your lineup. #Analysis
J.D. Martinez, OF: $4,100 – There’s a lot of value on the slate today so I’ll take a guy who could give you a three homer game for 4.1K, Alex. Seriously, he only has 1 HR and isn’t hitting like crap so I’m not sure what’s up with the soft pricing here.
Nelson Cruz, OF: $3,900 – I get it, Tanaka is a good pitcher but he’s not Clayton Kershaw good. Cruz has back to back seasons with 40 bombs. These prices make me feel like I’m taking crazy pills! Yes, that’s another Zoolander reference. I seriously think I’ve only watched maybe 5 movies in my lifetime. Tune in for Ron Burgundy quotes next week!
Rajai Davis, OF: $3,400 – The King of SAGNOF reigns supreme over his little kingdom and you’re paying a pauper’s price for a leadoff guy. The way everything is priced today, you might get left with $5,000 left over. This is nuts.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
So the highest scoring game of the day has already been PPD in the TEXvsBAL tilt…WELP. If the article looks short to you today, that’s because I had quite a few suggestions from said game and hurriedly had to edit it. Don’t hate on me, I’m just as mad as you. I had some good content out there! Thankfully, the rest of the slate looks totes gorg so we’re good to go.
Doing Lines In Vegas
The gorilla in the room is Lester and the Cubbies vs the Rockies as he sits at -250. Unlike my lock of Arrieta everywhere yesterday, I’m willing to waiver here, personally, as it feels like Admiral Ackbar might enter the room but he’s definitely a lock in cash because of that line. Outside of that, Wacha and the birds hold a -180 in the STLvsCIN tilt. If you’re looking for a 1-2 cash punch, Wacha makes a lot of sense but I’m simply not a fan. Of direct interest to my opening paragraph, the O/U for PITvsMIL has moved from 8 to 7.5 *eggplant emoji*, but the line has gone from -164 to -142 *crying emoji*. I stand by my call, dammit! Outside of that, Vegas thinks there are runs to be scored in Minnesota and Boston as the MINvsLAA and BOSvsTOR tilts now have the highest O/Us of the day at 9 with the Texas washout.
