I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the latest in rookie nookie will be making his debut tonight. Everyone wants to hook up with Noah Syndergaard, myself included. The kid’s been just obliterating the PCL to the tune of a 1.82 ERA, 0.944 WHIP and K-rate of 10.3. Those numbers alone are impressive, then you factor in how hitter friendly the PCL can be and they become knock your socks off numbers. Even last year when his PCL numbers weren’t wonderful, Noah was still mowing them down at around a 10 K/9 pace, so the strikeout potential is real. Syndergaard cracks the top 10 in just about everyone’s top 10 prospects lists, including our very own Prospect Mike who ranked him as high as 3rd. Noah gets the call against the Cubs who just so happen to lead the majors in strikeouts right now. At $7,200, Syndergaard provides terrific upside with the potential for plenty of high scoring Ks. Of course, rookie nookie can always be dangerous. I’m guessing the buzz around the kid will cause his ownership percentage to be on the high side. If you have a feeling that 30% or so of the field will be waking up in a bathtub full of ice with no kidneys, then by all means, employ the fade. As someone who missed out on him in all but one of his yearly leagues, I’ll happily insert him some lineups just to ride the wave a bit. The beauty of DFS is you don’t need to be first to the waiver wire, you just have to work in the salary. I’ll be swiping right and enjoying my rookie nookie hook-up tonight, how about you?
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Before we get to the rest of the picks, a shout out to Wheels5502 who won last Tuesday’s Razzball Friends and Family 25 team league. Bartolo Colon and Michael Pineda led the way and a Yankees mini-stack got the job done for Wheels. If you want you name in this space next week, sign on up and show us how it’s done.
Jake Arrieta, SP: $8,600 – If you do plan on fading Syndergaard, Arrieta is all but a must play. It’s a general no-no to use two starting pitchers facing one another in a DFS lineup. Doing so decreases your overall upside since, obviously the best you can get is one win. If I ever plan on fading a top option, I almost always will look to use the opposing pitcher. This is especially handy in a GPP. I did this same trick just the other day on Matt Harvey day where I faded him and used Cole Hamels. If the popular pitcher is less than stellar, you have the fact you faded him and you have a low-owned SP that just earned a Win. Something to think about for you left swipers.
A.J. Burnett, SP: $8,200 – Adderall Jameson (sounds like a heck of a night) gets to take on the woeful Phillies offense this evening. Philly sits in dead last in team OPS vs. RHP and A.J. has been on a roll. A.J. paired with Synder or Arrieta would make for a fine cash game 1-2 tonight.
Chris Sale, SP: $9,400 – The fade is on for me tonight. Sale just hasn’t looked like himself and maybe this will be the year his arm falls off from all those sliders. Even against Milwaukee, I just don’t have the stomach for the potential blow-up. It’s the starter-pocalypse and Chris Sale is riding the pale horse.
Mike Bolsinger, SP: $6,100 – Here is your salary relief option for the evening. Bolsinger has a lot going for him. First, he’s favored by Vegas (-130) in a low scoring game (7.5 o/u). Next, he gets the Marlins (3rd most strikeouts in MLB) at home. Finally, the Stream-O-Nator is obsessed with him. Maybe SON thinks it’s Mike Bolt-slinger, if you know what I mean. Ya, neither do I.
Stephen Vogt, C/1B: $3,900 – Coors Field, Chase Field and Red Sox pitching, stack away. Vogt enjoys the platoon advantage tonight vs. Masterson as he’s one of those fun, lefty catchers. I’m not really sure how Vogt is checking it at cheaper than John Jaso, Matt Wieters and is only barely above Dioner Navarro, but I’ll take it and ask questions later.
Caleb Joseph, C: $3,000 – I’m a big fan of the cheap catcher typically and if you need some salary relief tonight, Caleb is your man. He fits the cheap catcher bill, is hitting a respectable .295 and in a small sample size vs. Mark Buehrle is 4 for 8 with a long ball. Not a whole lot more you can ask for. I’ll be looking to get a few Oreo bats in my lineup tonight against Buehrle and it might just start with Joseph.
Eric Hosmer, 1B: $5,100 – Sure, Hosmer isn’t cheap, but I’m willing to pay up tonight. I’m not ready to break out the anointing oil for Nick Martinez just yet and I want to be there when the regression fairies pay a visit to Nick. It’s going to happen and it’s not going to be pretty. So far this season Martinez has been much better vs. righties than lefties and that is just not a sustainable trend. For a peak at the numbers, this season lefties are slugging .204 vs. Nick and righties are slugging .352. Last year, lefties slugged .472 vs. 429 for righties. I understand guys can get better and maybe Martinez keeps the ball in the park better this season, but the platoons splits are just not sustainable. Now excuse me while I get my popcorn ready for tonight fireworks.
Mike Napoli, 1B: $3,900 – If it’s cheap you want, it’s cheap you’ll get. Napoli has hits in 4 of his last 5 including a HR and might be showing some signs of life. He’s a decent gamble on a HR, which is the main thing we look for when digging for cheap options.
Neil Walker, 2B: $4,400 – I professed my love for Walker enough already. Tonight he gets Sean O’Sullivan from county homer. Find your left-handed Pirates and say Yar!
Devon Travis, 2B: $3,300 – His batting average wasn’t going to stay at .350 for ever, we all get that, but that doesn’t mean his price should be down around Jedd Gyorko and Dan Uggla. That’s just insulting. As long as the kid is hitting atop the highest scoring lineup in the majors, he’ll be worth his price and then some.
Pedro Alvarez, 1B/3B: $4,300 – Lefty Pirate vs. Sean O’Sullivan, Yar!
Mike Moustakas, 3B: $4,200 – Back from his family emergency that kept him out this past weekend and ready to assist the regression fairies in correcting Nick Martinez’s ratios.
Yunel Escobar, 3B/SS: $3,600 – Yunel is 15 for his last 26 and has laid claim to the 2 hole in the Washington lineup. Wouldn’t it be funny (unless you own Desmond) if Yunel has more fantasy value than Ian Desmond this year? Not likely but Desmond is checking in at -$2.1 at the moment, so it doesn’t take much.
Delmon Young, OF: $3,700 – Adam Jones is always a fine choice vs. a bad lefty, so please, consider him if you can. Delmon Young is a little more sneaky and is this Tuesday’s BvP special. Delmon Young as seen in Mark Buehrle for 56 ABs and has 22 hits to his credit with 4 of them being HRs. He should be occupying the cleanup spot and he’ll most likely be finding his way into all of my lineups.
Alex Gordon, OF: $4,700 – The Royals lefty stack is going to be expensive, which makes it a great GPP play. A lot of people won’t feel like paying up for Hosmer, Mous and Gordon and that is what we like. Synder/Bolslinger and a lineup full of Royals sounds like a plan to me.
Gregory Polanco, OF: $4,300 – Yar!
Billy Burns, OF: $2,700 – Billy Burns gets a permalink in all DFS articles until DraftKings raises his price above the salary mendoza line ($3,000). It’s just plain silly at this point.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Besides a small chance for rain in Texas we appear to be free and clear for the first time in what seems like ages.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Lots of high scoring action tonight (read: bad pitchers) as 4 games hit the 8.5 o/u mark. Those games in no particular order are WAS/ARI in Coors South, MIN/DET, TOR/BAL, and KC/TEX. I for one am hoping 7 of those come off Nick Martinez. On the low end, the NYY/TB game checks in at 7, which makes Eovaldi an interesting cheap option. Archer is the favorite in that one though (-125) so a win might be hard to come by. Finally, the biggest Vegas favorite on the night is C.J. Wilson (-185) vs. the Rockies. The Rockies on the road are notoriously bad. C.J. isn’t my cup of tea, but I could see the argument.
