What a great weekend right? Right in the thick of the summer season, Grilling out by the pool drinking your Trulys and White Claws, playing some cornhole and what the hell else that’s right you degenerates, that’s why we are here to win some cash playing DFS. Hope you cashed some this weekend and are back at it today for some more sweats. All right let’s get to it. Not a big MLB slate today (7 games) We do also have a Mets/Braves doubleheader but for DFS purposes I’ll just avoid those games altogether. The three pitchers that jumped out at me right away were Luis Garcia, Ohtani and Marquez. I also think they will be the highest owned of the slate as the rest are dicey at best. You can make a case for Joe Ross as a cheap low owned pitcher that was playing really good before the stint on the IL so no problems if you want to get behind Ross but I think the other three I mentioned have a way bigger floor. I’m planting my flag on my main teams on Luis Garcia ($10,000). I don’t know if he will be the lowest owned of the three but I can easily envision a scenario where Garcia goes deep into this ballgame against the Mariners today. The Mariners are coming off a successful 3-1 winning series against the Athletics where the three games the Mariners won were all by one run. It was a very hard fought series and I think a weary Seattle team and bullpen is what we get tonight with no announced starting pitcher yet from Seattle. Luis Garcia has been a very productive pitcher so far this season and has racked up the K’s with 105 K’s in just over 90 Innings. Garcia has a 5 pitch arsenal and predominately uses a 94 mph fastball to set up his cutter and slider which he can pinpoint at the edges of the plate. Garcia has improved his command and his last two starts have only walked 2 batters in 11 innings so if he can get a umpire that gives a little on the edges Garcia will be in great shape here. Garcia is filthy against right handed batters at a 0.92 WHIP and slightly elevated against lefties but Seattle doesn’t have a great left handed lineup right now with really only Kyle Seager presenting any issues against righties. I think this is a smash spot for Garcia and he goes at least 7 INN with 4 Hits 1 BB 9 K’s and 0 ER today and gets the win. I think he can match Ohtani’s numbers today with a discounted price and lesser ownership.
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SP- Shohei Ohtani ($11,000) I would be doing a disservice to this write-up if I didn’t have Ohtani as a recommendation today. He clearly has the most talent of anybody in baseball right now and would anybody really be surprised if he threw a no hitter today against the Rockies. It’s just going to come down to your roster construction with your hitters and what you feel most comfortable with. I’ll work some lineups later today with both Ohtani and Garcia in them and make a decision then on how I have most of my teams but will definitely have those two as the main pitchers.
C/1B- Salvador Perez ($3,200) Hard Hit Rate = 56% Barrel Percentage = 14.9% Max Exit Velocity= 114.4
You get the picture he hits the ball damn hard and is facing a lefty that doesn’t miss bats (Keuchel) and he does most of his damage against Lefty pitchers and has hits in 8 out of his last 9 games with homers in two straight games. Mmmmm.. no brainer right, I just hope people skip over catchers today and don’t play him because this is juicy folks.
2B- Jonathan Schoop ($3,600) Very good fastball hitter which he faces a pitcher today who relies on his fastball (Pineda) and has battled the injury bug this season. If Pineda can’t find the plate Schoop will be feasting on his fastballs today. Schoop is also riding a sneaky 15 game hitting streak and I don’t see the likes of a Michael Pineda to be the one who ends it. You are paying a premium price here but he’s in a good spot to warrant the spend up.
3B- Rafael Devers ($4,000) Whew another pricey option here but is facing a righty callup (Hatch) who has pitched decently in AAA this season after a brief stint last season in the majors but doesn’t offer much in the way of an aresenal in which to get hitters out. He does have a nice 95 MPH fastball and mixes in a slider and changeup but when you are talking about one of the elite hitters in the game right now against a decent pitcher who is making his first start in the majors this season I’m going with the proven commodity here.
SS-Xander Bogearts ($3,500) Bogearts seems a little underpriced here going against a AAA callup. Trea Turner is $900 more and facing a pitcher with a similar profile in Spencer Howard. Bogie has had a solid season so far but has had a subpar July after a great April-June hence the reduction in price. I’d rather be getting out in front of his hitting streak rather than tailing it so this seems like a nice soft spot to land for me today.
OF- Yordan Alvarez ($3,700) Still is hitting the lights out of the ball but just a little less than earlier in the season. You are banking on at least one HR every time you play him so just roll the dice today against a young righty pitcher making his 1st start of his career (Darren McCaughan) McCaughan made a long relief appearance against the Rockies on wednesday after Middleton got rocked in the first inning and did a yeoman’s job working 5 innings of no hit 1 ER ball. He did give up 3 BB which led to the run but all in all not too shabby. I think the nerves get to him today though and Alvarez hits one out.
OF- Eloy Jimenez ($3,000) Back from the dead! I mean IL…Finally get to see him this season. I’m pretty excited reports look good, He’s facing a lefty in Minor which doesn’t scare me away from a potentially rusty Jimenez but all the things I’m seeing is he looks great and is ready to rock. I think the White Sox will be pumped up and will be an exciting game to watch with the Royals having some fire in their belly after their sweep against the Tigers.
OF- Gerardo Parra ($2,300) Need a low salary OF in the lineup today so Parra fits the bill as a nice sneaky option against a young righty pitcher in Howard. Parra didn’t start the season until June but has played consistently since and has slowly ramped up his production. Veteran hitters need a little more time out of the gate usually and Parra has been no exception. In July he has hit a lot better lately and has multi hit games in the last two series to his credit. Nice volume stats today that won’t hurt you in your lineup.
UTIL- Jorge Soler ($2,800) Another nice low cost power hitter who has 4 HR out of his last 5 games and faces a lefty who pitches to contact hitter in Keuchel. I mean sounds vaguely familar to why I’m playing Perez above and for good reason! This game is shaping up to be a slug fest and I’m here for it. I’m going to keep riding Soler until he’s done.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Det at Min– Only game with a few spotty showers but looks so far to be light enough to not have an impact on the game being played today.
Doing Lines In Vegas
2 for you today.
Astros F5 -0.5 -120
White Sox/Royals 0ver 9.5 -120
This is a big number so I’ll most likely look to live bet it and hope they don’t score early. I do think it goes over 9 runs.
