Happy Friday everybody! I hope the fantasy gods were with you this week (and also with you). Today, FanDuel has us set up with a 13 game slate. This slate really runs the gamut, from high-priced aces to mid-priced sneaky starters and finally to the bottom barrel (cough, cough Straily) that we want to pick on. Naturally, on a slate that includes Chris Sale ($9,900), Clayton Kershaw ($11,300), and Tyler Glasnow ($10,500), I’m going to take a look at Matt Boyd ($10,400). It’s been a long road that’s led us to the Boyd we see today. Michael Ajeto wrote the ultimate deep dive into Boyd’s transformation here. The short/super dumbed down version is he’s tweaked his slider both in 2017 (hard slider phase) and 2018 (slower slider phase), which has brought us to 2019, where Boyd has a 31.8% K% (right behind Max Scherzer). Matt Boyd faces the Royals, who have the 25th best (worst?) wOBA versus left-handed pitching at .286 and a 24.8% K%. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t my cash game play of the day, but I love Matt Boyd……………..as a GPP play.
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Clayton Kershaw, SP: $11,300 – Kershaw’s back baby and has looked like the ace we’ve come to know and love. Kershaw faces the Padres, who have a 26.5% K% against left-handed pitching.
Tyler Glasnow, SP: $10,500 – Glasnow’s breakout has been fueled by cutting his walk rate down to 5.1% from 11.3% in 2018. Glasnow gets the Orioles on Friday, who, well, are not amazing.
Kevin Gausman, SP: $8,100 – Gausman’s my favorite paydown option on today’s slate, but this is mostly due to the matchup with the Marlins in Marlins Stadium than Gausman’s talent.
Freddie Freeman, 1B: $4,200 – Small sample PvB fun! 8/20, 4 extra-base hits and 4 walks in 24 plate appearances.
Jesus Aguilar, 1B: $2,900 – Riding that hot streak and it helps that Aguilar faces lefty Steven Matz.
Enrique Hernandez, 2B: $3,600 – Kike, do you love me? Do you face Eric Lauer on Friday? Am I gonna play you all day? Yes. Yes, I am.
Cesar Hernandez, 2B: $3,200 – Love the Phillies in this spot against Jeremy Hellickson. He’s not “phantastic” at baseball.
Nolan Arenado, 3B: $4,900 – Arenado in Coors against a lefty? Yup, he’s pricy, but that’s the ideal situation.
Justin Turner, 3B: $3,200 – I know he’s struggled a little to open the year, but facing Eric Lauer, he should turn it around right away.
Trevor Story, SS: $4,800 – Story in Coors against a lefty? Yeah, I hit copy and paste. Big whoop, wanna fight about it??
Nick Ahmed, SS: $3,500 – Ahmed is Story’s counterpart on Friday night in Coors and just so happens to face a lefty also, which he crushes says his .242 ISO and .451 wOBA.
Joey Gallo, OF: $4,500 – Gallo always has double-dong upside and faces Trent Thornton on Friday. The Rangers have the highest implied run total of any team outside of Coors.
Michael Conforto, OF: $3,700 – Conforto and the Mets face Brandon Woodruff in Miller Park. I’m a fan of all the Mets’ lefties today, but Conforto’s my main target, sporting a .409 wOBA against righties this year.
Lorenzo Cain, OF: $3,400 – Cain should lead off for the Brewers against Steven Matz. Love this spot for Cain.
Nick Markakis, OF: $3,400 – The Braves are a much better team against left-handed pitching than righties, but if you’re playing Freeman today, I think you have to roll Markakis too. He doesn’t come with the crazy power, but .179 ISO and .401 wOBA against right-handed pitching is nothing to sneeze at.
Ryan Braun, OF: $2,700 – This Brewers three-man righty stack of Braun, Cain, and Aguilar are super affordable and come with legit upside.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Only rain on today’s slate is in the Rangers/Blue Jays game. Keep an eye on it, but as of now, I’d expect the game to play with a delayed start.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Red Sox at White Sox and Rays at Orioles are the two highest favorites, currently hovering around -200, giving Sale and Glasnow the best odds of picking up the points for a win. Rockies/Diamondbacks in Coors has the highest total on todays slate at an eye-popping 11, so I’m going to try and make stacking players from that game a priority, but for what it’s worth, they’re relatively expensive. For my personal play, I’m rolling with my boy Matt Boyd as a -145 favorite against the Royals. Good luck today!
