Welcome to one of the busiest Monday slates of the year as almost every team is playing today We are nearing the end of the rotation at the start of the week which usually lends itself to you having to ponder whether you really want to put Julio Teheran (Yuk!) or Trevor Williams (Oh Boy) in your lineup in order to get to that juicy Dodger stack. Luckily for us, the COVID gods have spoken, and deemed us not worthy enough to have watched a great opening day matchup between Jacob deGrom ($11,000) and Max Scherzer. The fallout from that being we get to put him in our lineup today! Now how fun is that right? DeGrom looked fantastic this spring mixing his 4 pitches like a puppet master pitching 13 innings and only allowing 1 ER while striking out 21. Although Spring Training games mean very little he did face the Astro regulars three times. DeGrom brings a 38.8% strikeout rate from last year and only seems to be getting better with age. He faces a good Philadelphia Phillies lineup tonight but a lineup that is prone to strikeouts which is just up DeGrom’s alley. In an uncanny weirdness to the schedule, he has only started a game against the Phillies 1 game out of the last 28 game he has started going back to last season. Start him with extreme confidence no reason to get cute here.
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Jordan Montgomery, SP: ($6,900) You need a pivot away from the chalk on deGrom you ask? Look no further than on that other New York team and consider Mr. Montgomery for your services. Montgomery also looked very good in spring training this year only allowing 1 ER in 10 Innings this spring. He goes against an Orioles team that has played pretty well so far this year but the righties in their lineup (Mancini, Mountcastle, Franco, Hays) don’t exactly strike fear in my eyes. Montgomery brings a very nice exit velocity percentage of 84.6% and a BB% rate of 4.6 to the table so weak hits and low walks will provide a very high floor for your team if you want to go with more heavy bats.
Jose Abreu, C/1B: ($4,000) Abreu is at the top of the leaderboard already in hard hit percentage and exit velocity and should not have a hard time finding one he likes tonight against Justus Sheffield. Abreu already has one grand slam this year. DFS is all about the event, I think you will see it here as Abreu takes one deep.
Adam Frazier, 2B: ($3,300) Frazier is batting at the top of the order in the Pirates lineup and makes contact with the ball as evidenced by his low whiff rate and high BB%. He has seen mostly fastballs so far this year as the pitchers are attacking him as soon as he steps in the box. Frazier has a SB in the 1st series already and will face Jose DeLeon who throws plenty of fastballs. Look for Frazier to be 1st pitch swinging and hunting for that fastball to drive in gap. Won’t be too expensive and has a good shot of rewarding you with a stolen base.
Evan Longoria, 3B: ($2,700) The steady veteran has been locked in so far at the plate and has hit both of his home runs against a lefty so far and will face one tonight in Adrian Morejon. San Diego’s weather has been very warm lately and look for Longoria to have a good day at the plate in an improved Giant lineup.
Paul DeJong, SS: ($2,900) Keeping with the low key but productive position players with you spending up for pitchers, DeJong connected twice on Saturday for a long fly and will face a southpaw in Trevor Rogers tonight. Look for steady production from DeJong in the middle of that Cardinal lineup.
J.D. Martinez, OF: ($3,500) Giving this guy a pass for last season and he looks back to his old ways of making pitchers pay for mistakes. He looks locked in for another highly productive year and faces Michael Wacha who gets by on movement and location. Look for JD to be sizing him up for a big hit after they matched up this spring and Wacha struck him out with his improved changeup. JD is too good of a hitter to let that happen twice and wouldn’t be surprised if JD gets the better of him in this matchup.
Austin Meadows, OF: ($3,500 ) Meadows is another guy coming off a down year that deserves a slight pass. Remember how much hype he had going into 2020. That elite batting skill has not just disappeared. Put him in your lineup before the price just goes up and up from here on out. His barrel %, xSLG and xwOBA are at the top of the leaderboard so far and I’d be very surprised if they went down much from this point. He faces Nick Pivetta tonight who is just a guy in an ordinary rotation with an okay mix of pitches. You get the picture. Meadows all the way here.
Luis Robert, OF: ($3,700) For some reason people are still unsure about Robert (one of the easiest names to say but people still find a way to mess it up) I’m not sure what the hangup is but this guy is special and he will have a field day against Justus Sheffield tonight. Robert had a .808 OPS .455 SLG and .353 OBP last year against lefties and I don’t think Sheffield brings enough deception to fool Robert. Look for a big hit from Robert along with a bonus SB tonight.
Franmil Reyes, UTIL ($3,100) If you can afford to get Reyes in your lineup do it. Reyes has started off slow so far this year but got a hold of one yesterday against the Tigers and will be facing a lefty in Danny Duffy. Duffy doesn’t throw exceptionally hard topping out at 92 MPH and will be facing a slugger that feasts on fastballs. Look for Reyes to take one of Duffy’s fastballs for a ride tonight as Duffy finds the middle of the plate way too much.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
It’s a no rain Monday today and only light winds expected in a few stadiums today.
Doing Lines In Vegas
San Francisco could be a sneaky betting team this year and I actually like them in this game today against the San Diego Padres. San Diego is trotting out their 5th starter Adrian Morejon who likely will only go 5 innings max. San Francisco has Anthony DiSclafani who looked pretty good this spring. I’m taking the Giants tonight to keep it close +1.5 -135.
