I’ve got a bone to pick with MLB. Opening Day was awesome, but starting in the middle of the day on a Thursday when most people are working is kinda “meh”. Why not wait one day and open your season in prime time on Friday night? With the early Thursday afternoon start at least we should expect a full slate of Friday night games, right? Nope. Half the teams take a…much needed break? Well, Saturday is here to satiate us with a full day of baseball goodness on a day when most people have the day nonetheless. The day includes a seven game evening (Main) slate for us DFS junkies. Pitching on that slate will be my main pitching building block, Kenta Maeda ($18,700). Maeda has a nice price and after him the pitching really drops off. Maeda gets a home date with San Francisco Giants. The same Giants who are blowing the dust off the mummified corpse of Derek Holland’s pitching career. The Dodgers and Maeda are the second biggest favorites on the day (-215) and Kenta should cruise to the Win.
New to FantasyDraft? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
Yu Darvish, SP: $23,800 – I won’t be skimping too much on pitching today. Yu is the top dog tonight and for good reason. The Marlins are flat out awful and Miami is a cavern. I was already high on Yu heading into the season and tonight just makes me giddy.
Ian Kennedy, SP: $16,100 – This is as cute as I’m getting with pitching tonight. You could maybe talk me into Brent Suter at $11,200 if you wanted to stack some big bats, but that’s scary, even against the Padres. Kennedy had a sharp spring, striking out seven in five innings. Strikeouts pay the bills in DFS and Kennedy has always been a nice source of K/9. We don’t have a lot to go on this year, but the White Sox were the 11th most strikeout happy team last year, I’ll take a chance on that.
Logan Morrison, IF: $8,500 – Andrew Cashner is going to be so fun to pick on in Camden Yards all season. I can’t wait. Cashner’s 3.40 ERA last year was a total fluke and the 4.61 FIP tells the real story. For his career lefties are rocking a .768 OPS vs Cashner. I have a feeling I’ll be liking a lot of Twins tonight but Morrison, a lefty, hitting 5th will be a lineup staple.
Chris Davis, IF: $7,700 – This game in Baltimore could be a shizz show with Cashner vs. Gibson. Kyle Gibson has had a 5+ ERA the past two season and last year his Hard% jumped up. Davis gets some bonus points as he’s been hitting leadoff for the Os. Extra plate appearances are always welcome, especially when you have a platoon advantage against a bad starter.
Ozzie Albies, IF: $7,300 – I love good rookies early in the baseball season. DFS sites haven’t adjusted pricing, they’ve just taken their best guess. If your numbers say their number should be higher, take advantage for as long as you can. I have Albies more in the range of Ian Happ, who is priced up at $9,100. Why yes FantasyDraft, I’d love a $1,800 savings on a similar player. Thank you very much.
Freddie Freeman, IF: $9,400 – With all that money we just saved we can get a little spendy on Freddie. Freeman has been known for his vision issues over the years, even rocking some sweet goggles at one point. Well, this off-season he had LASIK and the results through two games have been encouraging. Freddie has walked six times in those two games and hit a HR. SIX. So what, it’s just walks you say? Hear me out, if a guy is seeing the ball well enough to walk six times and connect for a HR, that’s pretty awesome. Consider Freddie locked in early on and lock him into your lineups.
Kyle Schwarber, IF/OF: $8,900 – Let’s keep with the spendy trend and go beat up on Odrisamer Despaigne. I actually don’t mind OD so much, but we have to be honest with what he is, he’s a junkballer. OD can keep guys off balance, but the thing with junk is mistakes are easily made and Schwarbs can handle a mistake. I like Schwarber to make Joe Buck get all hot and bothered tonight by going yard.
Max Kepler, OF: $6,300 – For every expensive player, we dig up a discount bin gem. Kepler is another Twins lefty that gets to tee off on Cashner. With any luck Kepler will find himself a little higher in the lineup than seventh, but regardless, for the price, his upside is nice.
Christian Yelich, OF: $8,400 – Alright, let’s get back to spending some dough. Yelich was one of my favorite targets heading into this draft season. Ridding himself of Marlin’s Park is huge. Yes, he is in Petco tonight, but that shouldn’t kill his value. Yelich can put it in the gaps and run for days, plus steals are worth 5 points (half a HR!) on FantasyDraft so with any luck Yelich puts on a show on the base paths.
Eddie Rosario, OF: $6,400 – This pricing is criminal. This is almost as bad as CBS ranking Gattis in the top 25. How is Eddie Rosario basically the same price as Max Kepler? I’m not a huge fan of calling a player a “Must Play”, but I’ll go there with Eddie at this insane price. Just lock and load here and build the lineup around Rosario.
Yasiel Puig, OF: $8,000 – As I mentioned in the open, the Giants are rolling out zombie Derek Holland. That means all Dodger righties are in play and my favorite of the bunch is Puig. Puig checks all the boxes tonight, power upside, platoon advantage and the price is hard to beat, unless your name is Eddie Rosario.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
There shouldn’t be any rain to worry about, but adding to the Ian Kennedy love is a potential 15 MPH wind blowing in at Kauffman Stadium. As if you needed another reason to insert a Twin or two, there’s a wind blowing out of Camden Yards tonight.
Doing Lines In Vegas
It looks like Vegas is eyeing that MIN@BAL game as well, the 9/5 run Over/Under is the largest on the evening slate. The smallest total is the 8 runs in MIL@SD. Yu Darvish and the Cubbies are the biggest favorites tonight at -230.
