I’m not quite sure who will be the Wallace in this scenario, but I’m hoping Jacob deGrom is the one who brings the easy cheese (oh, just go watch the movie). He’s the highest-rated pitcher on Streamonator today. It’s that pretty, pretty 1.52 ERA on the year and 1.45 ERA at home in Citi Field. He’s not cheap on FantasyDraft—$22,000—but marginally cheaper than the other boy with a J name, Justin Verlander ($23,300; top-rated pitcher on FantasyDraft for the main slate, and Streamonator slots him in second, but Justin’s match-up versus Boston makes me a tiny bit nervous. Let’s call it woman’s intuition, or let’s just blame that if I turn out to be wrong). Let’s look at some other options for your DFS slate today.
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Stacks of stacks: Look westward, young man and five girl readers, for your stacks: the Rockies are at home and hosting the Dodgers (see if you can grab Justin Turner [$9,000], Matt Kemp [$8,100], Charlie Blackmon [$10,600] or Nolan Arenado [$11,000]—those prices, though). Then the DFS nation should turn its lonely eyes eastward-ish again, as you may also be interested in the Cleveland hitters squaring up against Lance Lynn, Streamonator’s lowest-ranked pitcher today. Also, Braves hitters have a team OPS of .826 versus left-handed pitching, so I like their chances at home versus Gio Gonzalez.
Trevor Bauer, SP: $23,400 – Similar deal to Garrett Richards (see below): good pitcher, bad last outing, versus a slumping team in the guise of the Twins. I’m giving it to Trevor for the win here. Hopefully. Eddie Rosario could very well cause him some trouble (see below, pat 2), but on the whole, he’s held the Twins down in the past. However, if you need to save some cash in the early slate, look to the slightly cheaper ($21,600) J.A. Happ versus Detroit. I’d match either of them up with Luke Weaver ($14,900): yeah, he’s risky, but Streamonator likes the start.
Garrett Richards, SP: $13,700 – It’s the LAA-TEX series! Here’s hoping it doesn’t all explode into a big, leaky mess for Richards, but Streamonator likes this start (rating him third today), and so do I; meanwhile, FantasyDraft has him buried amid the middling pitchers, so he may sneak under the radar. I’m optimistic. Last time Richards faced the Rangers, he held them to 1 ER; they’ve been struggling of late; and he’s been generally good at home, with a 2.85 ERA. And at this most excellent price, consider him a good pairing (like wine with cheese) with one of your expensive, main-slate J-name pitchers.
Matt Carpenter, IF: $8,900 – Hello, “Mr. 2 HRs This Week,” or may I call you “Mr. Average Has Shot up to .293 in May”? Mr. Carpenter is also nails (do you see what I did there) versus Pittsburgh’s Chad Kuhl, with a .900 OPS.
Anthony Rizzo, IF: $8,000 – Remember how, many moons paragraphs ago, I recommended Jacob deGrom as your top pitcher of the day? I’m now going to play antagonist to my own protagonist and suggest a hitter to square up against him. Yes, Rizzo has been up and down, but I’m hoping for up in this lefty-righty match-up with deGrom, against whom he has a 1.015 OPS.
Kendrys Morales, IF: $6,500 – Here’s a particularly cheap, under-the-radar possibility. After a horrid start to the season, Morales has picked things up lately, and he has great numbers against lefty Matt Boyd: a bonkers 2.167 OPS, with 1 HR. Add to that, in his career, he’s hit .341 at Comerica Park.
Ian Kinsler, IF: $6,500 – Yes, his overall numbers are gross, but Baseball James Franco (OK, that entire Twitter feed?) has been heating up beautifully (.375 over the last week, with a string of multi-hit games) and he has a nice record versus Texas’ Cole Hamels: a 1.061 OPS in 18 at-bats with 1 HR. This should be a good lefty-righty match-up, too, at a startlingly excellent price.
Aaron Judge, OF: $10,600 – Another beauty of a match-up. Judge has faced Kevin Gausman 14 times and hit him for 7 of those, with 3 HRs, and he’s pretty comfortable at Camden Yards, where he has a career-to-date .297 average. Meanwhile, he’s been cruising through the week at a .368 clip and belting a couple of homers. Gavel down, case closed.
Nicholas Castellanos, IF/OF: $8,400 – He’s quietly getting it done—.333 over the last week—and I’m looking for the trend to continue against JA Happ today. Castellanos has gone 7 for 13 against Happ in the past, he’s hitting an eye-popping .392 versus LHP, and he’s .311 at home. Drawbrige up, castle closed.
Eddie Rosario, OF: $7,200 – In this game, I’m stacking mostly Cleveland hitters, but I will pop over to the home team’s dugout and give a look to Eddie Rosario, who’s hitting .375 this week and going .326 at home. Against Trevor Bauer, he has an OPS of .897 and 1 HR in 29 at-bats.
Ender Inciarte, OF: $7,200 – Here’s a bonus cheap-ish early-slate option for OF. Try him for the match-up versus Gio Gonzalez, versus whom he has a 1.133 OPS and a .500 average in 22 at-bats.
Stephen Piscotty, OF: $5,500 – Piscotty DOES know Jason Hammel. In 13 at-bats, he’s got a 1.126 OPS against him, and 1 HR. At this price, he makes a nice little fill-in alongside your expensive Cleveland bats.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Watch out for thunderstorms in Baltimore for the Yankees-Orioles game, and in Minnesota for the Cleveland-Twins game; there’s a chance of thunderstorms in New York for Cubs-Mets.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Vegas thinks Garrett Richards and the Angels are going to take it from the Rangers tomorrow (-173). However, it’s basically on the fence when it comes to ARI-MIA (-101 to Miami and Zack Greinke).
