Here we go with the first Razzball FanDuel Freeroll Tournament of the season. I hope your hearts can handle the excitement, anticipation, and/or the 10 Doritos Locos Tacos you are currently shoveling down your gullet. Remember the word free because that’s what it is. Sans monies. But if you do win, the prizes are real money, so that’s good. You can also check out my daily baseball league primer if y’all want.
The first week of the season is always tough in daily leagues because, well, players are going to start hot, cold, etc… and you have no idea what these schmoes are going to do. But we can look at some things like past production against pitchers, park factors and the always fairly worthless spring training stats. So let’s do that!
Our tourney is for April 5th, the first real day of fantasy baseball. So let’s take a look at some possibilities for our FanDuel lineups.
Park Factors:
(The number next to the Park Factor for runs. Above 1.000 favors the hitter/below, the pitcher)
Miami at Cincinnati (1.082)
Boston at Detroit (1.061)
Toronto at Cleveland (0.960)
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh (0.959)
Washington at Chicago Cubs (0.934)
Atlanta at NY Mets (0.908)
LA Dodgers at San Diego (0.819)
Pitcher:
Of course we have the big guns going for opening day which also means a lot of FanDuel cash is needed to get them. Getting innings, K’s and the win is one of the most important aspects of FanDuel so I try often try to get the surest thing possible if I can.
Clayton Kershaw – Cy Kershaw gets to pitch in Petco which is always a good thing. He won both his starts there last season and there’s a good chance he’ll keep that going. Of course he is the most expensive pitcher at 8,500.
Stephen Strasburg – He’s a wildcard but you know what he can do when on and the Cubs with the wind blowing in, in chilly Chicago, in April, often don’t like to score runs. He also is much cheaper than Kershaw at 6,800.
Tommy Hanson – I previously had Jurrjens here when it looked like he would be the opening day starter but Hanson is the man now. Hanson is a good example of a player you can’t trust for a whole season but can use in daily formats. He costs more than Jurrjens at 7,400 but also has more K upside. David Wright is 2 for 18 off Hanson with 8Ks!
Catcher:
Carlos Santana – I’m hoping for a donk from Santana who hits lefties better than righties. He’s only faced Ricky Romero 4 times and has a double and a walk off him. He’s pretty expensive at 3,600 but I’m not liking many catchers. I’ll wait until a scrub gets hot and throw him in for cheap later on.
Josh Thole: Of course I will contradict myself here since Thole will be facing Hanson who I have above, but Thole is cheap at 2,400 and has hit Hanson well in his career going 7 for 16 against him with a donkaruski. Oh, and he has 2 triples this spring which means nothing, but you know.
First Baseman:
Miguel Cabrera – Hopefully his face will still be attached when he faces Jon Lester who he has hit well in his career, going 5 for 10 off him. Of course he has a big price tag at 4,400.
Second Baseman
Darwin Barney – All he’s got going for him is price and a good spring. Strasburg might just mow him down but he’s a placeholder for now. I’m still looking but his 2,500 price tag fits my team.
Third Baseman:
Ryan Zimmerman – Ryan Dempster doesn’t like pitching in April or if he does he should stop liking it because he sucks. He had a 9.58 ERA last April in 6 starts and he’s a really nice guy and doesn’t like to keep other guys named Ryan off base. Zimm has gone 6 for 16 off Dempster with a home run and 4 RBIs.
Hanley Ramirez – It looks like he’s at least not pure crap this season. He’s had a good spring training batting .375 with a couple donks and he’s 2 for 5 off Johnny Cueto with a couple walks. That’s a lot of he’s.
Short Stop:
Zach Cozart – He’s cheap and he’s in a hitter’s ballpark going against lefty Mark Burly (wouldn’t it be easier if he spelled his name like that?). For the price of 2,600 and him coming off a good spring hitting .392 in 50 at bats makes him hard to pass on.
Outfielder:
Michael Bourn – Bourn has gotten on base 5 of 11 times against Johan Santana.
Hunter Pence – Pence has had a decent spring and will be the Phillies cleanup hitter while Ryan Howard is out. That smells like lots of smoked ribbies to me. Erik Bedard’s head might fall off in the second inning but Pence should have a shot at the lefty before that happens.
Jose Bautista – If you can fit him on your team it’s most likely worth it. He does what he does and he also does what he does against Justin Masterson hitting 4 for 6 off him with a home run and 4 RBIs. Of course he costs a whopping 4,700.
Andre Ethier – Andre has a whopping 16 ribbies in just 45 spring training at bats.
Good luck! Don’t suck!
