July 2015 | TOUT WARS!

Scott Engel’s Big Week!

Last week Scott Engel put together a late charge and finished second in Phase 4 of the Tout Daily contest. Engel built that team around a surprise starter for the Dodgers, Ian Thomas, who cost only $4,100, but wasn’t expected to last five innings. When he did, and earned the win, Engel’s team of hitting stars jumped up the standings and earned a ticket to the $2,000 finals on August 28th.

Engel’s approach this week was far more traditional, but the results were similar.

He got big nights out of Michael Wacha, owned by more than 25 percent of the active teams, and Manny Machado, Adam Jones, and Andrew McCutchen, each owned by more than one in five teams. His one somewhat surprising hit was Jung-ho Kang, owned by about 10 percent of team.

Second place finisher Jeff Boggis, also a finals ticket holder, made a late pivot to Zack Greinke (one of just two teams to do so after Clayton Kershaw scratched because of ongoing glute and hip issues), which paid off nicely. He also scored on an Orioles stack, with Manny Machado and Adam Jones coming up big, and he had big games too from Jhonny Peralta and Anthony Rizzo.

Peter Kreutzer, for the second Phase in a row, scored big in Week 1, behind an excellent start from Danny Salazar (owned by more than a third of teams in the contest), and hitting from Manny Machado (did everyone have him?), Nelson Cruz and Anthony Rizzo. Shortly before game time Kreutzer shifted from Wacha and Adam Jones to Danny Salazar and Brandon Moss. That was the difference between first and third place this week.

Only four of the Top 10 teams in Week 1 of Phase 5 do not already have tickets to the August 28th finals (Kreutzer, Zola, Heaney and Sporer). Only one team has two tickets (the max) already to the finals (that would be Adam Ronis).

The contest Leaderboard can be found here, with the week by week totals.

More about Tout Daily can be found here.

The July 31 Picks of Touts in Tonight’s Phase 5 Week 1 #ToutDaily by @FanDuel.

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 17 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 1 of Phase 5 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ. Last week Ray Murphy, Scott Engel and Charlie Wiegert won tickets to the final.

This week, everyone starts off even again. The leaderboard is here.

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller, Jeff Boggis, Ray Murphy, Scott Engel, and Charlie Wiegert have tickets to the finals already. Everyone but Adam Ronis is eligible to add a ticket in the final phase (two tickets maximum to the finals).

But there are weekly cash prizes, too, so you can bet Ronis will be playing.

Here are this week’s picks!

ENO SARRIS

Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland) A tier below the most expensive guys sits a pitcher with ace-like stuff in Salazar. A blazing fastball, a devastating a change, a new curveball: Salazar has it all to dominate a Zobrist-less Oakland lineup. And though he has his flaws — his command leaves him at times, and his high fastball can drift over the plate — he’s in a good spot to mitigate those flaws. Oakland will once again be the coldest park in major league baseball tonight, a full 26 degrees cooler than the game in Texas. That will steal some oomph from those fly balls, and keep a few in the park.

Victor Martinez ($3,100 at Baltimore) Using Martinez at catcher is such a fun thing. His career weighted offense is a full 40 percentage points higher than the average catcher, and we don’t need to worry about framing or blocking in the daily game. He hasn’t been great this year, but he’s been much better since he returned from injury. In that time, he’s raised his slugging percentage above league average (not catcher average), and shown signs of coming out of a funk. The wind’s blowing out in Baltimore and it will be the second-hottest non-domed park tonight, and the Detroit lineup is full of great righties that can take advantage of Wei-Yin Chu’s soft stuff. Consider a mini-stack.

CHARLIE WIEGERT

Going with the homer pick tonight, Cardinal Michael Wacha ($8, 500 vs Colorado). If you think he’ll have his “A” stuff tonight (I do), he’s a good bargain compared to the other top pitchers tonight. Rockies scrambling, lost tough one last night, and they could be a little down tonight. Cardinals usually give Wacha good run support, and I expect them to solve Kendrick.

Going with the Cardinals will get to Kendrick idea,

I look for Kolten Wong ($3,100 vs Colorado), now in the 3 spot, to be productive. And Jason Heyward ($3400 vs Colorado), who has been red hot, to go deep tonight. I also like the Giants and Orioles hitters tonight against weak pitching!

JEFF BOGGIS

Clayton Kershaw ($13,300 vs LA Angels) I don’t care about his high salary or that it only leaves me with an average hitter salary of $2,712.50. I don’t care about the medical reports of his sore hip/glute area. I don’t care that he is facing Mike Trout tonight. He’s Clayton Fricking Kershaw and he’s averaged over 25 fantasy points over his last 3 starts. No paralysis by analysis here.

Adam Jones ($2,900 vs Detroit) and Manny Machado ($3,700 vs Detroit) My weekly start both Bryce Harper and Mike Trout approach is being put on hold for this week. Trout is facing Clayton Kershaw on the road tonight and since I am starting Kershaw, which would be limit my upside. Bryce Harper faces The Dark Knight, who owns Harper in head to head matchups. Harper is 0 for 14 with 7 strikeouts against Matt Harvey. (Yes, you read that correctly). So my plan B for tonight is to stack both Adam Jones and Manny Machado against one of the worst pitchers in MLB. Buck Farmer is replacing Shane Greene in the rotation tonight. In 13 IP this season, Farmer owns a 9.22 ERA and has given up 22 hits. That’s almost an average of 2 hits per every inning pitched.

STEVE MOYER

David Buchanan ($5,100 vs Atlanta) The second-ranked pitcher on the Inside Edge board tonight is quite a shocker. Go big or go home, I guess. You’ll be able to afford plenty of Chris Davis’s at this pitcher price.

Chris Davis ($4,000 vs Detroit) He ain’t cheap, but Inside Edge says he’s in line for big things tonight against youngster Buck Farmer.

SCOTT SWANAY

Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland) it was a toss-up for me between Salazar and Michael Wacha, but decided to go with Salazar because he faces a weaker-hitting opponent and an opposing starting pitcher (Kendall Graveman) who won’t be winning the Cy Young Award anytime soon.

Ryan Zimmerman -($2,300 at NY Mets) Yes, he’s facing the Dark Knight, but Matt Harvey hasn’t really been pre-TJ Matt Harvey this year, and Zimmerman has hit well in three games since being activated from a lengthy stay on the DL. At a cost of just $2,300, he’d be a bargain even in Jack Benny’s eyes (if Jack Benny had played DFS).

RAY MURPHY

Michael Wacha ($8, 500 vs Colorado) at home against whatever is left of the Rockies lineup. Wacha has outwardly struggled lately, but his skills look better than ever. Nice price for a great matchup at home.

Brandon Belt ($3000 at Texas) makes a nice option at 1B tonight. He’s in Texas to face Nick Martinez, who has come unglued in his last five starts. All five were on the road, but seeking respite at home in Arlington in late July is not a good proposition. Belt has been hitting well lately (.317 BA over last month), just lacking power. Looking for that to change tonight…

LAWR MICHAELS

Gio Gonzalez ($9,600 at NY Mets) Going against a team that has the second worst strikeout rate in the Majors against lefties seems to be a solid under-the-radar selection.

Kolten Wong ($3,100 vs Colorado) Hitting left against Kyle Kendrick seems like a lot of potential fun for my offense.

JAKE CIELY

Michael Wacha ($8, 500 vs Colorado)

Chris Davis ($4,000 vs Detroit)

GENE MCCAFFREY

The expensive pitchers tonight are all great but all have questionable starts—or at least issues that make their prices probably too high. Therefore I’m going cheaper with the inconsistent but often brilliant Eduardo Rodriguez ($7,700 vs Tampa Bay) at home against the Rays.

This frees up salary and I’ll spend some of it on Brandon Crawford ($3,200 at Texas) the Giants are a juggernaut on the road and BC is a good bet for a great game against stiff righty Nick Martinez.

BRIAN WALTON

Cleveland’s Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland) draws the A’s in Oakland tonight. The 25-year-old right-hander has just one career outing vs. Oakland, three weeks ago. In that contest, he finished just one out short of a complete game with only one unearned run on the board and eight strikeouts.If you are looking to save a bit of money Friday night, consider third base. St. Louis’ Matt Carpenter ($2,700 vs Colorado) has been in an offensive funk for weeks, but seemed to break out with a four-hit game, including two long balls, against the Rockies Thursday evening.

TODD ZOLA

Jason Hammel ($8,200 at Milwaukee) No Carlos Gomez, no Gerardo Parra and a banged up Ryan Braun – I’ll take that set-up and fade the aces.Chris Davis ($4,000 vs Detroit) A high-risk, high-reward pick, Davis should be able to make contact against Buck Farmer and when he makes contact, good things happen. A 4K price tag is up there so I may pivot off when I see what’s available after the lineups flesh out from deadline-mania.

ADAM RONIS

Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland)

Anthony Rizzo ($3,100 at Milwaukee)

DOUG ANDERSON

Neil Walker ($3,100 at Cincinnati) vs. Michael Lorenzen (RHP) – Both for his career and in 2015, Walker has as extreme lefty/righty splits as you’ll see. Over the last five seasons he’s scored more than 2.0 FanDuel points more against right-handed pitchers than left-handers. It’s been more of the same this year. The clock has struck midnight for Lorenzon as well. He’s allowed a .333 batting average and 2.15 WHIP to left-handed hitters. This shapes up as an ideal matchup for Walker

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Jimmy Rollins ($2,800 vs LA Angels) vs. Hector Santiago (LHP) – Rollins is not the hitter he used to be, but don’t try telling that to left-handed pitchers, against whom he’s hitting .321. Rollins is also on a little power spree with three homers in his last six games. Santiago’s shiny 2.43 ERA looks nice, but what’s up with the 4.30 xFIP?

PHIL HERTZ

Matt Harvey ($9,900 vs Washington) Gets Washington at home. Even though Nats are getting healthy, Harvey had pitched well against them until his last outing against them. I look for a rebound and at $9900, he costs less than the other “elite” starters.

Brandon Crawford ($3,200 at Texas) may be the best offensive shortstop in baseball this year. I think he’s a bargain at $3200.

JEFF ERICKSON

Clayton Kershaw ($13,300 vs LA Angels) This isn’t quite as obvious as Kershaw vs the Mets, but it’s still worth the effort to squeeze his price in, especially when I’m uncomfortable with the other top options. My second choice for tournaments is Danny Salazar, and I’d dip all the way down to David Phelps as my third choice.

Nelson Cruz ($4,200 at Minnesota) Target Field is a hitter’s ballpark this year, especially for right-handed bats, the wind has blown out lately, and lefty Tom Milone is on the mound.

PETER KREUTZZER

Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland) I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to backup my AL only guy with a DFS play, but the matchup and the strikeouts look good. Could be a good night or a bad one, if you know what I mean.

Brandon Moss ($2,500 vs Colorado) He’s been ice cold and at some point that has to change, right?

Tout Daily DFS Round Table

Is DFS an endeavor that you do primarily by yourself or is it more of a social experience, perhaps discussing lineups with friends and then following along together once the games begin?

Chris Liss, www.rotowire.com, @Chris_Liss

100 percent solo. Input from anyone else is a great way to poison your process!

Phil Hertz, www.baseballhq.com, @prhz50

It’s a solo activity. I mention what’s going on to a couple of close friends and my wife, but I think they listen only to be nice, not because they’re interested (except if I win).

Peter Kreutzer, www.askrotoman.com, @kroyte

I read some of my friends’ writing about DFS when I play, but haven’t found the experience very social. The normal variance for any player makes it difficult to get too invested in any prediction, though there is plenty of room for discussion about cheap plays.

Tim McCullough, www.rotoexperts.com, @Tim_RotoExperts

So far, DFS baseball is mainly a solo game for me. I can’t remember the last time I got together with friends to watch a ball game, aside from the occasional trip to see a game live. DFS Football is much more social. There were several occasions last season when I got together with friends to watch the hometown team and we all had our DFS plays with us. That’s a ton of fun because all the games matter to everyone in some way or another. If MLB could figure out a way to turn their Sunday games into an event like that, it would go a long way towards bringing fans back to the game.

Craig Mish, www.craigmish.com, @CraigMish

I really don’t have much interaction on DFS unless it’s when I am hosting on air. I do see people commenting nightly on twitter about their lineups but normally it’s more of an individual thing for me.

Patrick Davit, www.baseballhq.com, @patrickdavitt

Not only do I do my DFS solo, but I’m usually hiding the activity and doing it furtively when I think nobody is watching.

Scott Engel, www.rotoexperts.com, @scotteRotoEx

It really depends on the sport. I find baseball to be a smaller circle that I don’t tend to play with the same people,although I do compare results with other colleagues. In football I find myself in more head to head games. In NASCAR, it’s a family affair, as my son and I watch the races and our live scoring together every week.

Nando DiFino, www.rotoexperts.com, @nandodifino

If I didn’t have the morning show with Tony Cincotta, DFS would be a totally antisocial activity for me. The only time I talk DFS lineups with anyone is when I’m showig someone what DFS is and how to set a lineup. The more opinions I have in my head, the lower I tend to finish.

Lawr Michaels, www.mastersball.com, @lawrmichaels

I generally make my picks while multi-tasking, later at night, while Diane (my partner) and I watch TV and hang before we go to sleep. I use my Surface, and review pitchers and match-ups and hitters, but then look again in the morning to double check, so it is largely a solo affair.

Although, Lord Zola and I have been known to message back and forth discussing whom we like, when, and why, and that is always fun, if sporadic.

Scott Swanay, www.fantasysherpa.com, @fantasy_sherpa

I actively hide my involvement from family, friends, and anyone who might know the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa’s body.

Jeff Boggis, www.FantasyFootballEmpire.com, @JeffBoggis

My DFS endeavor is primarily by myself for several reasons. I want to be in total control of my success and failures, and have the opportunity to learn from the experience. Once I sent my lineup, it them becomes a social experience as I will look at other Tout’s rosters to see if there is a consensus on players. Plus I thoroughly enjoy tweeting with Jake Ciely @allinkid to discuss our team lineups and to see which players on his team will end up on the DL before the end of the contest each Friday evening!

Gene McCaffrey, www.wiseguys.com, @gene2323

Mostly solo but I often discuss the day’s options with a friend or friends. I also listen to DFS talk on the radio, which is somewhere between solo and social. Research is a solo activity, but I bet it works better when five people are researching in the same room.

Brian Walton, www.mastersball.com, @B_Walton

No, I never discuss my lineups. The daily game requires too much preparation in too short of a time to commiserate with anyone. Besides the players I might speak with are often among my competitors.

Todd Zola, www.mastersball.com, @ToddZola

In full disclosure, I concede I’m a bit of an odd duck, being self-employed, working at home, living by myself, sometimes not talking with humans for days at a time. That said, for me DFS is absolutely a social experience. Be it bouncing line-up ideas off friends via text, g-chat, IM, Twitter etc., sharing news as it breaks and then following along with the games, hopefully having someone vicariously share my sweat but more often than not, at least lately, vicariously sweating a tournament out with a friend, DFS is one of my favorite social outlets.

There’s absolutely nothing like the electricity of an in-person draft or auction, but once the season begins, interaction in seasonal leagues is limited to trade discussions and privately commiserating with another league member over the goofy offer you just received. DFS is a great vehicle to keep in touch with friends since there’s a minuscule something shared will come back to bite you that evening.

Honestly, it’s this social element of DFS, especially following my Twitter feed as the games are ongoing, that keeps me from going more nuts than I already am. If you’re not extracting some measure of social enjoyment from DFS, honestly, you’re doing it wrong.

Tuesday Not the Touts Night

Kudos to the readers as the Touts took one on the chin in this week’s Double-Up Tout Challenge. Of the 45 money spots, the participants of Tout Wars placed in just eight, lead by Jeff Erickson with the night’s 16th highest score.

The Touts joining Jeff in the top-20 were….no one. I told you it wasn’t our night.

Reader mikeyc913 took down the top spot behind Noah Syndergaard’s 21 point effort. His top hitters included Chris Young, Carlos Correa and Jose Abreu.

Erickson scored 53 points which would have led many of the Tout Challenge contests but on a night where the Yankees scored 21 runs, eight other teams plated at least seven, it wasn’t even enough to finish in the top-15. Erickson’s top scores was also the man called Thor with Correa and Eric Hosmer leading his hitters.

Friday begins the last phase of FanDuel’s Tout Daily. Twelve golden tickets have been awarded to twelve different Tout Warriors. Three more are left to be decided. The final phase will run four weeks and then the fifteen invitees will compete for the $1000 grand prize.

Be sure to check back on Friday as the Touts will share their favorite pitcher and hitter on Friday’s slate.

Sayre Extends Tout X Lead in Game 4!

Bret Sayre may be a Dynasty Guru, but he’s shown monthly control in the Tout X game being played at Shandler Park. In Game 4 Sayre was the first player to win two months of the game, and the only player to top 50 points all four games.

Doug Anderson has shrugged off a disastrous Game 1, and after finishing first in Game 3 finished second this past month, climbing into fourth place overall.

Patrick Mayo and Andrea Lamont have posted consistently solid scores all four games and rank second and third going into the penultimate game.

Read more about the Tout Was X game here.

Sayre spent big on Paul Goldschmidt, who had a .450 OBP but only hit one homer and drove in 12 runs. More productive was Mike Trout, with 12 homers in the four week contest, Carlos Gonzalez and JD Martinez.

Sayre’s strategy each month has been to load up on hitters and pick off cheap pitchers. His ace this month was the $16 Corey Kluber, and he didn’t spend more than 10 for any other pitcher ($10 went for Lance McCullers). Oh, and he bought no relievers.

The formula has worked, and it will be interesting if his Tout Wars X opponents adopt more of his style this month.

Here are the final stats for Bret Sayre’s Game 4 winning team (click images to enlarge):

July 27 FAAB Reports

From Mastersball, some chatter about this week’s mellow FAAB action. And charts showing the current standings and FAAB left for each team. Is it coincidence that in the AL and NL leagues the first place team also has the most FAAB?

Mike Gianella, who is in first place in the NL and has $106 of his original $100 budget left, weighs in on the moves on Tuesday at Baseball Prospectus.

Eno Sarris Kicks It in Week 4 of Tout Daily…

…but Scott Engel’s big week lands him a ticket to the finals!

Engel’s 51.25 points for the week, good enough for second place on the week, leapt him from 13th to second place overall for Phase 4 of the Tout Daily contest, a ticket to the August 28th finals where 15 rosters will compete for $2,000, and designation as Tout Wars Daily Champion of 2015.

But for the week Engel finished second, behind Eno Sarris, whose team jumped from 25th to fourth with a 53 point week. Sarris’s team featured a strong pitching performance by Andrew Cashner (15 points, owned by three teams), and solid hitting from Joey Votto, Ian Desmond, and Charlie Blackmon, all popular choices, and Carlos Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig, both owned by three teams.

Sarris’s team (click to enlarge):

Engel’s team was built around Ian Thomas, the Dodger reliever who wasn’t supposed to last five innings but did (earning a win), and cost just $4,200. Engel was Thomas’s only owner. Engel used his savings to also roster Votto, Desmond and Blackmon, and then added the pricey and productive Todd Frazier and Mike Trout.

Twelve of the 15 tickets have now been awarded to (ordered by total points in the four phases): Lenny Melnick, Scott Pianowski, Adam Ronis (two tickets!), Michael Beller, Ray Murphy, Scott Engel, Jeff Boggis, Charlie Wiegert, Lawr Michaels, Jeff Erickson and Tom Kessenich. Kessenich did not play in Phase 1, suppressing his total.

The highest scorer yet to earn a ticket is Seth Trachtman, who has topped 150 points twice and is fifth overall, but is not yet in the finals.

Trachtman and the rest of the Touts will start the fifth and final phase in the July 31 Tout Daily contest by Fanduel.

See the complete Leaderboard here.

Scott Engle’s Phase 4 Week 4 team (click to enlarge):

Tout Picks for the July 24 Phase 4 Finale of #toutdaily by @fanduel!

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 16 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 4 of Phase 4 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ. Going into this Week Ray Murphy has a 10 point lead over Charlie Wiegert, with Brian Walton and Todd Zola just behind.

The leaderboard is here. Three of the current Phase Top 10 (Jeff Boggis, Michael Beller and Lenny Melnick) already have a ticket to the finals, with Boggis more than 11 points behind Walton in third place..

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller and Jeff Boggis have tickets to the finals already.

Here are this week’s picks!

BRIAN WALTON

I will pass on all four pitchers over $10,000 today, and take number five, the Yankees’ Michael Pineda ($9600 at Minnesota), who draws the Twins on the road. The 26-year-old has been pitching well as of late, with 26 strikeouts in his last 27 2/3 innings and a 2.28 ERA.

None of the Cardinals hitters have seen Atlanta’s Manny Banuelos, but shortstop Jhonny Peralta ($3300 vs Atlanta) hits lefties consistently well and has been quietly leading St. Louis’ offense all season long with 14 home runs and 48 RBI. Peralta remains a relative bargain as the seventh-most expensive shortstop on Friday.

PHIL HERTZ

Chris Tillman ($6,300 at Tampa Bay)

Brian Dozier ($3,700 vs. New York Yankees)

JEFF ERICKSON

Chris Archer ($10,600 vs. Baltimore) On a slate full of aces, I’m trying to save up with him, and hopefully the O’s continue their recent underachieving ways. I might still find a way to pivot to Max Scherzer if I can save enough with the bats, but FanDuel’s pricing is getting more aggressive with hitters.

David Ortiz ($3,300 vs. Detroit) I really want to find a way to get Joey Votto in there, but Ortiz at home against Justin Verlander is really enticing too, and $1.2K cheaper. Plus, he homered yesterday, so form is pretty good, too.

JEFF BOGGIS

Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) This is the last week of the phase 4 contest and I am within 11 points of the elusive golden ticket into the finals. So my strategy tonight may be more aggressive than in other weeks as it is an all or nothing type lineup for me tonight. I started a week ago, thinking about how I would construct tonight’s roster and my goal was to build my roster around starting pitcher Zack Greinke. One data point that I did not take into consideration was around Zack’s wife being pregnant and about to go into labor. Greinke has decided to be with his wife on Friday and won’t be pitching tonight. So my plan B for pitching tonight came down to rostering one of three players: Max Scherzer ($12,000), Felix Hernandez ($11,300) or Corey Kluber ($11,000). Scherzer is at Pittsburgh, Hernandez hosts Toronto, and Kluber hosts the Chicago White Sox. Looking at all three matches, I like my win probability highest with Kluber. His K/IP is similar to Scherzer’s and I can roster him at $1,000 less. Most will roster Scherzer, but I need to slightly go against the grain.

Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado) A great matchup on the road at hitter friendly Coors Field in Colorado and facing Colorado pitcher Eddie Butler. I think the stack of the night is any value players on either Cincinnati or Colorado.

DOUG ANDERSON

Michael Pineda ($9,600 @Minnesota Twins) I could easily go with Kluber or Archer , but Kluber cost more, and it’s hard to expect the Rays to score enough runs to get Archerthe win. Pineda offers a nice combination of upside, matchup, and affordability.

Robinson Cano ($3,400 vs. Toronto) Drew Hutchinson (RHP), is the starter. You may not have noticed, but most of Cano’s struggles this year have come against left-handed pitching. He’s hitting .282 with eight of his nine homers off of righties. He’s also hitting .354 in July and .407 since the All-Star break.

CHARLIE WIEGERT

I’m spending the bucks and going with the “safe” pick, Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox), mainly because I think he gives me the best chance to stay in the top 3 spots of the monthly leader board. Safe, because I think he has a good chance of double digit strike outs pitching at home against the White Sox. The sleeper pitcher I like tonight is Jon Niese, pitching against the Dodgers, which might be an audition. I could see the Dodgers trading Carl Crawford to the Mets to get his arm in their rotation, which needs help!

I don’t have the money for all I’d like in the Colorado/Cincinnati game, but I’ll take Nolan Arenado ($4800 vs. Cincinnati) as my guy to click. And with Kluber, I need a few value picks, rolling the dice with Ryan Rayburn ($2200) and Chris Parmelee ($2200).

GENE MCCAFFREY

The usual Friday batch of tough calls, but I like Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) among the pitchers, at home vs. a White Sox attack that ranks 25th against righties in OPS. His salary requires some cheap hitters and I’ll start with Salvador Perez ($2,200 vs. Houston) to ruin Scott Kazmir’s Astro debut.