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.
ENO SARRIS
Andrew Cashner ($7,300 vs. Miami) Only three teams have been worse than the Marlins with the stick this year. Only three teams have had less power. Cashner — who has admittedly has had some homer issues this year — is home in San Diego, which will be the third-coldest park today, with the bonus of having the wind blowing in tonight. Oh and by using him, you pocket a cool $4,700 from the most expensive pitcher of the day. Cashner may not be as great as his fastball suggests he should be, but he’s also a decent pitcher in a good situation going up against a bad offensive team.
Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado) Right now, Eddie Butler does not have good command. And you know about Joey Votto, meaning something like three walks is your floor on the day. Add in the platoon advantage, and the Coors Field effect, and Votto looks like he’s in line for a good day.
RAY MURPHY
Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) With a leg up on a golden ticket entering tonight, I’ll be playing this lineup as a cash game. I’m giving a slight edge to Kluber over Scherzer as the day’s top play, since a) Kluber’s a little cheaper, and b) while both are likely to go deep into the game, I don’t have to worry about Kluber getting pulled an inning or two early for a PH. In a possible low-scoring affair in Pittsburgh, that’s a bit of a risk for Scherzer.
Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado) Votto is an OBP machine, going to Coors Field to face an RHP who has more allowed more BB than K on the year? I’d pay almost anything for Votto in that spot. $4500 is a bargain.
MICHAEL BELLER
If you want an ace, you aren’t short for options this week. There are arguments to be made on behalf of Max Scherzer and Felix Hernandez, but I’m riding with Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox). I’ll take some savings from the top two options on the board and go with Kluber and his strikeout ways against the disappointing White Sox’ offense.
Todd Frazier ($4,900 at Colorado) against Eddie Butler in Coors Field. I don’t need to say anything else, right?
LAWR MICHAELS
I am going Jose Quintana ($8,200 at Cleveland) as an arm, since I am 40 points down and can afford to gamble, but I like Quintana’s strikeout numbers, he is pitching at home, and Cleveland is up-and-down.
As for a stick, switch hitter Mark Teixeira ($3,900 at Minnesota) against gopher baller Tommy Milone seems like a fun choice to me, although that game, with Millone facing C.C. Sabathia at Target in what portends to be a swinging affair (of course, that means the final score will be 4-3 and all my picks will give me “oh-fers” instead of gophers.
ADAM RONIS
Chris Archer ($10,600 vs. Baltimore)
David Ortiz ($3,300 vs. Detroit)
DAVID GONOS
Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox)
Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado)
SCOTT SWANAY
Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) I wasn’t wild about any of the pitching match-ups tonight, but this seems like the best choice of the lot. He’ll get a fair number of Ks, the White Sox offense doesn’t scare anyone (now that I’ve said that, Jose Abreu will inevitably slug five home runs tonight), and Jose Quintana hasn’t been as good a pitcher on the road as he had been at home.
Marlon Byrd ($3,100 at Colorado) He’s one of the least expensive options for getting in on the action for the Reds-Rockies game at Coors Field, which has the potential to be a slugfest given both the venue and the two starting pitchers (Butler and DeSclafani).
STEVE MOYER
Jon Lester ($9,600 vs. Philadelphia –early games only) Inside Edge predicts no pitcher to wow tonight, but Lester’s the best against the “hot” Phillies, so you’ve gotta get that lineup in before 4. (Scherzer is middle of the pack – veddy interesting.)
Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado) He’s en fuego and expensive and at Coors tonight, but IE says he’s worth it. Make up your own joke about “the Butler.”
PAUL SPORER
Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) We’ve got an ace day so there are options w/Max, Felix, Archer, and Kluber. Kluber’s 5-10 record is pretty lame, but it’s certainly not an indication of his pitching. His skills are almost identical to last year’s Cy Young campaign. He’s particularly toasty of late, too: 2.65 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 42 Ks in 37.3 IP (plus a 6.0 K:BB ratio). The White Sox have been very disappointing offensively after some high expectations coming into the season. They are 28th in wRC+ against righties this year.
Charlie Blackmon ($4,800 vs. Cincinnati) Another high-dollar selection here, but sometimes the more obvious answer is in fact the right one. DeSclafani started the year horribly against lefties and while he has improved recently, he still a sharp split and now he’s in Coors against a righty-destroyer like Blackmon w/his .897 OPS against them for the year and .941 OPS against righties in Coors.
TOP PICKS
Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox)
Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado)