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?
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.