The Final Picks! Touts Swing For the Fences in Tout Daily’s Final Qualifying Week!

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We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 20 contest. This is the last week of the last qualifying phase. The top three finishers in this phase will win tickets to the Finals, which will be held next Friday, August 28th. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Scott Engel has a huge lead in Phase 5, looking for his second ticket in the finals, but there are more than 20 teams within striking distance of second and third places. All it takes is one bad week to fall out of contention, as last week’s leaders, Paul Sporer and Steve Gardner, learned.

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.

Here are this week’s picks!

PHIL HERTZ

Brett Anderson ($7,200 at Houston) I’m eschewing the aces.

Miguel Sano ($4,000 at Baltimore) I like Sano’s matchup in Baltimore versus Wei-Yin Chen.

GENE MCCAFFREY

Chris Bassitt ($7,600 vs. Tampa Bay) Maybe the hardest night yet for the pitching with all the aces going, but they’re all on the road except for the lately-volatile Felix. I think that Bassitt has almost as good a chance to put up 15 points as any of them @ $7600.

Paul Goldschmidt ($4,400 at Cincinnati) At the same time it’s a great night for hitters and I’ll start at the top with relative bargain Paul Goldschmidt @ $4400 against a stiff lefty in a bandbox.

AL MELCHIOR

Jimmy Nelson ($8,000 at Washington) Nelson has been close to untouchable against right-handed hitters with a .191/.267/.278 slash line allowed. Bryce Harper and Jose Lobaton could be the only lefties in the Nationals’ lineup. Nelson should be able to extend his recent run of strong starts, as he has compiled a 1.70 ERA in seven outings with a 45/14 K/BB over 47 2/3 innings. Oh, and he’s limited batters to a .279 SLG over that period, too.

Jay Bruce ($2,900 vs. Arizona) Bruce has been a reliable power bat against righties, putting up a .232 Iso against them. The Diamondbacks starter, Rubby De La Rosa, has allowed a .306 batting average and 17 home runs against lefty batters over 69 1/3 innings this season.

ENO SARRIS

Andrew Cashner ($7,000 vs. St. Louis) Yes, Cashner has had some issues this year with the home run, and the ball in play. But he still throws in the upper nineties, and more importantly he’s in cold San Diego, where he has a career ERA of 2.67 and a home run rate that’s two thirds of his away home run rate. Only two games will be colder tonight, and the wind is blowing in for the Padres’ mulleted ace. Add in the fact that he’s up against the Cardinals—only three NL teams have hit fewer home runs for the Cards, and they recently lost Matt Holliday and Randall Grichuk to injury—and this is a great way to stack your lineup with studs.

Matt Wieters ($2,500 vs. Minnesota)Research by Jeff Zimmerman has shown that Tommy John surgery doesn’t affect position players at the plate, and Wieters is within a good week of his career numbers in most categories right now. Wieters is 40% better against lefties than righties over his career, and he faces a soft-tossing lefty in Tommy Milone… in a homer-happy park that will see temperatures better than all but four open-air parks tonight. In fact, Wieters is part of a double play for me, as I love righty Adam Jones enough to pony up.

MICHAEL BELLER

Wei-yin Chen ($8,100 vs. Minnesota) I’m going with Wei-yin Chen tonight. I love the matchup with the Twins, and I think the ownership will be awfully low with all the other options available. He stood out when I first saw the slate before I knew any prices, and the $8,100 tag made him a no-brainer for me.

A.J. Pollock ($4,200 at Cincinnati) He has been hot, he had a plus matchup, the diamondbacks are at the Great American Ball Park for power hitters, and $4,200 is a perfectly acceptable price. Count me in.

JEFF BOGGIS

Madison Bumgarner ($12,800 at Pittsburgh) I am in 10th place for phase 5, but I am only 10 points out of 3rd place for the elusive Golden Ticket for phase 5, so I can’t afford another lackluster week. There are a lot of aces to choose from tonight, but unfortunately they are facing each other. Bumgarner has been pitching lights out recently and is on the road in Pitcher-friendly PNC Park tonight against a beatable opponent in Jeff Locke. As much as I would like to save a little cash and start either King Felix Hernandez or Chris Sale, I don’t want to take on the added risk in the win category. Rostering Bumgarner leaves me with only $2,775 on average to roster 8 hitters.

Adam Jones ($3,900 vs. Minnesota) Jones has been hot as the weather here in Atlanta over the past week. In the past seven days, Jones is 10 for 27 (.370) with 6 runs scored, 4 home runs and 8 RBIs. He has a favorable matchup tonight against lefty Tommy Milone. Since I rostered Madison Bumgarner, this is a great value play with Jones having a salary under $4,000.

BRIAN WALTON

John Lackey ($9,000 at San Diego) There are aces galore available, but I am passing on them all to drop down to the number eight pitcher, John Lackey. The veteran right-hander has quietly posted a 2.87 ERA this season, stepping into the leadership gap for MLB’s top pitching staff vacated by injured Adam Wainwright. Lackey draws the Padres Friday night in spacious Petco Park.

Paul Goldschmidt ($4400 at Cincinnati) Goldschmidt is good anywhere, but looks even better against lefty David Holmberg at Cincinnati. Holmberg’s 5.95 ERA, coupled with Goldy’s 1.082 OPS against left-handed pitching this season, topped off by Great American Ball Park, where the first baseman has two home runs and eight RBI in 11 career games, makes for my recommended hitter play.

RAY MURPHY

Justin Verlander ($7700 vs. Texas) He hasn’t quite pushed his velocity back to peak levels yet, but he’s throwing harder in August than he has all year. That uptick seems to have crossed some sort of critical threshold for him, because his results have looked positively vintage for the last month: five straight dominant outings on our BaseballHQ Pure Quality Start scale, with a net of 5 BB/32 K in 36 innings over that span. Tonight’s opponent (TEX) is by no means a doormat, but at least the game is in Comerica.
Joey Votto ($4200 vs. Arizona) He never comes cheap, but rostering Verlander will allow me to afford him comfortably. Facing Rubby de la Rosa, who has struggled with LH batters all year, in hitter-friendly GABP, is a great building block for my lineup. Spoiler: I’ll very likely be using Jay Bruce ($2900) as well.

JAKE CIELY

Chris Sale ($12,200 at Seattle) 
Charlie Blackmon ($4,500 vs. NY Mets)

CHARLIE WIEGERT

Carlos Carrasco ($9600 at NY Yankees)  The Tribe has been a thorn in the Yankees side the past couple weeks, so I’m going out on a limb they can put up a good effort against Tanaka.  His last game was a complete game, so I’m hoping for lingering effects of all those pitches!  Hopefully Carlos will go deep into the game and continue throwing his K ball.

I like the match up of Rockies hitters against Bartolo Colon in the mile high city.  Carlos Gonzalez ($5,000 vs NY Mets), Jose Reyes ($3,600 vs NY Mets) and DJ LeMahieu ($3,500 vs NY Mets) will find a way into my roster.

STEVE MOYER

Chris Davis ($5000 vs Minnesota) This odd, occasional lefty/lefty matchup (Tommy Milone) tops the Inside Edge hitter board for tonight. Davis is hot and due for a dinger.
David Price ($11,700 at LA Angels) The top Inside Edge starter must be champing at the bit after seeing his bullpen blow what looked like a sure win a week ago.

TODD ZOLA

Chris Bassitt ($7,600 vs. Tampa Bay) LOADS of talented arms but I need to find a latent one with the ability to excel
Nolan Reimold ($2,200 vs Minnesota)— double dong potential with platoon edge on hittable Tommy Milone.

SCOTT SWANAY

John Lackey ($9,000 at San Diego) Most weeks I find at least one pitcher’s match-up that I can get excited about; tonight, I can’t.  So, I’ll go with the unspectacular but steady Mr. Lackey and hope for the best against an anemic Padres’ offense.  Others considered were Gio Gonzalez vs Mil (ruled him out because Jimmy Nelson has been pitching well lately) and Chris Sale @ Sea (ruled him out because King Felix is opposing him, and I doubt he’ll give up eight runs in a third of an inning tonight).
Jay Bruce ($2,900 vs. Arizona) Since I have a lot of ground to make up this week if I want to grab one of the final Golden Tickets, and home runs are the quickest way to the winner’s circle, you’re not getting into my lineup tonight unless you have a good deal of power and/or are facing a pitcher prone to give up the gopher ball.  Bruce qualifies on both counts.