Derek Carty won the week, and remains at the only Tout Daily player to finish in the Top 5 each of the first period’s three weeks.
You can see the complete leaderboard by clicking here.
Touts sent in their picks for the week, but yours truly was out of radio contact and failed to post them. Look for picks next Friday afternoon, and Period’s 1’s dramatic conclusion next Friday night.
Riding the big nights of Cole Hamels, Joey Gallo, Corey Seager and AJ Pollock, Rotolady edged out a victory this week over Howard Bender.
Vlad Sedler finished third for the week.
Ray Murphy had the fourth best score for the week and remains atop the leaderboard after his Week 1 victory.
Week 2 of Period 1 of Tout Daily. Twenty Six Touts are competing for the championship. You can see the leaders (Ray Murphy, well ahead of Lenny Melnick and Brian Walton, for now) here.
Would you like to play? The league is hosted by Draft Kings, who are offering a special to new signups. Deposit $5 and gain free entry to a $3 contest. Click here to for more details and to sign up.
And compare your results to the Touts. Here are their picks this week:
Phil Hertz like Jose Quintana (vs. Cleveland, $7,700) and Manny Machado (vs. Boston,$4,800).
Charlie Wiegert, 2015 Champ
Top pitcher…Jon Lester (@ Cincinnati, $10,600). He’s been good but he’ll need to keep the running Reds off base! Long Shot…Alex Meyer. He has no business being in the majors, but against a scuffling Blue Jays team, he has that chance to pitch a gem and stay in Angels rotation.
Top hitters…Freddie Freeman (@ Philadelphia, $4,600) has been scorching, plus 3 Cubbies to back Lester and abuse Red starter Adelman, Contreras, Russell and Schwarber.
Rick Wolf
Joc Pederson (@ Arizona, $3,800) is tonight’s value pick for Tout Daily. He is facing an inconsistent RHP in Walker at a classic hitter’s park, Chase Field. He will be extremely low owned as he is only 5 for 24 vs RHP, but he does have a HR, 6 RBI and 5 walks. When select tournament values, you want a player with 2 HR power. Joc has that possibility tonight.
Lawr MichaelsMike Fiers (@ Tampa, $7200): There are surely safer selections than Fiers today, but for his third start the Astros hurler gets to face the Rays. Tampa is a fun young team with some good hitters, and they are hitting .256 versus right-handers, but the team also leads the league in whiffs (actually tied with the Brewers), something Fiers can certainly exploit. Meaning, I am betting power pitching will prevail over power hitting.
Starlin Castro (@ Pittsburgh, $3300): The Yankees second sacker is not just smoking hot, hitting .439-3-9 over the past ten days, but Castro, who has proved his mettle after life in Chicago, faces struggling rookie Tyler Glasnow and his 0-1, 12.15 mark over 6.6 innings and two starts thus far.
Jeff Boggis
Jacob deGrom (vs. Washington, $10,200) deGrom takes on a hot Washington team tonight at home. If he pitches around Bryce Harper, he should be fine. Surprisingly, deGrom has yet to earn a win this season. He owns a 1.89 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP, but you are rostering him tonight for his strikeout potential. In his last outing at Miami, he had 13 strikeouts. He has a 10.4 K/9 on the season.
Eric Thames (vs. St. Louis, $3,800) Incredible value here at only $3,800 tonight. That ranks him as the 21st highest salaried first baseman, which is a steal. Thames is as hot as he is going to get this season, leading the league with 8 home runs. He also leads the National League in batting average at .415. Get him into your lineup if you want to beat Lawr Michaels this week! #BeatLawr
Peter Kreutzer
CC Sabathia (@ Pittsburgh, $7,400) is off to a good start this year, and the Pirates are not. The strikeouts were there in his last start, against the Cardinals, and he makes a favorable play as my cheaper starter.
Wilsson Contreras (@ Cincinnati, $4,000) is coming off a strong game after a dispirited start to the season. Tim Adleman cannot contain him.
Mike Gianella
Top hitter: Mike Trout (vs. Toronto, $5,300). Two relatively cheap pitching plays allowed me to go big on hitting this week. The Trout/Matt Latos matchup looks delectable
Top pitcher: Tanner Roark (@ NY Mets, $8,000). The Mets are banged up and Roark should benefit from Citi’s generous dimensions and the Mets B lineup this evening.
Brian Walton
Matt Carpenter (@ Milwaukee, $4700) is a man’s man. The St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman suffered a split fingernail on a bad hop line drive last weekend and still refuses to wear batting gloves. Friday night, Carpenter faces Milwaukee’s Wily Peralta, against whom he is 19-for-41 (.463), including eight extra base hits. After a slow start to the season, Carpenter is batting .321 over his last 10 games.
The ageless Bartolo Colon (@ Philadelphia, $6900) is off to another fine start to the season. On Friday night, the right-hander pitches for the Braves against the Phillies, a club he handed regularly during his time with the Mets. If you need a second bargain pitcher to couple with your Kluber or Verlander, Big Bart could be your man!
Mastersball covers all of this week’s Tout leagues transactions and LABR, too.
While Mike Gianella at Baseball Prospectus tackles Tout AL and NL, and LABR mixed (which might be a little like Tout mixed).
Tout Daily is back! Once again, the Tout Warriors will be competing in a private league, matching wits and trading barbs for 21 weeks, with the goal of being crowned 2017 Tout Daily Champion.
This year’s competition will be run on DraftKings. The site features two starting pitching and tighter pricing than some of the other DFS companies. The weekly contests will be publicly viewable, though you need to have a DraftKings account to see it. If you don’t have a DraftKings account, we have a deal where you can register and deposit just $5 and DraftKings will award you a free entry into one of their $3 contests. Here’s the link:
https://www.draftkings.com/gateway?s=889582753
Each Friday afternoon, the Touts will share a pitcher and hitter they’re using in that night’s contest. We’ll post them here in time to help you set your own lineups that evening.
Brian Walton, Mastersball.com, @B_Walton
On a day with a wealth of starting pitching options, I had to pass on the two very expensive aces in Thor and Cueto so I did not have to scrimp on hitting. A sneaky pitching pick is Houston’s Dallas Keuchel ($9600), about whom many are likely wary. After all, we may put more stock in his disappointing 2016 than his Cy Young Award-winning 2015. Still, the right-hander is off to a good start in 2017 and pitches tonight in the cavernous Oakland Coliseum.
Though I could not afford Syndergaard, I like his backstop, Travis d’Arnaud, especially at just $3000. Over the last three starts, the red-hot hitter is 7-for-13 and draws Edinson Volquez of the Marlins on Friday night. However, watch the lineups as d’Arnaud caught all 16 innings on Thursday so is a candidate to be given a day off.
Mike Gianella, Baseball Prospectus, @MikeGianella
Top hitter: Freddie Freeman. Opposing pitcher Jhoulys Chacin is weaker against lefties and Freeman has played like an elite hitter thus far
Top pitcher: Noah Syndergaard. Clayton Kershaw is always tempting. But the price difference between Thor and Kersh allowed me more flexibility in my lineup. Thor in a pitcher’s park against a tired Marlins team is my play
Jeff Boggis, Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis
Top Pitcher
Clayton Kershaw (LAD) $13,500 – Kershaw allowed back-to-back homers for the first time in his career during his last outing at Colorado. I look for him to bounce back at home against Arizona tonight.
Julio Teheran (ATL) $8,500 – If you want to save some salary cap money, Teheran is the 12th highest player on the board. He owns a 0.00 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He wants to be the first starting pitcher to win a game in the new Atlanta Braves stadium.
Top Hitter
Freddie Freeman (ATL) $4,600 – Going to stack as many Atlanta Braves players tonight for several reasons. This is their 1st regular home game of the season. This is their 1st regular season home game ever in this ballpark. The Braves face San Diego Starting pitcher, Jhoulys Chacin, who owns an 8.10 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.
Tim Heaney, Rotowire, @Tim_Heaney
Adam Duvall, CIN vs. MIL ($4,300): Tommy Milone at Great American Ball Park, against a 30-homer bat. Have to take that, right?
Julio Teheran, ATL vs. SD ($8,500): Call me chalky, but in a stacked slate for pitching, his price offers the best return on investment among the aces. He should mow down the Padres.
Jeff Erickson, Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson
Hitters: Reds RHs (Duvall, Suarez) at home vs Tommy Milone
Pitcher: Thor
Charlie Wiegert, CDM, @GFFantasySports
Pitchers…winging it the first week. I’m going to be contrary and hope my long shot pitcher, Adalberto Mejia shows some of the stuff he was showing in spring training. After his first dreadful start, this could be a make it or go back to the minors start, so his second start against the White Sox better go go at home! And Danny Duffy, yeah pitching for the worst team in baseball, another long shot. But if my two long shot pitchers come through with 15-20 points each, I could win the week.
Hitters…with the $ savings on pitchers, I’m able to load up a bit with Trout, Braun and Myers. Taking a couple early season “hot” players, Solarte, Sano and Lindor, and hoping Salvador Perez and Carlos Santana go deep tonight.
Gene McCaffrey, Wise Guy Baseball, @wiseguygene
Pitcher – Aaron Sanchez was the most effective SP in the AL last year, still a bit under the radar.
Hitter – Marcus Semien is off to a slow start but he’s walking and running and he slugged .655 off lefties on the road last year.
Phil Hertz, Baseball HQ, @prhz50
I’m wearing my Orange and Blue tonight: Thor against a Miami team that’s going to be tired; and Cespedes who’s on one of his patented hot streaks.
Lawr Michaels, Mastersball, @lawrmichaels
Clayton Kershaw ($13,500): Facing the Diamondbacks at home, Kershaw is expensive, but the Snakes have among the lowest walk rates (7.4%) and highest strikeout rates (24%) in the Majors thus far. Over 91 at-bats against lefties, Arizona is hitting .220-2-10. Advantage Clayton.
Yunel Escobar ($3100): Escobar has come out of the blocks hot, hitting .366-1-4 over his first 41 at-bats, following consecutive .300 seasons. The right-handed hitter gets to face lefty Danny Duffy at home, and for $3100, a single and a walk mean a profit. And, if anyone can do that, it is Escobar.
Howard Bender, Fantasy Alarm, @rotobuzzguy
Love me some Dallas Keuchel against the A’s tonight. His ground ball rate is fierce, his strikeout rate will climb (A’s whiff 21.6% of the time vs LHP and who can forget Oakland’s feeble .241 wOBA with a 57 wRC+ against southpaws?
I’ll stick with the hot bat of Eric Thames who is hitting 2nd again tonight against Scott Feldman. Nice little LHH vs RHP match-up here and Feldman, despite some nice surface numbers, still has trouble keeping the ball in the yard.
They’ve just started playing and already there are FAAB commentaries.
Mastersball writes up all the leagues here.
Mike Gianella’s AL and NL coverage at Baseball Prospectus is here.
Both Masters and Mike also write up some LABR leagues, if you want more!
