It’s the final night of Period 2 so some will be playing it safe while others let their hand down and try to jump up the standings. Here’s some of the picks we’ll be clicking in.
Lawr Michaels (CreativeSports2, @lawrmichaels)
Jeremy Hellickson: The somehow resurrected Hellickson (2.20 over 32.6 frames with 26 whiffs with 0.857 WHIP) faces the Padres, inept when hitting (.227, MLB low 24 homers off righties) against right-handers.
Evan Gattis: The Astros backstop has broken out of his slump somewhat, hitting .276-3-7 over his last 10 games, and batting against lefty Andrew Suarez, who has allowed a .338 average and six homers to right-handers.
Charlie Wiegert (CDM Sports, @GFFantasySports)
Kevin Gausman: If you cant use Gausman against the White Sox, when can you use him!?! He’s had flashes of brillance,usually against lower teir teams, so hopefully this is one of them
Nolan Arenado:
Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis)
Gerrit Cole: Despite his last outing, Gerrit Cole is one of the top starting pitchers in major league baseball. His ERA (1.75), WHIP (0.79), and strikeouts (93) are top notch.
Corey Dickerson: Dickerson is facing Matt Harvey tonight. Do you need any more incentive?
Gene McCaffrey (Wise Guy Baseball, @WiseGuyGene)
Gerrit Cole: Few SPs are ever odds-on to post 30+ points; Cole tonight is one of them.
Cory Spangenberg: I don’t know if Cory Spangenberg is going to play, but he owns Hellickson (1.767 OPS with 2 SBs), and he costs $2700.
Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)
Chris Sale: I have a preliminary lineup with both Sale and Gerrit Cole. I’m leaning double ace to protect my overall lead and hope to backdoor into a Golden Ticket this period
Pedro Severino: He’s been playing, enjoys the platoon edge and doesn’t hit in the bottom third of the lineup — and is cheap.
Derek VanRiper (Rotowire, @DerekVanRiper)
Gerrit Cole: There are enough cheap pitchers in good spots to pay up for at least one of Cole or Chris Sale. The matchups are similar in difficulty, but Cole being at home is the tie-breaker.
Anthony Rendon: Rendon faces rookie lefty Eric Lauer — at a very affordable price…and there are plenty of good pivots at the ready of the rain in the forecast becomes an issue.
Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotobuzzGuy)
Caleb Smith: Allows me to pay up for Cole or Sale, great K potential against the Mets who rely heavily on their lefty bats which Smith can neutralize
David Peralta: Great price on DK which will allow you some bigger bats elsewhere. Great numbers against RHPs and come on…it’s Jhoulys Chacin for crying out loud!
Scott Pianowski (Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, @Scott_Pianowski)
Gerrit Cole: I’ll probably play Gerrit Cole, just to flip off the Regression Police. Players can improve? J.D. Martinez isn’t going to get cut again?
Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt)
Luke Weaver: As my second guy. He’s pitching at home. Against KC. Need I say more?
Cody Bellinger: I liked Justin Bour at $3500 against Zack Wheeler, but I don’t trust the weather. I’ll take Bellinger’s favlourable L/R matchup vs COL RHP Chad Bettis.
Clay Link (Rotowire, @claywlink)
Caleb Smith: Coming off a poor start, and with weather concerns in NYC, Smith figures to see his ownership rate driven down. Gets plenty of whiffs in the strike zone…strikeout upside is there against middling offense.
Carlos Correa: The Astros have been bad at home, Correa included (.183/.281/.415), but at $4,200 against a soft-tossing lefty in Andrew Suarez, he’s quite appealing.
Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson)
Jhoulys Chacin: This might seem spooky, macabre or downright ghoulish, but Chacin is far better at home than the road and shut down Arizona last week.
Travis Shaw: Can you smell what Koch is cooking? The Brewers sure can.