Day: April 16, 2019

Welcome to Week 3, the third week of Period 1. The common theme is choosing a lesser priced SP2 to afford an SP1. Here’s where the Touts landed.

Derek Carty (RotoGrinders, @DerekCarty)

Pitcher: Pablo Lopez – Of the sub-7k pitchers, Pablo is the most talented and is pitching in the best park. He’s facing a solid offense in the Cubs, but it’s also an overrated offense with plenty of holes. He’s a little more expensive than Kyle Gibson and Reynaldo Lopez (both also solid options tonight), but at what may be the lowest ownership of the trio, he holds strong appeal.

Hitter: Mike Trout – Much will be made of Christian Yelich after his hot start to the year and 3-HR night last night, but don’t let recency bias cloud your judgement. Trout is the FAR superior hitter. He’s in the better park tonight. He has the better weather. He’s facing the weaker pitcher. He has the more important RvL platoon advantage. And he’s only $300 more. It’s not a close decision. Trout is a must.

Gene McCaffrey (The Athletic, @WiseGuyGene)

Pitcher: Max Fried – Very impressive so far, against tough hitting teams, nice $8k price in a pretty lousy field.

Hitter: Robinson Cano – Not much to show for it but he’s swinging the bat well, in a favorable Philly park against a struggling Nick Pivetta

Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50)

Pitcher: Shane Bieber – Like Gene, I like Fried, but tonight I’m a Bieber believer. He’s not a lot more expensive than Fried and has a longer track record.

Hitter: Michael Conforto – Michael Conforto has been doing well over his last 10 games and faces a struggling Nick Pivetta.

Anthony Aniano (Rotoballer, @AAnianoFantasy)

Pitcher: Collin McHugh – Collin McHugh’s ability to accumulate Ks and keep a low ERA has him as a relatively low cost SP1 for tonight to pair with Fried

Hitter: Bryce Harper – Bryce Harper versus Matz. As well as Matz has pitched this season he is prone to the HR and Harper is in a great spot to go deep.

Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis)

Pitcher: Shane Bieber – Tonight, I have Bieber fever, especially at a DraftKings price of only $8,600. Shane Bieber is averaging almost 20 fantasy points per game, but this number is deceiving. In his first outing, he had only 4.9 fantasy points. In his last two outings, he had 25.1 and 29.4 fantasy points per game. He’s trending in the right direction. On the season, Beiber is 1-0 with 17 strikeouts, an ERA of 1.80, and a WHIP of 0.67.

Hitter: Javier Baez – It’s always nice to be occasionally start a member of the Chicago Cubs since they play a lot of their home games during the day. Baez faces Miami starting pitcher, Pablo Lopez. Lopez owns a 6.60 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP, and a 1-2 record through his first 3 starts. I like Baez at a reasonable price of $4,800 on DraftKings.

Derek VanRiper (Rotowire, @DerekVanRiper)

Pitcher: Pablo Lopez – At home for $6,900, Lopez is a nice value against the Cubs. I’m treating this entry as a GPP lineup, and with a very limited supply of viable home starters higher up the price list, I want to take the chance on a young pitcher on the rise in a matchup that night scare enough people away to keep his ownership reasonably light.

Hitter: Ji-Man Choi – If I were at Costco, I’d pay a six-pack of Choi at this price tonight. Dylan Bundy turns left-handed hitters into superstars, and Choi is another one of the hard-hit/barrel-rate darlings in Tampa Bay capable of turning an increased role into meaningful production. Stacking against Bundy will likely be popular, so I’ll probably limit my exposure to the matchup to Choi at this price, even if he’s relatively popular with the low price.

Charlie Wiegert (CDM Sports, @GFFantasySports)

Pitcher: Tyler Glasnow – Spending up for top pitcher going against lowly Baltimore

Hitter: Stephen Strasburg – Strasburg surface numbers haven’t been great, but he’s faced the Mets twice and Phillies. The Giants are a weak offense with the second worst wOBA against RHP.

Adam Ronis (Scout Fantasy, @AdamRonis)

Pitcher: Stephen Strasburg – Strasburg surface numbers haven’t been great, but he’s faced the Mets twice and Phillies. The Giants are a weak offense with the second worst wOBA against RHP.

Hitter: Nolan Arenado – Arenado is heating up with homers in consecutive games and faces a LHP tonight.

Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)

Pitcher: Nick Margevicius – One of the best bets in recent seasons is a southpaw opposing the Rockies in their home park. It’s even better when the park rhymes with SHMETCO.

Hitter: Jorge Alfaro – Alfaro is hitting clean-up, with the platoon edge on the struggling Jose Quintana. I’ll take the savings and pair Margevicius with a stud.

Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotobuzzGuy)

Pitcher: Nick Margevicius – He’ll be super-chalky tonight given his price-tag, but how do you not love this guy facing a Rockies team that can’t seem to consistently hit its way out of a paper bag and is striking out nearly 30% of the time over the last week?

Hitter: Brandon Lowe – He’s hit safely in nine-straight games (three multi-hit games in his last five) with three homers, eight RBI and a stolen base in that span. Oh yeah…and he’s facing Dylan Bundy! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Rick Wolf (Fantasy Alarm, @RickWolf1) 

Pitcher: Colin McHugh – In a league like this where there are so many great baseball minds, I try not to get fancy with the pitchers. McHugh has a good price tonight plus has struck out 22 players in 17 innings. When he faced Oakland on the 5th of April, he only struck out four, but he is safe to get 20 points and sometimes it is best to bank the 20 at a good price.

Hitter: Trevor Story – Like all the RHHs in the Colorado lineup which will have the obvious Nolan Arenado in them too. Story is slightly less obvious but both hitters mash LHP. In 2018, he hit .326 with a home run every 14 at bats. The counting numbers were good too. He started 2019, with a strong .348 in just 23 at bats. Tonight both he and Arenado go yard. It’s on!

Steve Gardner (USAToday Fantasy Sports, @SteveAGardner)

Pitcher: Max Fried – Young lefty hasn’t given up a run yet this season. Doubt he extends that streak, but a solid effort vs. Arizona is certainly doable.
Hitter: Josh Donaldson –

Clay Link (Rotowire, @claywlink)

Pitcher: Pablo Lopez – I couldn’t really find a way to fit Glasnow AND Bieber in along with quality bats, and Joe Musgrove is not a part of this slate due to an early start, so I’m dipping down and taking a chance on Lopez. The results haven’t been good, but Lopez has a stellar 17:2 K:BB and 3.21 FIP.

Hitter: Austin Meadows – Dylan Bundy has been more homer-prone against same-handed hitters in recent years, but lefties are still getting to him for close to two per nine since the start of 2018. I’m buying into Meadows’ breakout and will happily get back aboard this train in DFS even at a lofty $5,000 price tag.

Tim Heaney (Rotowire, ESPN, @Tim_Heaney)

Pitcher: Stephen Strasburg – Flipping a coin between Strasburg and Tyler Glasnow…. nah, it’s a bit more than that: Strasburg is $3K cheaper and, despite Glasnow’s tilt with the Orioles, Strasburgh’s matchup is just as tantalizing. He’ll mow down the Giants.

Hitter: Robinson Cano – Nick Pivetta allowed 1.52 HR/9 to LHB last season, and his poor early returns show he’s feeding that beast again. Cano ($3,700, hitting third) is mildly priced for such a promising situation at a hitter-leaning park.

Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson)

Pitcher: Jon Gray – I’ve also got Shane Bieber going, but I figured that is actually pretty common. Gray has had two good road starts this year and Petco is a nice venue to continue that run.

Hitter: Austin Meadows – I think a lot of us are going to have Rays Fever and I see that Clay also has Meadows as his highlighted hitter. The logic here is pretty simple – Meadows is on fire against a pitcher in Dylan Bundy that is tater-rific.