Category: About Tout Wars

Tout Daily 2017 Finals Are Set!

The final night of the 2017 regular season went to Jeff Boggis, but as the night’s games finished two winners emerged in Period 5 of the contest: Derek Carty and Tim Heaney. Each adds a ticket to the finals, to be held next Friday, September 1 on Draft Kings.

Winning tickets belong to:

Todd Zola has three. He also won the Most Overall Points ticket by three points over Derek Carty.

Derek Carty has two tickets.

Howard Bender has one.

Andrea LaMont has one.

Jeff Boggis has one.

Jeff Erickson has one.

Lenny Melnick has one.

Tim Heaney has one.

Good luck to the finalists on September 1.

The full leaderboard is here.

Tout Wars Daily Period 5 Week 4 Tonight!

Derek Carty leads for a second golden ticket, but there is a crowd chasing him. See the leaderboard here, and look for the winners of the last three tickets in this space on Saturday.

 

This Week’s Tout Tip for the Daily Championships at Draft Kings

Tim Heaney is in the lead. Steve Gardner and Ray Murphy, Derek Carty, Derek VanRiper and Todd Zola are all within shot of a first or second place finish to earn a golden ticket to the September 1st finals, when this year’s Tout Daily champion will be crowned.

Derek Carty has a ticket to the finals already. Todd Zola has two, and those two are also the top two point scorers for the season on the whole, with Ray Murphy in third. The Top Scorer for the season will also win a ticket to the finals.

Tonight’s contest is Week 3 of Period 5 in this year’s season. The Tout are picking:

JEFF BOGGIS

My top hitter for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Giancarlo Stanton (MIA – OF) at NYM $5,700. Giancarlo Stanton had his 6-game home run streak snapped yesterday, so it’s time to start a new one beginning tonight. He faces Mets pitcher Chris Flexen and his 7.02 ERA and 2.10 WHIP. Stanton is hitting .286 with 34 home runs and 69 RBI against right-handed pitching this season. Over the past week, Stanton has an OPS of 1.659.

My top pitcher for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Max Scherzer (SP – WAS) at San Diego $14,100. He’s expensive, but good for 10 strikeouts, 0-2 earned runs, and hopefully a win. If we take a closer look at his last 10 starts, Max Scherzer is 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA. He is on the road tonight at San Diego where he owns a 1.79 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in away games this season.

PHIL HERTZ

Corey Kluber and Yoenis Cespedes. Kluber’s recent record speaks for itself; Cespedes is heating up and facing a lefty.

TIM HEANEY

Max Scherzer ($14,100), WAS at SD: I’ll keep this one close to the vest.

Jonathan Schoop ($4,400), LAA at BAL: Stack against my fourth cousin seven times removed, Andrew Heaney, who’s making his first start coming off Tommy John rehab.

TODD ZOLA

PITCHER No-brainer for me, Max Scherzer ($14,100) is the clear-cut choice for my SP1. I’m most interested in protecting  my 34 point lead for the overall points title so there’s no reason to take chances. The match-up and weather both favor Scherzer over Kluber. That said, I’m still flummoxed over my SP2. It may come down to lineups and late weather scenarios.

HITTER Because I don’t know where I’m going with SP2, my hitting roster is in flux. A couple names I’m strongly considering include Neil Walker ($4,500) facing German Marquez in Coors and Shin-Soo Choo ($4,300) squaring off with James Shields in Arlington. Both should be hitting second in great hitting environments, in contests with no weather concerns.

The Week’s FAAB Reports for Tout Wars, on August 14.

Mastersball always Looks FAABulous, and this week is no exception. Todd Zola and his masters weigh in on the weekly FAAB doings, with charts! Read it here.

Over at Baseball Prospectus, George Bissell is filling in for Mike Gianella on their FAAB report. The link is here. It was momentarily behind the paywall, but has been thankfully set free. Enjoy.

Tout Daily Period 5: Halfway Home!

Tim Heaney did not finish in the Top 5 in Week 2 of Tout Daily Period 5, but remains atop the leaderboard by virtue of his Week 1 margin of victory. But right behind him are Steve Gardner and Ray Murphy, each looking for a Top 2 finish in the four week contest and a ticket to the September 1 finals.

Sitting in fourth place is Week 2 winner Derek Carty, who—along with Derek  VanRiper and Todd Zola—is within shouting distance with two weeks to go. Carty’s victory was built on the backs of Carlos Carrasco and Rich Hill, popular pitching picks who had fine nights, and strong hitting across the board, with Yoenis Cespedes leading the way.

The Touts will be back this coming Friday for Week 3. Look for their picks for Draft Kings that night late on Friday afternoon.

Tips for Draft Kings from Tout Daily Players, on August 11, 2017

Tim Heaney stepped on it in Week 1 of Period 5, winning handily over the field of Touts in Tout Daily.

Week 2 is played tonight, with the Top 2 scorers from the four-week contest winning tickets to the September 1 final.

Some Touts have sent us their top picks for tonight’s contest at Draft King.

CHARLIE WIEGERT

Top Pitchers  I’m going with two “aces” that need to stop their teams losing streaks, so I expect great performances out of both, Jimmy Nelson and Danny Duffy.  Both stand in line for double digit Ks and a Win. Nelson gets Cincy at home,and Duffy gets the “rookie” White Sox team in Chitown.

Top hitters…stacking a few Nationals against Giants rookie Stratton tonight, Matt Wieters, Ryan Zimmerman and Brian Goodwin. I’m hoping Freddy Galvis will attack Seth Lugo and the Mets, and rostering studs Cano, Sano and Bautista.

PHIL HERTZ

Jonathan Gray and Mike Moustakas.

JEFF BOGGIS

My top hitter for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Freddie Freeman (ATL – 1B) at St. Louis against Adam Wainwright. You can roster Freeman for $1,000 less than Paul Goldschmidt at $4,700 tonight.

My top pitcher for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Carlos Carrasco (SP) at Tampa Bay $8,900.  Look for him to bounce back tonight after his last two rough outings.

LAWR MICHAELS

Ubaldo Jimenez ($6500): Deperate times, desperate measures, although to be sure Jimenez has been solid his last three starts and faces the easiest band potential strike out victims than Oakland.

Howie Kendrick ($4100): Kendrick is a great second half hitter on a .382-1-5 jag his last 10 games, facing the none too effective Chris Stratton and his 0-2 mark with a 6.63 ERA.

GENE MCCAFFREY

There are at least six SP’s tonight with a reasonable chance to post a 30+-point game. Tonight’s salaries are aligned well with the odds and I’m starting with Rich Hill at the top. Tonight is a good night to enter multiple teams and vary your #2 SP.

Neil Walker woke up yesterday. He faces righty Nick Pivetta and no doubt the highly questionable Phillies’ bullpen at $2700 – a big help in rostering expensive SPs.

JEFF ERICKSON

Pitcher: Jimmy Nelson – second biggest favorite according to Vegas, should get a good number of Ks.

Hitter: Gregory Polanco allows me to afford Mike Trout and Jose Altuve.

TODD ZOLA

Pitcher: He’s been scuffling lately, but that’s driven down the price for Carlos Carrasco ($9,700). I like the park upgrade and the strikeout upside, taking on the Rays in The Trop.

Hitter: There’s surprisingly ample low-priced hitters to afford good pitching as well as paying up for Mike Trout ($5,700). Trout’s price reflects a juicy encounter with southpaw Marco Gonzales.

TIM HEANEY

Danny Duffy, KC at CWS: Keep picking on the Pale Hose, who develop more holes by the day.

Andrelton Simmons, LAA at SEA: One of the more underrated fantasy bats gets a favorable platoon turn.

 

Tim Heaney Rules Week 1 of the Final Period in Tout Daily.

Tim Heaney got off to a strong start in the final period of Tout Daily last night. Strong performances from popular choices Kevin Gausman and Brian Dozier, and strong performances from not popular choices like Marwin Gonzalez and Manuel Margot, added up to an easy victory on the night.

How Heaney Did It

Second and third place were claimed by Jeff Erickson, who already has a ticket to the finals, and Ray Murphy, who finished just .55 points apart. The top five was rounded out by Andrea LaMont and Steve Gardner.

LaMont’s strong week moved into second place in overall points for the contest, where she challenges leader Todd Zola for a bonus ticket to the September 1 finals. We’ll follow that race closely in the coming weeks.

You can see the whole leader board here.

The Final Period: Tout Daily Picks Tonight!

Four periods are done. Seven Touts have eight tickets to the September 1 Tout Daily Finals at Draft Kings. We can name them: Todd Zola has two tickets. Andrea LaMont, Derek Carty, Howard Bender, Lenny Melnick, Jeff Boggis and Jeff Erickson have one apiece.

Tickets will be awarded to the first and second place finishers in Period 5, and an 11th ticket will be awarded to the tout who scores the most points over the contest’s 20 weeks. Right now Zola has a 50 point lead over Carty for that bonus ticket.

For tonight, we have picks for tonight’s contests at Draft Kings.

MIKE GIANELLA

Top pitcher: James Paxton (12,200)
I generally don’t like running non-Kershaw/Scherzer arms out there over $12K but Paxton has been dominated and gets a nice matchup against the Royals tonight

Top hitter: Mike Trout: ($5,300)
The best hitter in baseball gets a soft matchup against Cotton

CHARLIE WIEGERT

Top pitchers…going on the cheap side again with Jamie Garcia, making his Yankee debut at Cleveland.  This will be bust or boom, as the Indians could pound him and he’ll be gone by the third, or as I’m hoping, he turns in one of those unexpected performances like he did in St. Louis many times.

Top Hitters…stacking Colorado, why not? Reynolds, Arenado, Story and Freeland (although I’ll get 0 points for his hitting). Also hot hitters Upton, Sanchez, Revere and  Altuve.

PHIL HERTZ

I’m going with Madison Bumgarner and Evan Longoria.

JEFF BOGGIS

My top hitter for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Andrew McCutchen ($5,400 OF-PIT) versus San Diego. Andrew McCutchen is hitting .265/.409/.559 with three home runs and nine RBI against Travis Wood in his career, and owns a 1.292 OPS against left-handed pitching this season. There is a 72% chance of rain tonight, so check your lineup prior to 7 PM tonight to make sure that the game is not postponed.

My top pitcher for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Madison Bumgarner ($11,300 SP) versus Arizona. Back from the DL, de was terrific in Sunday’s no-decision against the Dodgers, allowing just five hits and a walk over seven shutout frames.

LAWR MICHAELS

Yu Darvish ($11,100): Darvish has certainly been dominant with 148 strikeouts over 137 frames, allowing just a .225 opposition batting average, and the Mets have not seen much of him.

Elvis Andrus ($4600): Low price tag for a guy with a .290-15-46 line hitting atop the order, but Andrus also gets to face Bartolo Colon, and that should be fun for the entire Rangers team.

RICK WOLF

Kevin Gausman: No pitching in baseball has been hotter in his last three starts except maybe the Klubot.  Kevin Gausman comes with a $4,000+ savings over Paxton or DeGrom. He has struck out 24 hitters in the last three games in only 20 2/3 innings pitched.  He averages 30 DraftKing points a game in those three contests.  That is FILTHY.

Tim Beckham: Love to ride the hot hitters, especially at off positions.  Tim Beckham has an OPS of 1.356 over the past 7 days.  He has settled into the Orioles lineup nicely.  He homered last night and is 7 for 12 with 5 EXB hits since joining the Os.  He will continue that tonight as the implied runs for the Os is greater than five.  Ride the hot hand.  That means two things.

TODD ZOLA

PITCHER Still waffling, especially since I’d love to use Ivan Nova but the weather looks risky. I reserve the right to change my mind, but currently my lean is Madison Bumgarner hosting the DBacks in AT&T. I like using an ace and even though Arizona is dangerous, the park helps a bit.

HITTER Jaime Garcia has done a reasonable job keeping the ball in the yard, but it’s rare finding a top power hitter, with the platoon edge priced as cheaply as Edwin Encarnacion ($4200). My only concern is I don’t like using one-offs against a team with a good bullpen and I’m not sure if I’m going with a full Tribe stack.

GENE McCAFFREY

Pitcher – outstanding Ks continue from Brad Peacock, with a much better than average chance at a Win vs. the Blue Jays.

Hitter – Adrian Beltre is rarely a bad bet; certainly not against what’s left of Bart Colon.