The Mastersball Version, covering all five season long leagues. Written by Todd Zola, Lawr Michaels, Brian Walton, Zach Steinhorn, Perry Van Hook, and Peter Kreutzer.
The Baseball Prospectus version, covering AL and NL, with mixed prices accompanying LABR commentary. Written by Mike Gianella.
Ron Shandler bet on two starters from Chicago last night, and rode their sterling starts home to victory in Week Three of Period One of Tout Daily.
Shandler was also helped by Curtis Granderson’s two-home-run night, which led to 16 points in the Mets game versus Atlanta.
While Jose Quintana and Jon Lester were popular picks, only three percent of daily players at RTSports.com played Granderson last night. Of the Tout Daily Top 10 finishers, only Gene McCaffrey rostered Grandy.
On the other hand, second-place finisher Todd Zola rostered both Quintana and Lester, and third-place finisher Mike Gianella rostered Lester, along with Aaron Nola’s impressive bounce back from a recent pasting. Nola was the night’s highest-scoring pitcher.
None of the other Top 10 finishers owned Mike Moustakas, Shandler’s other big scorer.
Shandler’s victory was Brain Walton’s defeat. Walton had won the first two weeks of Period One of Tout Daily, but finished 32nd on the night, stacking the wrong Mets and Rays.
After three weeks in the four-week contest, Patrick Mayo has a slim lead over Walton, with Rob Leibowitz and Todd Zola battling for third place. Adam Ronis, Mike Gianella, Ron Shandler, and Jake Ciely are among the hopefuls of sneaking into the winning group for Period One.
The top three finishers in each period win a golden tickets to the Tout Daily Finals on August 26th, when a Tout Daily Champion for 2016 will be crowned.
You can see the whole leaderboard here.
Play fantasy baseball everyday at RTSports.com.
A look at the leaderboard shows Brian Walton out in front on the strength of two first-place finishes, and Patrick Mayo just behind him, based on his second and third-place finishes in the first two weeks. Then there’s a lot of folks fighting for third, or hoping for one of those two to collapse.
You can follow the races tonight at RTSports, and play a daily game yourself, for free or for cash.
Here’s who the Tout are picking tonight.
Brian Walton has always liked Matt Moore ($6700 @ Yankees), but he has had a long road back from Tommy John surgery. Last time out, the Rays’ lefty fanned 10 White Sox in 6 1/3 innings but he draws the Yankees in the Bronx Friday night. He still likes Moore as his second starter. On the offensive side, the Dodgers head to Coors for the weekend with lefty Jon Gray taking the ball for the Rockies. After taking Thursday off from his duties behind the plate, Yasmani Grandal ($4200 @ Colorado) should be in Friday’s lineup and has seven hits in his last five games.
Stephania Bell likes Felix Hernandez ($9200 @ Angels) and Bryce Harper ($6700 vs. Minnesota). BREAKING NEWS: King Felix is ill and his start is being pushed back!
Charlie Wiegert can go with Gio Gonzalez ($7100 vs Minnesota) and save a few $ and go with a hot pitcher against a weak hitting lineup. It’s time for Gio to get his first win this year, and at least 8 Ks. Evan Longoria ($5100 @ Yankees) has hit CC Sabathia like he owns him, and he’s on a hot streak right now also, so what’s not to like? He’s Charlie’s top choice!
David Gonos’ top picks are Gio Gonzalez ($7100 vs Minnesota) and Yoenis Cespedes ($5500 @Atlanta).
Lawr Michaels says that coming off a couple of decent starts, Jeff Samardzija ($7600 vs Miami) gets to toss at home against the interesting Marlins. Miami has surely improved their plate numbers over last year, ranking sixth-best in batter strikeouts and posting a .327 OBP. Still, the Giants will be home and ready to take things out on someone, and the Fish seem to be the likely west coast victims. As for hitters, it is hard to not like the Dodgers batters in Colorado facing Jonathan Gray, who will be making his first start of the season. I like Yasmani Grandal ($4200 @Colorado), and also Robinson Cano ($5300 vs Anaheim) going against Nick Tropeano.
Gene McCaffrey thinks Brandon Barnes ($2400 vs Dodgers) should do a little something and lets you use more expensive hitters, so necessary tonight, while Aaron Sanchez ($6100 vs Oakland) is home against a weak lineup, and cheap.
Tim Heaney picks 1B Ryan Howard ($3900 @ Milwaukee) because homers have been flying out of Miller Park. He’ll take this clearance-priced chance Howard launches at least his fifth against Zach Davies. SP Adam Wainwright’s ($7900 @ San Diego) early struggles have lowered his price to a more rational point for someone of his diminishing skill. But … it’s Petco Park vs. a AAA lineup, so let’s go for it.
Jeff Erickson was a doubter for his season-long leagues, much to his chagrin, but Aaron Sanchez’s ($6100 vs Oakland) still priced affordably for daily. In a two-pitcher format, especially when you want to get some Coors, you need to find that cheaper option. Odubel Herrera ($4,100 @ Milwaukee) is batting leadoff against a gas can in a pretty good hitter’s park when the roof is closed. At $4,100, he also helps save some cash to afford a Dodgers stack.
Phil Hertz says Lucas Duda ($5200 @Atlanta) is heating up and faces Bud Norris, while Jeff Samardzija ($7600 vs Miami) at AT&T is enticing.
Jeff Boggis’s top starting pitcher on RTSports Friday night’s Tout Daily contest is Toronto’s Aaron Sanchez’s ($6100 vs Oakland). Through 20 innings pitched, he is 1-0 with a 20/7 K/BB ratio, a 1.35 ERA, and a 0.85 WHIP. The price is very favorable at only $6,100, ranking him as the 17th highest salary. That is a savings of $3,100 compared to Felix Hernandez. Sanchez has averaged 13.7 fantasy points per game this season. Sanchez is at home, with a neutral matchup against the Oakland Athletics. He faces starting pitcher Sonny Gray, which is a tough matchup, but Boggis feels that Sanchez will get enough run support tonight from the Toronto offense. Boggis’s top starting hitter on RTSports is Bryce Harper ($6700 vs. Minnesota). Despite Harper being tied with Mike Trout as the highest priced outfielder, he is on a roll and can take over a daily fantasy contest on any given night. Harper is hitting .335 versus right handed pitchers and faces RHP Kyle Gibson, who has a 1.53 WHIP on the season.
Steve Moyer picks Francisco Cervelli ($3900 @ Arizona). Psst. There’s a catcher hitting .340 who’s still cheap. And Gio Gonzalez ($7100 vs Minnesota). Inside Edge, of course, likes Lester and Harvey better, but Gio’s the best balance between price and pitchability.
Mike Gianella went with Jon Lester ($8900 @ Cincinnati) and Jason Heyward ($5300 @ Cincinnati) this week.
Todd Zola and the Mastersball crew charts and talks about the five Tout Wars Leagues. Read about them here.
Mike Gianella comments on the week’s FAAB moves, and at length about all the reasons Alexi Amarista should be picked up this week, at Baseball Prospectus.
This morning Scott Pianowski messaged the Mixed Auction league:
Just a reminder, my entire roster is in play at any time. Not just the scrubs I’m going to cut. Not just the obvious sell-high guys, or players at a position I’m deep in. I’ll trade anyone (or FAAB) at any time.
Sometimes, just for fun. This is supposed to be fun, right?
– pianow
Fred Zinkie, likely the world’s most prolific and successful trader (and Ontario native), replied:
You now have me totally focused on getting Donaldson! It’ll bug me every time I watch the Jays. I just have to figure out how…..
Let’s see what happens next!
Today are the last games of the first period of Tout Head 2 Head. Teams can win or lose six games during each of the season’s 22 periods.
Here are the state of the current contests. The HIT and PIT categories show how many categories each team is ahead in.
A new period starts tomorrow and lasts one week.
There was nothing more taxing for the Touts this week than taking on Tout Daily Week 1 winner Brian Walton, and losing again.
Walton built his team around the day’s most selected pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, and one of the day’s popular (at least among high-ranking teams) hitting picks, Mark Trumbo, boosted him.
It was the offbeat stars of the day, however, namely Jonathan Schoop and Kiki Hernandez, who put him over the top.
A big day from Jonathan Villar, taken on only 4 percent of teams, was the difference maker.
Another owner of Villar on the day was Patrick Mayo, who finished second in Week 2 of the four-week first period.
The Patrick Mayo Experience had finished third in Week 1 of the contest.
This week he loaded up on two of the best performing pitchers, got a big game out of Ryan Braun, and went with Stephen Vogt as his backstop, to good effect.
He also shared popular pick Adonis Garcia with Walton.
With their top-notch performances in the first two weeks, Walton and Mayo are way out in front of the rest of the pack in the four-week contest.
To see the current standings from top to bottom, visit the Tout Daily by RTSports.com Leaderboard, click here.
Here’s the rest of the Week 2 Top 10. You can see the full results by clicking here.
If you would like to try daily fantasy baseball, in either free or money games, visit RTSports.com. They will set you up for fun.
Week 2 of the first period of Tout Wars Daily, sponsored by RTSports.com kicks off tonight at 7pm.
Brian Walton was the leader in Week 1, followed by Doug Anderson and Pat Mayo. You can see the whole leaderboard here.
You can watch tonight’s results live at RTSports.com.
Here’s who the Touts are picking this week:
Phil Hertz like Zack Greinke ($9,400 @ SD) and says that Wilson Ramos ($3,800 @ Philadelphia) is a bargain at Citizen’s Bank.
Charlie Wiegert: I’m spending top $ on top pitcher Clayton Kershaw ($9,900 vs. SF). He helped win me the Tout Daily title last year, hopefully he can do it again. Plus pitching at home against the Giants and Bumgarner will provide extra incentive. As for top hitter, I’m going with a hot hand in Justin Upton ($5,500 @ Houston) vs Keuchel, and for another pick, Jeremy Hazelbaker ($4,100 vs. Cincinnati) at home against the Reds.
Lawr Michaels likes Zack Greinke ($9,400 @ SD) facing the largely anemic Padres in San Diego. True, Greinke has been roughed up his first pair of starts, but a safe chance to establish his game (and prove the hurler was worth his massive contract) in a pitcher’s environ against a team with a .291 OBP and 81 strikeouts–sixth worst in the league–thus far makes for that opportunity. On the hitting side, Jacoby Ellsbury ($5,000 vs. Seattle) facing Nate Karns (7.20 ERA) and averaging 3.34 points a game looks like a nice play.
Ray Murphy shares a two-headed pitcher play for tonight: maybe it’s buying too much into early-season performance, but it’s hard to ignore the combo of Rich Hill ($6,700 vs. KC) and Jeremy Hellickson ($5,100 vs. Washington). At a combined $11,800, both pitching at home against offenses that have been below-average so far this year, the pair could turn a nice profit on their own and set you up to build a monster offense. As for hitter, Mark Trumbo ($4,500 versus Texas): he has 2 HR in 9 AB vs LHP this year, and a career-long record of mashing southpaws. Tonight he draws Martin Perez in Texas. Sign me up.
Gene McCaffrey: Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw (duh) ($9,900 vs. SF). Hitter: Robinson Cano ($5,300 @ Yankees)
Brian Walton notes that Garrett Richards ($8,100 @ Minneapolis) did not get off to a great start to 2016, but the Angels’ right-hander should feast on the toothless Twins offense Friday night. Minnesota’s team batting average through nine games is barely above the Mendoza Line at .201, dead last in the American League. My top hitter is third baseman Matt Carpenter ($5,800 vs. Cincinnati) of the St. Louis Cardinals, who draw Reds’ fill-in starter Tim Melville at home. St. Louis’ leadoff man is heating up with seven hits, five runs scored and eight RBI in his last five games.
Jake Ciely: Pitcher: Garrett Richards ($8,100 @ Minneapolis) Hitter: Tyler White ($4,200 @ Detroit).
