Category: Player Evaluation

I Wonder Who The Touts Are Playing Tonight! Tout Daily At RTSports.com/daily!

The touts of Tout Wars (@toutwars) are playing Tout Daily tonight, the first of 21 Friday contests that will lead to the crowning of our second Tout Daily champion.

Last year’s champ, Charlie Wiegert, won the final night’s competition by being the only Tout to roster Clayton Kershaw!

You can follow along with tonight’s contest at https://www.rtsports.com/daily/scoring-baseball/5442619/

Here’s who some of the Touts are liking:

Champion Charlie Wiegert says, The game is a little different this year, you get 2 pitchers in the RT sports DFS game, which I prefer!  But you still need two good ones.  I’m going with Jamie Garcia ($6,900 @ Atlanta) tonight. Cardinals need to get on track, and hopefully his spring success will carry over tonight. For the top hitter, I’m spending top $ on LA 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez ($5,900 @ San Francisco) going against Matt Cain and SF.  Dodgers have been on a roll, and he’s in the right spot to have a big night against a pitcher that might not be ready for prime time again yet!

Craig Mish says that Matt Wisler ($4900 vs. St. Louis) as a second pitcher is worth a shot. Cardinals having major offensive issues to start the season with a ton of swings and misses. Hopefully Wisler will grab 4-5 K’a and a QS. Don’t need much to get the value here. George Springer ($5,900 @ Milwaukee) is one of many Astros to use tonight. Springer showing early better plate discipline and seems ripe for a couple hits in Milwaukee.
Al Melchior says his Top Pitcher is Yordano Ventura ($7,300 vs. Twins), who is is one of my top breakout picks for this season, based on the dramatic improvements he made down the stretch last season. He was particularly tough on righties in 2015, and the Twins don’t have any left-handed hitters that worry me. The Top Hitter: Nelson Cruz ($5,900 vs. Athletics), No qualifying hitter in the majors had a higher wOBA against lefties than Cruz last season. Eric Surkamp won’t be among the better southpaws to face Cruz this season, so it could be a big night for Seattle’s slugger.
Eno Sarris says Jaime Garcia ($6,900 @ Atlanta). This one is too easy. Jaime Garcia is really really excellent when he’s healthy. With a plus-plus ground-ball rate with three pitches that rate above average by whiffs, Garcia is also really good at changing speeds and movements on his fastballs. It’s almost like he’s got four or five fastballs out there. You don’t have to worry about keeping him healthy like the Cards do. You just have to enjoy the matchup against that lowly Atlanta offense, and ace-like stats for mid-table pricing. And Addison Russell ($4,600 @ Arizona). Russell quietly changed his swing heat maps late last year, choosing to stop swinging at pitches inside off the plate and down off the plate. That improved his strikeout and walk rates. His developing power is in a great situation Friday night against a lefty with a bad changeup in a good hitter’s park. Yes, Robbie Ray throws hard and has a decent slider. This is someone Russell can handle, though.
Rotoman took Jaime Garcia ($6,900 @ Atlanta) and Addison Russell ($4,600 @ Arizona), too. Because good pitcher against bad offense, why not? And the ball is flying out in Arizona.
Tim Heaney liked  Jaime Garcia ($6,900 @ Atlanta): Tasty matchup for the Cards’ southpaw against one of the league’s weakest lineups. And Luis Valbuena, ($3,800 @ Milwaukee): Valbuena hit 25 HR and crushes righty arms. He should tee off against Chase Anderson.
 Phil Hertz will go with Andrew Mccutcheon ($6,200 @ Cincinnati) and Francisco Liriano ($8,100 @ Cincinnati).  Pirates on a roll.

David Gonos is picking Marcus Stroman ($8,100 vs. the Red Sox) and Mitch Moreland ($4,900 @ Anaheim).

Look for more next week.

 

 

The Final Picks! Touts Swing For the Fences in Tout Daily’s Final Qualifying Week!

598x60-tout-wars

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 20 contest. This is the last week of the last qualifying phase. The top three finishers in this phase will win tickets to the Finals, which will be held next Friday, August 28th. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Scott Engel has a huge lead in Phase 5, looking for his second ticket in the finals, but there are more than 20 teams within striking distance of second and third places. All it takes is one bad week to fall out of contention, as last week’s leaders, Paul Sporer and Steve Gardner, learned.

The leaderboard is here.

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller, Jeff Boggis, Ray Murphy, Scott Engel, and Charlie Wiegert have tickets to the finals already.

Here are this week’s picks!

PHIL HERTZ

Brett Anderson ($7,200 at Houston) I’m eschewing the aces.

Miguel Sano ($4,000 at Baltimore) I like Sano’s matchup in Baltimore versus Wei-Yin Chen.

GENE MCCAFFREY

Chris Bassitt ($7,600 vs. Tampa Bay) Maybe the hardest night yet for the pitching with all the aces going, but they’re all on the road except for the lately-volatile Felix. I think that Bassitt has almost as good a chance to put up 15 points as any of them @ $7600.

Paul Goldschmidt ($4,400 at Cincinnati) At the same time it’s a great night for hitters and I’ll start at the top with relative bargain Paul Goldschmidt @ $4400 against a stiff lefty in a bandbox.

AL MELCHIOR

Jimmy Nelson ($8,000 at Washington) Nelson has been close to untouchable against right-handed hitters with a .191/.267/.278 slash line allowed. Bryce Harper and Jose Lobaton could be the only lefties in the Nationals’ lineup. Nelson should be able to extend his recent run of strong starts, as he has compiled a 1.70 ERA in seven outings with a 45/14 K/BB over 47 2/3 innings. Oh, and he’s limited batters to a .279 SLG over that period, too.

Jay Bruce ($2,900 vs. Arizona) Bruce has been a reliable power bat against righties, putting up a .232 Iso against them. The Diamondbacks starter, Rubby De La Rosa, has allowed a .306 batting average and 17 home runs against lefty batters over 69 1/3 innings this season.

ENO SARRIS

Andrew Cashner ($7,000 vs. St. Louis) Yes, Cashner has had some issues this year with the home run, and the ball in play. But he still throws in the upper nineties, and more importantly he’s in cold San Diego, where he has a career ERA of 2.67 and a home run rate that’s two thirds of his away home run rate. Only two games will be colder tonight, and the wind is blowing in for the Padres’ mulleted ace. Add in the fact that he’s up against the Cardinals—only three NL teams have hit fewer home runs for the Cards, and they recently lost Matt Holliday and Randall Grichuk to injury—and this is a great way to stack your lineup with studs.

Matt Wieters ($2,500 vs. Minnesota)Research by Jeff Zimmerman has shown that Tommy John surgery doesn’t affect position players at the plate, and Wieters is within a good week of his career numbers in most categories right now. Wieters is 40% better against lefties than righties over his career, and he faces a soft-tossing lefty in Tommy Milone… in a homer-happy park that will see temperatures better than all but four open-air parks tonight. In fact, Wieters is part of a double play for me, as I love righty Adam Jones enough to pony up.

MICHAEL BELLER

Wei-yin Chen ($8,100 vs. Minnesota) I’m going with Wei-yin Chen tonight. I love the matchup with the Twins, and I think the ownership will be awfully low with all the other options available. He stood out when I first saw the slate before I knew any prices, and the $8,100 tag made him a no-brainer for me.

A.J. Pollock ($4,200 at Cincinnati) He has been hot, he had a plus matchup, the diamondbacks are at the Great American Ball Park for power hitters, and $4,200 is a perfectly acceptable price. Count me in.

JEFF BOGGIS

Madison Bumgarner ($12,800 at Pittsburgh) I am in 10th place for phase 5, but I am only 10 points out of 3rd place for the elusive Golden Ticket for phase 5, so I can’t afford another lackluster week. There are a lot of aces to choose from tonight, but unfortunately they are facing each other. Bumgarner has been pitching lights out recently and is on the road in Pitcher-friendly PNC Park tonight against a beatable opponent in Jeff Locke. As much as I would like to save a little cash and start either King Felix Hernandez or Chris Sale, I don’t want to take on the added risk in the win category. Rostering Bumgarner leaves me with only $2,775 on average to roster 8 hitters.

Adam Jones ($3,900 vs. Minnesota) Jones has been hot as the weather here in Atlanta over the past week. In the past seven days, Jones is 10 for 27 (.370) with 6 runs scored, 4 home runs and 8 RBIs. He has a favorable matchup tonight against lefty Tommy Milone. Since I rostered Madison Bumgarner, this is a great value play with Jones having a salary under $4,000.

BRIAN WALTON

John Lackey ($9,000 at San Diego) There are aces galore available, but I am passing on them all to drop down to the number eight pitcher, John Lackey. The veteran right-hander has quietly posted a 2.87 ERA this season, stepping into the leadership gap for MLB’s top pitching staff vacated by injured Adam Wainwright. Lackey draws the Padres Friday night in spacious Petco Park.

Paul Goldschmidt ($4400 at Cincinnati) Goldschmidt is good anywhere, but looks even better against lefty David Holmberg at Cincinnati. Holmberg’s 5.95 ERA, coupled with Goldy’s 1.082 OPS against left-handed pitching this season, topped off by Great American Ball Park, where the first baseman has two home runs and eight RBI in 11 career games, makes for my recommended hitter play.

RAY MURPHY

Justin Verlander ($7700 vs. Texas) He hasn’t quite pushed his velocity back to peak levels yet, but he’s throwing harder in August than he has all year. That uptick seems to have crossed some sort of critical threshold for him, because his results have looked positively vintage for the last month: five straight dominant outings on our BaseballHQ Pure Quality Start scale, with a net of 5 BB/32 K in 36 innings over that span. Tonight’s opponent (TEX) is by no means a doormat, but at least the game is in Comerica.
Joey Votto ($4200 vs. Arizona) He never comes cheap, but rostering Verlander will allow me to afford him comfortably. Facing Rubby de la Rosa, who has struggled with LH batters all year, in hitter-friendly GABP, is a great building block for my lineup. Spoiler: I’ll very likely be using Jay Bruce ($2900) as well.

JAKE CIELY

Chris Sale ($12,200 at Seattle) 
Charlie Blackmon ($4,500 vs. NY Mets)

CHARLIE WIEGERT

Carlos Carrasco ($9600 at NY Yankees)  The Tribe has been a thorn in the Yankees side the past couple weeks, so I’m going out on a limb they can put up a good effort against Tanaka.  His last game was a complete game, so I’m hoping for lingering effects of all those pitches!  Hopefully Carlos will go deep into the game and continue throwing his K ball.

I like the match up of Rockies hitters against Bartolo Colon in the mile high city.  Carlos Gonzalez ($5,000 vs NY Mets), Jose Reyes ($3,600 vs NY Mets) and DJ LeMahieu ($3,500 vs NY Mets) will find a way into my roster.

STEVE MOYER

Chris Davis ($5000 vs Minnesota) This odd, occasional lefty/lefty matchup (Tommy Milone) tops the Inside Edge hitter board for tonight. Davis is hot and due for a dinger.
David Price ($11,700 at LA Angels) The top Inside Edge starter must be champing at the bit after seeing his bullpen blow what looked like a sure win a week ago.

TODD ZOLA

Chris Bassitt ($7,600 vs. Tampa Bay) LOADS of talented arms but I need to find a latent one with the ability to excel
Nolan Reimold ($2,200 vs Minnesota)— double dong potential with platoon edge on hittable Tommy Milone.

SCOTT SWANAY

John Lackey ($9,000 at San Diego) Most weeks I find at least one pitcher’s match-up that I can get excited about; tonight, I can’t.  So, I’ll go with the unspectacular but steady Mr. Lackey and hope for the best against an anemic Padres’ offense.  Others considered were Gio Gonzalez vs Mil (ruled him out because Jimmy Nelson has been pitching well lately) and Chris Sale @ Sea (ruled him out because King Felix is opposing him, and I doubt he’ll give up eight runs in a third of an inning tonight).
Jay Bruce ($2,900 vs. Arizona) Since I have a lot of ground to make up this week if I want to grab one of the final Golden Tickets, and home runs are the quickest way to the winner’s circle, you’re not getting into my lineup tonight unless you have a good deal of power and/or are facing a pitcher prone to give up the gopher ball.  Bruce qualifies on both counts.

The Touts Picks for Tout Daily on August 7!

598x60-tout-wars

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 18 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 2 of Phase 5 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ. Last week Scott Engel, Jeff Boggis and Peter Kreutzer finished atop the standings.

The leaderboard is here.

Six of last week’s Top 10 already have tickets to the finals.

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller, Jeff Boggis, Ray Murphy, Scott Engel, and Charlie Wiegert have tickets to the finals already. Everyone but Adam Ronis is eligible to add a ticket in the final phase (two tickets maximum to the finals).

Here are this week’s picks!

PHIL HERTZ

For a pitcher, I’ll go with a top pitcher on a hot team: Jacob deGrom ($11,000 at Tampa Bay).

For a hitter, I’m going to dig deep and take the low cost Eugenio Suarez ($2,400 at Arizona), playing in a good hitters’ park.

GENE McCAFFREY

Tonight is a night for a) light investments in b) multiple teams. So many good pitching bets at a wide range of salaries, at least one is going to throw up a 20-25 point start, but for this game I have to pick one. It comes down to deGrom vs. Sonny Gray and I’ll go with the chance for spectacular with Jacob deGrom ($11,000 at Tampa Bay).

That means cheap hitters, and it looks like Victor Martinez ($2,500 vs. Boston) is over the hump and batting cleanup vs. Joe Kelly.

DOUG ANDERSON

Jose Fernandez ($11,000 at Atlanta) Fernandez is the only pitcher in Kershaw’s neighborhood as far as FanDuel Points Per Game goes. Kershaw is at 16.0 and Fernandez 15.3. No other pitcher is above 14.0. He’s only been back for six starts, but he looks like he never missed any time. Normally I’d expect some hiccups when recovering from Tommy John surgery, but Fernandez seems immune.

Miguel Sano ($3,000 vs. Cleveland and Cody Anderson (RHP)) Cody Anderson has fallen apart after four great starts to begin his season. Sano’s weakness is the swing and miss, but Anderson doesn’t have that type of stuff. I see a long ball coming tonight for Sano.

ADAM RONIS

Jose Fernandez ($11,000 at Atlanta)

Anthony Rendon ($3,000 vs Colorado)

JEFF BOGGIS

Jose Fernandez ($11,000 at Atlanta) Most DFS players will probably go with Clayton Kershaw tonight and pay the premium of $13,400, but I am going to pass for several reasons. I could not come up with a decent hitter lineup to offset the highest salaried pitcher on the board tonight. More of a concern is Kershaw is facing a very good Pittsburgh Pirate lineup and facing their ace in Gerrit Cole at $10,500. In fact, there are many great pitchers going tonight, but unfortunately they face each other, and you risk the chance of your pitcher walking away with a win and 4 fantasy points. Using the methods I described in yesterday’s Tout Round table article at https://www.toutwars.com/?p=3979 for using the Las Vegas lines, odds and props when it comes to researching my DFS lineups, I am starting Jose Fernandez tonight at $11,000. Although he may be on a pitch count tonight, Fernandez has averaged 16.3 fantasy points over his past three starts. The Las Vegas number line has the game at -150 in favor of Fernandez vs. Julio Teheran, with the total runs scored at 6 ½. That compares to Clayton Kershaw -132 vs. Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom -120 vs. Jake Odorizzi, and Dallas Keuchel -114 vs. Sonny Gray.

Todd Frazier ($3,300 at Arizona) Frazier is mired in a slump and his price reflects this at only $3,300. I contribute his slump to the home run derby in the all-star break. It usually takes 2-3 weeks to correct your timing and I look for Frazier to turn it around, beginning tonight against Arizona starting pitcher, Chase Anderson.

BOGGIS Top Stack Special: Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals face fly ball pitcher John Danks tonight at home. I am stacking outfielder Lorenzo Cain, catcher Salvador Perez, and shortstop Alcides Escobar. I wanted to also include second baseman Ben Zobrist, but I could not make my lineup work with his $3,800 salary.

CHARLIE WIEGERT

It’s one of those days, nobody jumps at me. Vegas lines have a lot of low totals, so I expect a lot of good pitching.  I’m going with SD pitcher James Shields ($8,900 vs. Philadelphia) against the Phillies at home, hoping for another solid start and at least 7 k’s.

Leaning heavily on Cincinnati hitters at AZ against Chase Anderson just coming off DL.  Joey Votto ($3,700 at Arizona) has looked locked in lately, hopefully he goes deep tonight.

 ENO SARRIS

Aaron Nola ($6,100 at San Diego) Down the list, at less than half the price of Clayton Kershaw, is a starting pitcher that will allow you to field a heck of a lineup in Nola. With plus command and a great changeup, his below-average velocity is not so much of a problem. Right now, even his inconsistent curve is getting great whiffs. The only mark on Nola’s resume so far — and maybe related to his velocity — is a tendency to give up the homer. He’s going to be in San Diego, though, which will once again be the second-coldest park in the big leagues. As a bonus, the wind should be blowing in tonight. 

Jason Heyward ($3,500 at Milwaukee) Heyward is in Milwaukee, which he should like, and he’s also facing a rookie pitcher in Tyler Cravy. Though rookie pitchers perform better than rookie hitters, we do have enough of a sample to say that Cravy isn’t going to get a lot of whiffs. His swinging strike rate is *less than half* of the one Aaron Nola is showing in the early going. Cravy didn’t get grounders in the minors, either. Heyard’s five-tool skill set can get you points in different places, and a career .281/.367/.462 line against righties is exciting at his price.

RAY MURPHY

Jacob deGrom ($11,000 at Tampa Bay) Kershaw and deGrom are tonight’s top two SP, both working on the road. Kershaw’s the better pitcher, of course… but deGrom’s opposing TAM offense is weaker, as is the opposing SP. The better shot at a win makes him my choice for tonight, and he gives me an extra $2300 on Kershaw owners to build my lineup.

Victor Martinez ($2,500 vs. Boston) VMart snapped a long slump with two HR last night. Tonight he faces the execrable Joe Kelly, he only costs $2500, AND I can play him at catcher? Sign me up.

JAKE CIELY

Daniel Norris ($6,000 vs. Boston) Hear that? Yes, that’s the dice rolling. Norris is one of the better young pitching talents in the game, but he struggles with control. He looked better in his return against the Orioles, walking just one in 7.1 IP. The Red Sox offense has been anemic. Plus, after a mediocre first week, I’m going “all in” for a final shot at a ticket.

Anthony Rendon ($3,000 vs Colorado) He looks to be getting back into the swing of things (pun not intended, okay… maybe semi-intended). Rendon is 10 for his last 35 and has a career .304 AVG against lefties. Jorge De La Rosa has a 4.83 ERA in his last nine starts.

LAWR MICHAELS

I like Lance Lynn ($9,300 at Milwaukee) as a less expensive strikeout pitcher against a team with terrible on-base totals (.293) against right-handers.

As for hitters, Asdrubal Cabera ($3,400 vs. NY Mets) has been hot and as long as he gets to start (he did get hit in the face with a ball yesterday) i like the switch hitter even if he is facing Jacob deGrom.

BRIAN WALTON

There are plenty of available aces on Friday, with seven pitchers drawing five figures. The downside, of course, is putting roughly a third of one’s stipend on one arm. Instead, I will drop down to Phillies rookie Aaron Nola ($6,100 at San Diego), who has been solid in his first three Major League outings (3.38 ERA, 7.2 K/9) and will face the Padres offense in Petco Park Friday night.

 Mired in a slump for weeks was Matt Carpenter ($3600 at Milwaukee). Returned to the top of the Cardinals batting order, the third baseman has taken off, with three doubles, five home runs and eight RBI in his last seven games. Carpenter and the rest of St. Louis’ lineup draws rookie Tyler Cravy in Milwaukee Friday evening.

PAUL SPORER

Jacob deGrom ($11,000 at Tampa Bay) The top five studs are all on the road, but they are all in favorable parks – PIT, TB, ATL, OAK, and SEA. I’ll take the second-most expensive squaring off against the Rays at Tropicana Field. JdG’s having a fantastic season, but he’s been particularly excellent since mid-May with a 1.47 ERA and 0.70 WHIP in 91.7 IP with 98 Ks and just 12 BBs. He has allowed just 2 ER in his last two starts (13.7 IP), but taken a ND in both. The revamped Mets offense certainly makes you more confident about using their aces in DFS as the ever-important W is much more likely. 

Eddie Rosario ($2600 vs. Cleveland) Saving some money with my hitter pick since I’m going with one of the ace arms. He’s been ice cold since his near-cycle with just 1 hit in his last 25 PA. Seems like just a cold snap as opposed to major reason for worry, especially as it comes on the heels of a 13-for-29 run. With Rosario & deGrom, you still have $3K per slot for the rest of your roster. 

PETER KREUTZER

Jose Fernandez ($11,000 at Atlanta) He’s the ace with the best matchup tonight.

Victor Martinez ($2,500 vs. Boston) Maybe it was yesterday’s dingers, but at this price V-Mart can be my catcher forever.

STEVE MOYER

Jose Fernandez ($11,000 at Atlanta) Nothing tricky or cheap here, but Fernandez matches up to well against the weakling Braves to pass him up.

J.D. Martinez ($3,800 vs. Boston) Top dog on the Inside Edge hitter board this week faces Joe Kelly and his six ERA.

SCOTT SWANAY

Lance Lynn ($9,300 at Milwaukee) So many good pitching matchups tonight that it seems like Opening Day in August, so I’ll go w/ a pitcher, who while not as glamorous as some of the more expensive names, probably has a better chance of garnering a Win.

Miguel Sano ($3,000 vs. Cleveland) Sure, he’s just a rookie, but $3,000 for a guy averaging 3.0 Fan Duel points per game, facing Cody Anderson, and sporting an OBP over .400 seems like a bargain.

The July 31 Picks of Touts in Tonight’s Phase 5 Week 1 #ToutDaily by @FanDuel.

598x60-tout-wars

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 17 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 1 of Phase 5 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ. Last week Ray Murphy, Scott Engel and Charlie Wiegert won tickets to the final.

This week, everyone starts off even again. The leaderboard is here.

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller, Jeff Boggis, Ray Murphy, Scott Engel, and Charlie Wiegert have tickets to the finals already. Everyone but Adam Ronis is eligible to add a ticket in the final phase (two tickets maximum to the finals).

But there are weekly cash prizes, too, so you can bet Ronis will be playing.

Here are this week’s picks!

ENO SARRIS

Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland) A tier below the most expensive guys sits a pitcher with ace-like stuff in Salazar. A blazing fastball, a devastating a change, a new curveball: Salazar has it all to dominate a Zobrist-less Oakland lineup. And though he has his flaws — his command leaves him at times, and his high fastball can drift over the plate — he’s in a good spot to mitigate those flaws. Oakland will once again be the coldest park in major league baseball tonight, a full 26 degrees cooler than the game in Texas. That will steal some oomph from those fly balls, and keep a few in the park.
Victor Martinez ($3,100 at Baltimore) Using Martinez at catcher is such a fun thing. His career weighted offense is a full 40 percentage points higher than the average catcher, and we don’t need to worry about framing or blocking in the daily game. He hasn’t been great this year, but he’s been much better since he returned from injury. In that time, he’s raised his slugging percentage above league average (not catcher average), and shown signs of coming out of a funk. The wind’s blowing out in Baltimore and it will be the second-hottest non-domed park tonight, and the Detroit lineup is full of great righties that can take advantage of Wei-Yin Chu’s soft stuff. Consider a mini-stack.

CHARLIE WIEGERT

 Going with the homer pick tonight, Cardinal Michael Wacha ($8, 500 vs Colorado).  If you think he’ll have his “A” stuff tonight (I do), he’s a good bargain compared to the other top pitchers tonight.  Rockies scrambling, lost tough one last night, and they could be a little down tonight. Cardinals usually give Wacha good run support, and I expect them to solve Kendrick.
Going with the Cardinals will get to Kendrick idea,
I look for Kolten Wong ($3,100 vs Colorado), now in the 3 spot, to be productive.  And Jason Heyward ($3400 vs Colorado), who has been red hot, to go deep tonight.  I also like the Giants and Orioles hitters tonight against weak pitching!

JEFF BOGGIS

 Clayton Kershaw ($13,300 vs LA Angels) I don’t care about his high salary or that it only leaves me with an average hitter salary of $2,712.50. I don’t care about the medical reports of his sore hip/glute area. I don’t care that he is facing Mike Trout tonight. He’s Clayton Fricking Kershaw and he’s averaged over 25 fantasy points over his last 3 starts. No paralysis by analysis here.

Adam Jones ($2,900 vs Detroit) and Manny Machado ($3,700 vs Detroit) My weekly start both Bryce Harper and Mike Trout approach is being put on hold for this week. Trout is facing Clayton Kershaw on the road tonight and since I am starting Kershaw, which would be limit my upside. Bryce Harper faces The Dark Knight, who owns Harper in head to head matchups. Harper is 0 for 14 with 7 strikeouts against Matt Harvey. (Yes, you read that correctly). So my plan B for tonight is to stack both Adam Jones and Manny Machado against one of the worst pitchers in MLB. Buck Farmer is replacing Shane Greene in the rotation tonight. In 13 IP this season, Farmer owns a 9.22 ERA and has given up 22 hits. That’s almost an average of 2 hits per every inning pitched.

STEVE MOYER

David Buchanan ($5,100 vs Atlanta)  The second-ranked pitcher on the Inside Edge board tonight is quite a shocker. Go big or go home, I guess. You’ll be able to afford plenty of Chris Davis’s at this pitcher price.

Chris Davis ($4,000 vs Detroit)  He ain’t cheap, but Inside Edge says he’s in line for big things tonight against youngster Buck Farmer.

SCOTT SWANAY

Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland) it was a toss-up for me between Salazar and Michael Wacha, but decided to go with Salazar because he faces a weaker-hitting opponent and an opposing starting pitcher (Kendall Graveman) who won’t be winning the Cy Young Award anytime soon.

Ryan Zimmerman -($2,300 at NY Mets) Yes, he’s facing the Dark Knight, but Matt Harvey hasn’t really been pre-TJ Matt Harvey this year, and Zimmerman has hit well in three games since being activated from a lengthy stay on the DL.  At a cost of just $2,300, he’d be a bargain even in Jack Benny’s eyes (if Jack Benny had played DFS).

RAY MURPHY

 Michael Wacha ($8, 500 vs Colorado) at home against whatever is left of the Rockies lineup. Wacha has outwardly struggled lately, but his skills look better than ever. Nice price for a great matchup at home.
Brandon Belt ($3000 at Texas) makes a nice option at 1B tonight. He’s in Texas to face Nick Martinez, who has come unglued in his last five starts. All five were on the road, but seeking respite at home in Arlington in late July is not a good proposition. Belt has been hitting well lately (.317 BA over last month), just lacking power. Looking for that to change tonight…

LAWR MICHAELS

 Gio Gonzalez ($9,600 at NY Mets) Going against a team that has the second worst strikeout rate in the Majors against lefties seems to be a solid under-the-radar selection.
Kolten Wong ($3,100 vs Colorado)  Hitting left against Kyle Kendrick seems like a lot of potential fun for my offense.

JAKE CIELY

 Michael Wacha ($8, 500 vs Colorado)
Chris Davis ($4,000 vs Detroit)

GENE MCCAFFREY

The expensive pitchers tonight are all great but all have questionable starts—or at least issues that make their prices probably too high. Therefore I’m going cheaper with the inconsistent but often brilliant Eduardo Rodriguez ($7,700 vs Tampa Bay) at home against the Rays.
This frees up salary and I’ll spend some of it on Brandon Crawford ($3,200 at Texas) the Giants are a juggernaut on the road and BC is a good bet for a great game against stiff righty Nick Martinez.

BRIAN WALTON

Cleveland’s Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland) draws the A’s in Oakland tonight. The 25-year-old right-hander has just one career outing vs. Oakland, three weeks ago. In that contest, he finished just one out short of a complete game with only one unearned run on the board and eight strikeouts.If you are looking to save a bit of money Friday night, consider third base. St. Louis’ Matt Carpenter ($2,700 vs Colorado) has been in an offensive funk for weeks, but seemed to break out with a four-hit game, including two long balls, against the Rockies Thursday evening.

TODD ZOLA

Jason Hammel ($8,200 at Milwaukee) No Carlos Gomez, no Gerardo Parra and a banged up Ryan Braun – I’ll take that set-up and fade the aces.Chris Davis ($4,000 vs Detroit)  A high-risk, high-reward pick, Davis should be able to make contact against Buck Farmer and when he makes contact, good things happen. A 4K price tag is up there so I may pivot off when I see what’s available after the lineups flesh out from deadline-mania.

ADAM RONIS

Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland)

Anthony Rizzo ($3,100 at Milwaukee)

DOUG ANDERSON

Neil Walker ($3,100 at Cincinnati) vs. Michael Lorenzen (RHP) – Both for his career and in 2015, Walker has as extreme lefty/righty splits as you’ll see. Over the last five seasons he’s scored more than 2.0 FanDuel points more against right-handed pitchers than left-handers. It’s been more of the same this year. The clock has struck midnight for Lorenzon as well. He’s allowed a .333 batting average and 2.15 WHIP to left-handed hitters. This shapes up as an ideal matchup for Walker
.
Jimmy Rollins ($2,800 vs LA Angels) vs. Hector Santiago (LHP) – Rollins is not the hitter he used to be, but don’t try telling that to left-handed pitchers, against whom he’s hitting .321. Rollins is also on a little power spree with three homers in his last six games. Santiago’s shiny 2.43 ERA looks nice, but what’s up with the 4.30 xFIP?

PHIL HERTZ

Matt Harvey ($9,900 vs Washington) Gets Washington at home. Even though Nats are getting healthy, Harvey had pitched well against them until his last outing against them. I look for a rebound and at $9900, he costs less than the other “elite” starters.
Brandon Crawford ($3,200 at Texas) may be the best offensive shortstop in baseball this year. I think he’s a bargain at $3200.

JEFF ERICKSON

Clayton Kershaw ($13,300 vs LA Angels) This isn’t quite as obvious as Kershaw vs the Mets, but it’s still worth the effort to squeeze his price in, especially when I’m uncomfortable with the other top options. My second choice for tournaments is Danny Salazar, and I’d dip all the way down to David Phelps as my third choice.

Nelson Cruz ($4,200 at Minnesota) Target Field is a hitter’s ballpark this year, especially for right-handed bats, the wind has blown out lately, and lefty Tom Milone is on the mound.

PETER KREUTZZER

Danny Salazar ($8,800 at Oakland) I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to backup my AL only guy with a DFS play, but the matchup and the strikeouts look good. Could be a good night or a bad one, if you know what I mean.

Brandon Moss ($2,500 vs Colorado) He’s been ice cold and at some point that has to change, right?

Tout Picks for the July 24 Phase 4 Finale of #toutdaily by @fanduel!

598x60-tout-wars

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 16 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 4 of Phase 4 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ. Going into this Week Ray Murphy has a 10 point lead over Charlie Wiegert, with Brian Walton and Todd Zola just behind.

The leaderboard is here. Three of the current Phase Top 10 (Jeff Boggis, Michael Beller and Lenny Melnick) already have a ticket to the finals, with Boggis more than 11 points behind Walton in third place..

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller and Jeff Boggis have tickets to the finals already.

Here are this week’s picks!

BRIAN WALTON

I will pass on all four pitchers over $10,000 today, and take number five, the Yankees’ Michael Pineda ($9600 at Minnesota), who draws the Twins on the road. The 26-year-old has been pitching well as of late, with 26 strikeouts in his last 27 2/3 innings and a 2.28 ERA.

None of the Cardinals hitters have seen Atlanta’s Manny Banuelos, but shortstop Jhonny Peralta ($3300 vs Atlanta) hits lefties consistently well and has been quietly leading St. Louis’ offense all season long with 14 home runs and 48 RBI. Peralta remains a relative bargain as the seventh-most expensive shortstop on Friday.

 

PHIL HERTZ

Chris Tillman ($6,300 at Tampa Bay)

Brian Dozier ($3,700 vs. New York Yankees)

JEFF ERICKSON

Chris Archer ($10,600 vs. Baltimore) On a slate full of aces, I’m trying to save up with him, and hopefully the O’s continue their recent underachieving ways. I might still find a way to pivot to Max Scherzer if I can save enough with the bats, but FanDuel’s pricing is getting more aggressive with hitters.

David Ortiz ($3,300 vs. Detroit) I really want to find a way to get Joey Votto in there, but Ortiz at home against Justin Verlander is really enticing too, and $1.2K cheaper. Plus, he homered yesterday, so form is pretty good, too.

JEFF BOGGIS

Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) This is the last week of the phase 4 contest and I am within 11 points of the elusive golden ticket into the finals. So my strategy tonight may be more aggressive than in other weeks as it is an all or nothing type lineup for me tonight. I started a week ago, thinking about how I would construct tonight’s roster and my goal was to build my roster around starting pitcher Zack Greinke. One data point that I did not take into consideration was around Zack’s wife being pregnant and about to go into labor. Greinke has decided to be with his wife on Friday and won’t be pitching tonight. So my plan B for pitching tonight came down to rostering one of three players: Max Scherzer ($12,000), Felix Hernandez ($11,300) or Corey Kluber ($11,000). Scherzer is at Pittsburgh, Hernandez hosts Toronto, and Kluber hosts the Chicago White Sox. Looking at all three matches, I like my win probability highest with Kluber. His K/IP is similar to Scherzer’s and I can roster him at $1,000 less. Most will roster Scherzer, but I need to slightly go against the grain.

Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado) A great matchup on the road at hitter friendly Coors Field in Colorado and facing Colorado pitcher Eddie Butler.  I think the stack of the night is any value players on either Cincinnati or Colorado.

DOUG ANDERSON

Michael Pineda ($9,600 @Minnesota Twins)  I could easily go with Kluber or Archer , but Kluber cost more, and it’s hard to expect the Rays to score enough runs to get Archerthe win. Pineda offers a nice combination of upside, matchup, and affordability.

Robinson Cano ($3,400 vs. Toronto) Drew Hutchinson (RHP), is the starter. You may not have noticed, but most of Cano’s struggles this year have come against left-handed pitching. He’s hitting .282 with eight of his nine homers off of righties. He’s also hitting .354 in July and .407 since the All-Star break.

 CHARLIE WIEGERT

I’m spending the bucks and going with the “safe” pick, Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox), mainly because I think he gives me the best chance to stay in the top 3 spots of the monthly leader board.  Safe, because I think he has a good chance of double digit strike outs pitching at home against the White Sox.  The sleeper pitcher I like tonight is Jon Niese, pitching against the Dodgers, which might be an audition.  I could see the Dodgers trading Carl Crawford to the Mets to get his arm in their rotation, which needs help!

I don’t have the money for all I’d like in the Colorado/Cincinnati game, but I’ll take Nolan Arenado ($4800 vs. Cincinnati) as my guy to click.  And with Kluber, I need a few value picks, rolling the dice with Ryan Rayburn ($2200) and Chris Parmelee ($2200).

GENE MCCAFFREY

The usual Friday batch of tough calls, but I like Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) among the pitchers, at home vs. a White Sox attack that ranks 25th against righties in OPS. His salary requires some cheap hitters and I’ll start with Salvador Perez ($2,200 vs. Houston) to ruin Scott Kazmir’s Astro debut.

ENO SARRIS

Andrew Cashner ($7,300 vs. Miami) Only three teams have been worse than the Marlins with the stick this year. Only three teams have had less power. Cashner — who has admittedly has had some homer issues this year — is home in San Diego, which will be the third-coldest park today, with the bonus of having the wind blowing in tonight. Oh and by using him, you pocket a cool $4,700 from the most expensive pitcher of the day. Cashner may not be as great as his fastball suggests he should be, but he’s also a decent pitcher in a good situation going up against a bad offensive team. 

Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado) Right now, Eddie Butler does not have good command. And you know about Joey Votto, meaning something like three walks is your floor on the day. Add in the platoon advantage, and the Coors Field effect, and Votto looks like he’s in line for a good day.

RAY MURPHY

Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) With a leg up on a golden ticket entering tonight, I’ll be playing this lineup as a cash game. I’m giving a slight edge to Kluber over Scherzer as the day’s top play, since a) Kluber’s a little cheaper, and b) while both are likely to go deep into the game, I don’t have to worry about Kluber getting pulled an inning or two early for a PH. In a possible low-scoring affair in Pittsburgh, that’s a bit of a risk for Scherzer.

Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado) Votto is an OBP machine, going to Coors Field to face an RHP who has more allowed more BB than K on the year? I’d pay almost anything for Votto in that spot. $4500 is a bargain.

MICHAEL BELLER

If you want an ace, you aren’t short for options this week. There are arguments to be made on behalf of Max Scherzer and Felix Hernandez, but I’m riding with Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox). I’ll take some savings from the top two options on the board and go with Kluber and his strikeout ways against the disappointing White Sox’ offense.

Todd Frazier ($4,900 at Colorado) against Eddie Butler in Coors Field. I don’t need to say anything else, right?

LAWR MICHAELS

I am going Jose Quintana ($8,200 at Cleveland) as an arm, since I am 40 points down and can afford to gamble, but I like Quintana’s strikeout numbers, he is pitching at home, and Cleveland is up-and-down.

As for a stick, switch hitter Mark Teixeira ($3,900 at Minnesota) against gopher baller Tommy Milone seems like a fun choice to me, although that game, with Millone facing C.C. Sabathia at Target in what portends to be a swinging affair (of course, that means the final score will be 4-3 and all my picks will give me “oh-fers” instead of gophers.

ADAM RONIS

Chris Archer ($10,600 vs. Baltimore) 

David Ortiz ($3,300 vs. Detroit) 

DAVID GONOS

Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox)

Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado)

SCOTT SWANAY

Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox)  I wasn’t wild about any of the pitching match-ups tonight, but this seems like the best choice of the lot.  He’ll get a fair number of Ks, the White Sox offense doesn’t scare anyone (now that I’ve said that, Jose Abreu will inevitably slug five home runs tonight), and Jose Quintana hasn’t been as good a pitcher on the road as he had been at home.

Marlon Byrd ($3,100 at Colorado)  He’s one of the least expensive options for getting in on the action for the Reds-Rockies game at Coors Field, which has the potential to be a slugfest given both the venue and the two starting pitchers (Butler and DeSclafani). 

STEVE MOYER

Jon Lester ($9,600 vs. Philadelphia –early games only) Inside Edge predicts no pitcher to wow tonight, but Lester’s the best against the “hot” Phillies, so you’ve gotta get that lineup in before 4. (Scherzer is middle of the pack – veddy interesting.) 

Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado) He’s en fuego and expensive and at Coors tonight, but IE says he’s worth it. Make up your own joke about “the Butler.”

 PAUL SPORER

Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox) We’ve got an ace day so there are options w/Max, Felix, Archer, and Kluber. Kluber’s 5-10 record is pretty lame, but it’s certainly not an indication of his pitching. His skills are almost identical to last year’s Cy Young campaign. He’s particularly toasty of late, too: 2.65 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 42 Ks in 37.3 IP (plus a 6.0 K:BB ratio). The White Sox have been very disappointing offensively after some high expectations coming into the season. They are 28th in wRC+ against righties this year. 

Charlie Blackmon ($4,800 vs. Cincinnati) Another high-dollar selection here, but sometimes the more obvious answer is in fact the right one. DeSclafani started the year horribly against lefties and while he has improved recently, he still a sharp split and now he’s in Coors against a righty-destroyer like Blackmon w/his .897 OPS against them for the year and .941 OPS against righties in Coors. 

TOP PICKS

Corey Kluber ($11,000 vs. Chicago White Sox)

Joey Votto ($4,500 at Colorado)

Tout Daily Phase 4 Week 2: The Touts Pick!

598x60-tout-wars

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 14 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 2 of Phase 4 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ.

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller and Jeff Bogis have tickets to the finals already. The leaderboard is here.

Here are this week’s Tout picks. I’ll be updating this as they come in, so check back later if you get a chance.

TODD ZOLA

Madison Bumgarner ($11,900 vs. Philadelphia) My goal is the golden ticket so I’m in conservative mode, want to stay close then decide how risky to be in the final two weeks of this period. Bumgarner is the safest arm on the board to get a base of innings and whiffs.

Derek Norris ($2,400 at Texas) Should injury concerns me but if I was likely to hit leadoff against Wandy Rodriguez in Arlington, I’d tell the Skip everything is fine.

PAUL SPORER

Madison Bumgarner ($11,900 vs. Philadelphia) Yes, he’s the most expensive arm out there, but sometimes the most obvious answer is the best answer. I’m not deterred at all by Philly getting him for 5 back in early-June, either. That was one bad inning and he still went 8 with 11 Ks. He has basically been a carbon copy of last year’s excellence.

Nolan Reimold – ($2200 vs. Washington) Figured I’d give a nice low-dollar bat since you need at least a couple when you spend on MadBum. Health has eluded Reimold throughout his career, but he has regularly shown the ability to handle lefties when he does play. Righties having their best success against Gio since his rookie year, too, with a .777 OPS a 131-point difference than his work v. lefties.

ENO SARRIS

Danny Salazar ($8,700 vs Oakland) The circumstances help — Salazar is pitching at home in a nice park, with the third-coldest weather of the day, and incoming winds, against a team that’s bottom half of the American League against fastballs — but this is more about Salazar’s quality with respect to his price. Here’s a pitcher who has struck out 37 batters against nine walks in his last 35.1 innings. Yeah, he gives up the home run, but the Athletics are fourth-worst in homers over the last thirty days, and only a run better for the season. This is a power pitcher that doesn’t walk many batters, going up against a less powerful team that depends on making contact and taking walks to score runs. That’s a good price for a secret ace.

Rougned Odor ($2,800 vs San Diego) The Rangers’ second baseman has been a different hitter since he came back from the minors, He’s really tightened up his swing rate against righties, which would serve him well against Ian Kennedy. In fact, Odor is part of a mini-stack on my squad, as I try to take advantage of a homer-prone righty with relatively soft stuff coming into the heat of Texas. It’s scheduled to be a whopping 91 degrees in Arlington tonight, five degrees warmer than the second-warmest park, That heat should be worth an extra eight feet of batted ball distance over, say, the game in Cleveland, where it will be 20 degrees cooler. Of course, it looks like the wind is blowing in right now, but that’s still a nice park and a nice matchup for relative values in Odor, Josh Hamilton, and even Leonys Martin (should he start).

JEFF BOGGIS

Gerrit Cole ($10,600 vs. St. Louis) My heart wants to start Madison Bumgarner tonight, but my head is starting Gerrit Cole. Cole is at a $1,300 discount tonight versus Bumgarner and I have them projected within 2 fantasy points tonight. It all comes down to their opposing pitchers. Bumgarner is facing Cole Hamels, who I believe is on showcase tonight as this could be his last game in a Phillies uniform. Case in point, on Tuesday night, Max Scherzer faced Johnny Cueto, and Cueto is also a potential showcase pitcher. Cueto pitched lights out and it would not surprise me if Hamels outpitches Bumgarner tonight. Cole faces Lance Lynn tonight and Lynn is no slouch at $9,300, but Hamels is a tougher matchup tonight. Don’t be surprised if a lot of top ranked pitchers end up with a no decision tonight. In his last night starts, Cole is 7-1 with 1

Justin Upton ($2,700 @ Texas) This is purely a value pick based on his ability, his matchup, and his salary. Anytime that I can get a player that is being discounted, I take advantage and Upton at $2,700 is a steal tonight. He has a good righty versus lefty matchup against Wandy Rodriguez. Over the past 2 season, Justin Upton has a slugging percentage of .487 against similar pitchers. He did not start in Wednesday’s game and had 2 days of rest from his oblique soreness. Just make sure he is in the starting lineup tonight and all indications is that he will be in the starting roster.

AL MELCHIOR

Erasmo Ramirez ($6,700 vs. Houston Astros) – Ramirez has been performing like a near-elite over seven starts now, with a 1.18 ERA and 14 percent whiff rate. The Astros can’t hurt his chances for Ks, and the price is phenomenal.

Brian Dozier ($4,000 vs. Detroit Tigers) – Dozier is no bargain, but he hits righties about as well as he hits lefties, and Justin Verlander is allowing an .807 OPS to right-handed hitters.

JAKE CIELY

Madison Bumgarner ($11,900 vs. Philadelphia) Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke on back-to-back days? Don’t worries Phillies, now you get… what’s that? Madison Bumgarner?! Geez, sorry guys. But, I am not going to apologize for auto-picking Bumgarner for my lineup no matter the price. People can try to be contrarian, but it’s only going to bite them in the end.

Prince Fielder ($3,500 vs. San Diego)– How is he only $3,500? Ian Kennedy is giving up home runs as if it’s his goal in life, and the Rangers have one of the higher projected run totals tonight. There really isn’t much more to say here, as Fielder is a near must-start.

JEFF ERICKSON

Madison Bumgarner ($11,900 vs. Philadelphia) Just keeping it simple by using the best pitcher against the worst lineup in a great ballpark. I’ve had a lot of positive reinforcement going that way this week – why stop?

Mitch Moreland ($2,900 vs. San Diego) A home matchup against Ian Kennedy, is that something that you might be interested in?

DOUG ANDERSON

Madison Bumgarner ($11,900 vs. Philadelphia)– There’s just nothing I can find to nitpick in this matchup. Bumgarner’s season numbers are maybe a little disappointing, but most of the damage came on the road early in the season. He had sub-3.00 ERAs in May and June. The Phillies? Hey, at least they’ve scored more runs than theWhite Sox and Mets.

Adam Jones ($3,300 vs. Washington) – Against RHP Jones
is the anti-Votto, but that OBP jumps up to .375 when he faces a left-handed pitcher. Jones used to seem like the next big thing, but he’s turned into a boringly consistent player. I like boring when it’s this good.

DAVID GONOS

AJ Pierzynski ($3,400 at Colorado) and Kendall Graveman ($5,400 at Cleveland)

GENE MCCAFFREY

Difficult night, a typical Friday. I’m going bang for the buck to get some expensive hitters in, so it’s Noah Syndergaard ($8,400 vs. Arizona) and “I Dread Jedd” Gyorko  ($2200  at Texas). Let the chips fall.

ADAM RONIS

Madison Bumgarner ($11,900 vs. Philadelphia) and Dee Gordon

FROM THE GODFATHER OF FANTASY SPORTS, CHARLIE WIEGERT

Hitters…loading up on the Rockies and Braves at home. 3B Nolan Arenado ($5,100 vs. Atlanta) my must have, he’s going to Hale tonight!

PETER KREUTZER

Ervin Santana ($7,600 versus Detroit) I know, crazy, but Tigers without Miggy isn’t the same offensive team. And Santana is cheap, coming off an excellent win in his first game back from suspension. I didn’t like the matchups and/or prices of the big guys, so a little bottomfishing.

Bryce Harper ($5,000 versus Baltimore) The reason to bet on Santana is to also bet on guys like Harper (Tillman) and Edwin Encarnacion (Duffy) in good matchups.

STEVE MOYER

Kyle Hendricks  ($6900 vs. Cubs) – Inside Edge says play early and take advantage of these cheapo starter against the crosstown rival Chisox.
Jedd Gyorko  ($2200  at Texas) We’ve probably all been jilted by Jedd at some point in our fantasy careers by now, but Inside Edge says he’s the top play on the board tonight. And at second base. And at $2200.

 

The Touts Pick for Tout Daily Week 13! A New Phase…

598x60-tout-wars

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 13 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 1 of Phase 4 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ.

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller and Jeff Bogis have tickets to the finals already. The leaderboard is here.

Here are this week’s Tout picks. I’ll be updating this as they come in, so check back later if you get a chance.

JAKE CIELY’S Picks

Clayton Kershaw ($12,300–New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers) His price could be $13,200, heck, it could be $15,300 and I’d still use Kershaw. There is no such thing as contrarian when it comes to Kershaw versus the Mets. The only question is whether Kershaw will through a perfect game or just a regular ol’ no hitter. The last time the Mets scored twice was in May… or it just feels that way. In reality, they have averaged just 1.6 runs per game in their last 14 with a .180 batting average and scored just one runs on 15 hits in a 3-game series against the Cubs. Just put Kershaw in your lineup and figure out the rest later.

Kole Calhoun ($2,300–Los Angeles Angels at Texas)  Finally, The Rock has come… wait, sorry, I got caught up in it. Finally, Chi Chi Gonzalez saw the clock hit midnight after we kept waiting for him to regress. Over his last two starts, Gonzalez is 0-2 with a 6.94 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. We have to find value with Kershaw being so expensive, and Calhoun is a terrific play. He only costs $2,300, and Vegas gives this game a 9 O/U with the Angels money line being -125.

DOUG ANDERSON OPINES

Clayton Kershaw ($12,300–New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers) First of all, it’s Clayton Kershaw. Then there’s the fact that only three teams have scored fewer runs than the Mets. Kershaw is opposed by Noah Syndergaard, who’s been inconsistent as you might expect from a young pitcher. If you can build a respectable lineup with Kershaw, you roll with it.

Steve Pearce ($2,400–Baltimore at Chicago White Sox) Yes, this is about Danks, but it’s also about Pearce and lefties. Over the last five years, Pearce has scored 6.561 FanDuel points for every 10 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. That puts him in Albert Pujols and Carlos Gomez territory.

THE GODFATHER OF FANTASY SPORTS, CHARLIE WIEGERT

Michael Wacha ($8,600–San Diego at St. Louis) I’m going to break rule number 1 tonight; I’m taking Cardinal pitcher Wacha because I’m going to the game and want someone to root for!  Wacha has the stuff that any game can be double digit strike outs, and the Redbirds need to get back on a winning track.  Hopefully they bust out tonight.  

David Ortiz ($2,900–Houston at Boston) The Red Sox and Astros looks like a slugfest in Fenway so I’m loading up. David Ortiz  has been hot, so he’s my pick to click tonight.

GENE McCAFFREY SAYS

Clayton Kershaw ($12,300–New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers)  It’s possible to go against Kershaw and win, but with good cheap hitter options why get cute?

Nolan Reimold ($2,200–Baltimore at Chicago White Sox)  Take Nolan Reimold, among others, and reap.

JEFF BOGGIS CONCLUDES

Michael Wacha ($8,600–San Diego at St. Louis) The allure of rostering Clayton Kershaw is enticing, but the $12,300 salary can’t be justified tonight. I was a top tier starting pitcher, but at a fraction of Kershaw’s salary. That is why I am rostering Michael Wacha tonight at home against the San Diego Padres. San Diego is one of the weaker offenses against right handed pitchers this season and the matchup for Wacha is at home tonight. By rostering Wacha, I save $3,700, leaving me an average of $3,300 to spend per hitter versus $2,837.50 to spend per hitter if I rostered Kershaw.

Manny Machado ($4,200—Baltimore at Chicago White Sox) By rostering Wacha versus Kershaw tonight, I have more flexibility to spend my remaining dollars on an elite hitter. I like both Macado and Nolan Arenado tonight, but Arenado’s salary is $700 higher at $4,900. Since rostering Arenado last week with his 2 home run game last Friday night, Arenado has only averaged 0.18 fantasy points in his last 4 games on FanDuel. Over the past 6 games, Machado has averaged 3.3 fantasy points per game on FanDuel.

RAY MURPHY’S RULE

Clayton Kershaw ($12,300–New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers) Week 1 of a new phase is no time to get cute or over-think the pitching choice. Kershaw, at home, against a struggling Mets lineup that skews left-handed, is as good as 15 or more points in the bank.

Adam Lind ($4,000–Milwaukee at Cincinnati) Opposing RHP Michael Lorenzen has had big trouble with LHP (970 OPS against), making this an optimal spot for Lind in GABP. Rostering Kershaw means going low-budget on some hitters, but generally not at first base.

BRIAN WALTON BREAKS HIS SLUMP PICKING AGAINST KERSHAW vs. The Mets.

Michael Wacha ($8,600–San Diego at St. Louis) Like Kershaw, he also draws a below-average offense in San Diego at home Friday night. After his hot start cooled a bit, the 24-year-old is no longer among top NL Cy Young Award candidates, but has the advantage of coming off an extra day’s rest between starts. 

Yasmany Tomas ($3300–Colorado at Arizona) For those looking for a value play. The Cuban is heating up over his last four games with six hits in 17 at-bats (.353), including a home run and four RBI. Colorado starting pitcher Kyle Kendrick lugs his 6.07 ERA to the mound against the Snakes Friday. Need I say more?

SCOTT PIANOWSKI DESCRIBES

Julio Teheran. ($8,000–Philadelphia at Atlanta) Completely different pitcher at home, and the draw is lovely. 

Alejandro De Aza ($3,100–Houston at Boston) The Red Sox finally have offense in right field. Alejandro De Aza can hit righties, and for all the Boston problems, the offense has woken up nicely. 

LAWR MICHEALS PREDICTS

Ubaldo Jimenez ($8,400–Baltimore at Chicago White Sox) Since I qualify for the tourney, I have a little latitude. That said I am still looking at emulating Adam and his double ticket, and Ubaldo has been hot (3-0, 2.75, 23 whiffs over 19.3 innings his last three starts) and I am happy to gamble with him against an erratic hitting White Sox team.

Joe Mauer ($2,600–Minnesota at Kansas City) How did Mauer fall so far off the map? He is just hitting .267-3-30, and his OBP is .337, a far cry for a former batting champ. Still, a lefty hitter against Jeremy Guthrie (5.68 ERA, just 43 whiffs over 81 frames) is too tasty to leave on the table.f

TODD ZOLA’S VERDICT

Clayton Kershaw ($12,300–New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers) Lock, load it. move on.

Nolan Reimold ($2,200–Baltimore at Chicago White Sox)– Hitting second versus John Danks in the Cell? Yes, please.

PAUL SPORER SAYS, Tough day, today.

Michael Wacha ($8,600–San Diego at St. Louis) The results have been there all year, but early on (thru first 6) the Ks were lagging. They’ve been in place over his last 9 starts with 55 Ks in 55.7 IP. Meanwhile, SD is doing a great job imitating their 2014 offense which isn’t good for anyone involved… well, except for opposing pitchers. 

David Peralta ($3900–Colorado at Arizona) He’s no longer the dirt-cheap option he was to start the year, but he continues to rake righties, especially at home, and so even as a higher-level option, he is still worth rostering. 

SCOTT SWANAY SAYS, Happy Fourth of July!

Clayton Kershaw ($12,300–New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers) Sure, he’s the most expensive pitcher by far, but the Mets don’t score many runs, strike out fairly often, and have a low team OPS.  In other words, Kershaw’s got a realistic shot at putting up 20 FanDuel points tonight.  It was tempting to go with Chris Archer and save $1,700, but the Yankees’ offense is considerably more formidable than the Mets’, and Dodger Stadium is a more favorable pitching environment than Yankee Stadium.

Kole Calhoun ($2,300–Los Angeles Angels at Texas) He may be in the midst of a “disappointing” season, but $2,300 seems like a bargain considering that he gets to face the mercurial Justin Masterson in Fenway Park.

AL MELCHIOR’S HOLIDAY HOT DOGS!

Clayton Kershaw ($12,300–New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers) He’s Clayton Kershaw; they’re the Mets. That should be reason enough, but then there’s this. His last seven starts have produced a 1.85 ERA, 67 Ks and nine walks.
Lorenzo Cain ($3300–Minnesota at Kansas City)  Cain is getting on base against lefties at a .420 clip. If he reaches against Tommy Milone and Kurt Suzuki (40 steals allowed in 51 attempts) is catching, I like Cain’s chances to swipe a bag or two.

Pitcher (Cost–Game) Votes (FanDuel Points)

Clayton Kershaw ($12,300–New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers) 7  (13)
Julio Teheran. ($8,000–Philadelphia at Atlanta) 2 (15)
Michael Wacha ($8,600–San Diego at St. Louis) 4 (12)
Ubaldo Jimenez ($8,400–Baltimore at Chicago White Sox) (10)
Chris Archer ($10,600–Tampa Bay at New York Yankees) (14.66)
Jesse Chavez ($8,700–Seattle at Oakland) (6.33)
THE BEST BUY: Julio Teheran–15 points for $8,000
Hitter (Cost–Game) Votes (FanDuel Points
Kole Calhoun ($2,300–Los Angeles Angels at Texas) 2 (8.25)
Neil Walker ($3,200–Cleveland at Pittsburgh) (1.25)
Steve Pearce ($2,400–Baltimore at Chicago White Sox) (.5)
David Ortiz ($2,900–Houston at Boston) 2 (7.75)
Nolan Reimold ($2,200–Baltimore at Chicago White Sox) 2 (.5)
Mookie Betts ($3,700–Houston at Boston) (2)
Manny Machado ($4,200—Baltimore at Chicago White Sox) (.25)
Adam Lind ($4,000–Milwaukee at Cincinnati) (2)
Yasmany Tomas ($3300–Colorado at Arizona) (-1.25)
Alejandro De Aza ($3,100–Houston at Boston) (2)
Joe Mauer ($2,600–Minnesota at Kansas City) (.25)
Stephen Vogt ($3,400–Seattle at Oakland) (.25)
David Peralta ($3900–Colorado at Arizona) (2)
Lorenzo Cain ($3300–Minnesota at Kansas City) (9.75)
BEST BUY: Kole Calhoun–8.25 points for $2,300.
Voters without comments include Adam Ronis, Phil Hertz, Rotoman, David Gonos,

The Touts Picks for Week 12 of Tout Daily with FanDuel!

598x60-tout-wars

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 12 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 4 of Phase 3 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ. Here are the leaders going into this final week (click to enlarge):

Screenshot 2015-06-26 14.21.09

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis, Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels and Tom Kessenich have tickets to the finals already. The leaderboard is here.

Here are this week’s Tout picks. I’ll be updating this as they come in, so check back later if you get a chance.

Paul Sporer Picks

 

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) The contact-heavy approach has served ATL well this year against righties where they sit around or just below average. Yes, that is being “served well” for ATL standards because they were expected to be a total doormat coming into the season and they have been vs. lefties. They sit 28th in wRC+ at 76 WITH Freddie Freeman… imagine them without and it’s not like he killed lefties in the first place (.769 OPS). Liriano has been mostly excellent this year with a 3.26 ERA and skills to back it (and then some). He’s had a few clunkers as he always does, but the upside is elite once he gets rolling.
Luis Valbuena ($3900–New York Yankees at Houston) Valbuena is a DFSer’s dream with his low costs and HR-dependent production. With 19 HRs the price has jumped up, but he’s still worth targeting in tourney situations because of that power output. He’s incredibly boom or bust with two 14-pt nights within his last eight games and then just 7.25 pts in the other six combined. He’s at home and he’s facing righty, his two prime splits. And he’s facing a righty who gets mauled by lefties in Nathan Eovaldi (.964 OPS v. LHB).

Brian Walton Likes

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh)  Wise money will be on Max Scherzer ($12,500) against the inept Phillies offense, but then again, if the Nats’ ace was ever going to have an unexplainable let-down, wouldn’t this be the time? Instead, I will save almost three grand and select the ace of my National League Tout Wars squad, Pittsburgh’s Francisco Liriano, who takes on the Freddie Freeman-less Braves at home.

Jason Heyward ($3700–Chicago Cubs at St. Louis) On the offensive side, I will highlight Cardinals outfielder Jason Heyward. Early returns had pegged the Braves as the clear winner in the Shelby Miller trade, but Heyward is finally heating up. The 25-year-old has a .913 OPS in June and is coming off a Miami series during which he went deep twice and plated four.

Jeff Boggis Has A Lot on the Line Tonight

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadelphia) Going into tonight’s contest, I am in 3rd place and a close to a “golden ticket” into the Tout Daily Championship, so I can’t afford to get cute and take chances with my roster tonight. Starting pitching is my top priority and I plan on building my team around Max Scherzer. He is the highest salaried pitcher tonight, but that is not stopping me from rostering him in tonight’s contest. Scherzer has averaged 16.95 fantasy points per game this season and over the past 2 weeks, he has averaged 26 fantasy points. He is coming off his no-hitter against Pittsburgh on Saturday and he is facing a team that he has pitched well against this season. In 2 starts against the Philadelphia Phillies this season, he is 2-0 and is averaging 8 innings pitched, 1 earned run, and 7.5 strikeouts. If he repeats this average, that’s 18.5 fantasy points on Friday night. Scherzer faces Aaron Harang who is giving up a lot of home runs lately. Over the last 4 starts, Harang has allowed 20 earned runs in his last 23.2 inning pitched. There is a 50% chance of rain in Philadelphia on Friday, but it decreases to only 20% on Friday night.

Nolan Arenado ($4,500–Colorado at San Francisco) The third baseman for Colorado is the hottest hitter in baseball this week and ranks #1 overall in the past 7 days with 9 runs scored, 4 home runs, 9 RBIs, and a .391 batting average. He faces Tim Hudson tonight to where he is slugging .500 against him in his last 19 plate appearances. Arendado has 20 home runs and 60 RBIs on the season.

Todd Zola Divines

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) Facing a weak-hitting Braves team that whiffs at a 22 percent clip versus southpaws, at home in one of the best pitcher’s parks in the league. It’s not even a bang-for-the-buck thing. I expect more points from Liriano than anyone on the docket, including Scherzer and Kluber.
Derek Norris ($2,800–Arizona at San Diego) You know the expression friends with benefits? I call this a punt play with benefits. Norris faces a weak lefty at a minimum price at a position I’ll either spend a ton for the right situation or go cheap. This is going cheap in a great situation.

Al Melchior Ruminates

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadephia) Everyone knows by now that Scherzer has been nearly perfect in back-to-back starts, and he has been flat-out dominant all season long with great control. Add in a matchup against the worst offense in the majors against righties and that makes Scherzer worth every penny.

Luis Valbuena ($3900–New York Yankees at Houston)
 Valbuena doesn’t hit for average against righties or lefties, but he does crush righties for a .288 Iso. Eovaldi has allowed a .380 batting average to lefties. Looks like the perfect night to start Valbuena.

From the Godfather of Fantasy Sports, Charlie Wiegert

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadephia) The closest thing to a sure thing, so you have to pay the price. But Max has been on a roll, has an inferior Phillies team, and wants to extend the Washington pitchers scoreless innings streak.  He’s 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA vs Phillies this year, pay the price and get the best.
Evan Longoria ($2900–Boston at Tampa Bay) I’ll have to go cheap with Scherzer, so looking for bargains.  I’ll take a couple $2200 outfielders, and some right handed hitting Blue Jay hitters at home vs Texas lefty starter Nick Martinez and hope Evan Longoria takes Rick Porcello deep.

Steve Moyer’s Inside Edge

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) Anyone cheaper than Mr. No-Hitter is a bargain tonight and Inside Edge says Lirano is the best choice on the board. When the Phillies are pounding Scherzer later, you’ll be doing the happy dance (OK, I’m getting carried away).
Justin Upton ($3,300–Arizona at San Diego) Clicks on all cylinders according to the new, even more improved this week Inside Edge engine. Say Hey, Robbie Ray!

Ray Murphy’s Thoughts

Taijuan Walker ($7,800–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) Much attention will be focused on Scherzer, but I’ll take a shot with Taijuan Walker tonight for $7800. He’s been on a roll for the last month, and in that time has established that he can thrive on the road. He is at Anaheim tonight, facing a surprisingly-punchless Angels lineup. I’ll roll with him and bet that I can use the $4700 savings between him and Scherzer to build an offense that makes up any points gap between the two hurlers.
Scott Van Slyke ($3,000–Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami) is my favorite platoon specialist tonight: facing rookie southpaw Justin Nicolino, Van Slyke will slot into the middle of the Dodgers lineup. Look for a long ball from him.

Michael Beller Zags

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) You can go in a lot of different directions with your pitcher tonight, but I’m riding with Francisco Liriano. A matchup with the Freddie Freeman-less Braves? Yes, please.Josh Donaldson ($4,100–Texas at Toronto) Rostering Liriano instead of one of the pitchers priced higher than him allows me to stack Blue Jays. Of all those Jays, I think Josh Donaldson is the best bet. He should be able to take advantage of a matchup with Nick Martinez.

Eno Sarris Digs

Jesse Hahn ($7,800–Kansas City at Oakland) Way down there on the list, the 12th-most expensive pitcher, that’s the one I want. Hahn hasn’t been a great source of strikeouts, but he continues to tell me they are coming, and there are reasons to believe — his curve is among the league-leaders in spin rate, and was a top-five pitch by whiffs last year among curveballs thrown by starters. In the meantime, though, he’s just a really high floor pitcher at home. After being on teams with  pitcher’s parks over the last two years, he’s shown a 3.03 ERA at home. Like the price most of all, though.
Victor Martinez ($3,300–Chicago White Sox at Detroit) It’s so nice to be able to play Victor Martinez at catcher. It’s even nicer when he’s facing a lefty that uses a curveball as his out pitch. Martinez has traditionally batted better from the right side, and has mashed yakkers over his career. Given that Jose Quintana doesn’t get many whiffs, and Martinez doesn’t whiff much, this seems like a great matchup for the Tiger. I was tempted to put a cheap Ryan Rua on here — the Texas outfielder is facing a lefty today, in Toronto — but Rua will bat lower in the lineup and is more of a lineup hole-plugger with some upside.

Phil Hertz Hits

Jesse Hahn ($7,800–Kansas City at Oakland) I’m a little nervous about Jesse Hahn’s potential lack of strikeouts, but he’s been pitching well, the A’s are playing well, and the price is right.

Logan Morrison ($2,400–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) has an OPS north of .800 against righthanded pitchers and has hit Matt Shoemaker well before.

Scott Engel’s Kiss

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) If you are not going to spend up for Max Scherzer tonight, then Francisco Liriano looks like a good option at $9,900. The Braves offense is rather punchless without Freddie Freeman and Liriano should be in line for the win.
Brian Dozier ($3,900–Minnesota at Milwaukee) Kyle Lohse is having a terrible season and I will always attack him when I can. Righties are hittng .323 with 10 HRs against him so I will lock in Brian Dozier at 3,900 and maybe add a Twins teammate or two.

Gene McCaffrey’s Pearls

lex Colome ($6,400–Boston at Tampa Bay) Roll those dice with Alex Colome against the anemic Red Sox in Tampa. You may lose but you should have plenty of hitting points.
Robinson Cano ($2,600–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) is finally heating up, nice spot vs lost righty Shoemaker tonight.

Lenny Melnick’s Voice

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadelphia) If we are true Baseball fans ,we must root for Max Scherzer to tie Johnny Vander Meer’s record of 2 NO hitters in a row  Im rooting and playing him for all the wrong DFS reasons
Evan Gattis ($3,300–New York Yankees at Houston) Eovaldi in Houston? Give me Gattis and a side order of Valbuena please! Ill take it TO GO! (deep)

Jake Ciely Skies One

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadelphia) Man, it’s tough to stomach a pitcher priced at $12,500, but is there a chance we see back-to-back no-hitters for Max Scherzer? After all, the Phillies are the worst team in baseball against righties for wOBA (.279) and wRC+ (74). There are quite a few hitters in the $2,000 range, where you can build a solid lineup behind Scherzer (I did it), so you have to go with the guy who has 52 points over his last two starts.

Jake took Byron Buxton, early in the day, but switched to Bryce Harper when Buxton went on the DL.

Lawr Micheal’s Disembodied Poetics

John Lackey ($8,800–Chicago Cubs at St. Louis) Since I need points, my “crapshoot” is Lackey facing the Cubbies, who are indeed free swingers.

Andrew McCutchen ($4,200–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) With Josh Harrison ($3,300) A minor stack against Williams Perez, who has pitched well enough, but averted disaster by allowing opposing hitters a .324 OBP to go with his 1.377 WHIP.

Scott Swanay’s Stabs

Trevor May ($6,400–Minnesota at Milwuakee) He’s been pitching better of late, and he gets to face a strikeout-prone team(Milwaukee) that’s starting a struggling pitcher (Kyle Lohse).  Max Scherzer seems like the “obvious” pick for tonight, but the Phillies don’t strike out a lot, so I’ll spend my money elsewhere.
Charles Blackmon ($4,400–Colorado at San Francisco) The price tag seems low for a streaking hitter facing a mediocre starter (Tim Hudson).  The only thing that could make this match-up more appealing were if the game were being played at Coors Field.  Brett Gardner was the other hitter I considered tabbing for this week’s contest.

Doug Anderson’s Dailies

Tyson Ross ($8,800–Arizona at San Diego)  – FanDuel has five pitchers priced above  Ross. Just remember this is Tyson Petco Ross we’re talking about. He’s a much different pitcher than Tyson on-the-road Ross. While this year’s splits don’t agree, I’m going with a career’s worth of splits. He’s also coming off a dominant performance of his own against these same Diamondbacks.
Yoenis Cespedes ($3,700–Chicago White Sox at Detroit) vs. Jose Quintana (LHP) – First of all, I’m not a big believer in Batter vs. Pitcher numbers. BUT, Cespedes is part of maybe the best stack of the night, and he’s 8-for-12 with four home runs off Quintana in his career. It’s a small sample size, but it does tell me Quintana is not going to dominate Cespedes.
Pitcher (Cost–Game) Votes (FanDuel Points)
Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) 7 (8)
Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadelphia) 5 (17)
Taijuan Walker ($7,800–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) (12)
Jesse Hahn ($7,800–Kansas City at Oakland) 2 (8)
Alex Colome ($6,400–Boston at Tampa Bay) 2 (5)
John Lackey ($8,800–Chicago Cubs at St. Louis)
Trevor May ($6,400–Minnesota at Milwaukee) (-4.67)
Tyson Ross ($8,800–Arizona at San Diego) 

Hitter (Cost–Game) Votes (FanDuel Points)

Luis Valbuena ($3900–New York Yankees at Houston) 2 (.25)
Jason Heyward ($3700–Chicago Cubs at St. Louis) (-1)
Nolan Arenado ($4,500–Colorado at San Francisco)
Derek Norris ($2,800–Arizona at San Diego) (2.25)
Justin Upton ($3,300–Arizona at San Diego)
Evan Longoria ($2900–Boston at Tampa Bay)
Scott Van Slyke ($3,000–Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami) (8.25)
Josh Donaldson ($4,100–Texas at Toronto) (3.25)
Victor Martinez ($3,300–Chicago White Sox at Detroit) (1.25)
Logan Morrison ($2,400–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) (.25)
Brian Dozier ($3,900–Minnesota at Milwaukee) (7.75)
Kole Calhoun ($2,200–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim)
Robinson Cano ($2,600–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) (5.25)
Evan Gattis ($3,300–New York Yankees at Houston)
Bryce Harper ($5,300–Washington at Philadelphia)
Andrew McCutchen ($4,200–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) With Josh Harrison ($3,300)
Charles Blackmon ($4,400–Colorado at San Francisco)
Yoenis Cespedes ($3,700–Chicago White Sox at Detroit)
Ian Kinsler ($2,800–Chicago White Sox at Detroit)