Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, and DraftStreet for 7/2/14

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Pitchers

Johnny Cueto FanDuel 10300 DraftKings 11000 DraftStreet 24001
Doesn't take a genius to make this pick. But this genius will anyway. Cueto is crazy expensive today, but the reasoning behind playing him is there. The Padres are otherworldly bad, rnaking dead last by a huge margin in team wOBA against righties. Their .268 mark is almost twenty points behind the next closest team. Cueto hasn't been as good as his sub two ERA would suggest, with the xFIP coming in more than a run behind. But this also isn't the game a guy regresses. His nearly 4:1 K: BB rate is solid and the park is a pitcher's dream. Great cash game play today.

Julio Teheran FanDuel 9200 DraftKings 10000 DraftStreet 23200
I haven't been a big believer in Teheran, thinking some of his early season success was a bit smoke and mirrors. What is a real thing is his crazy low walk rate that allows him to pitch late into games. This helps boost those game-to-game strikeout numbers. The Mets are in the bottom five in the league in team OPS against righties and I think Teheran should be able to go deep in this one against a sputtering offense.

Cole Hamels FanDuel 9000 DraftKings 10600 DraftStreet 20256
This is if you are looking for some big K upside on the day. The Marlins strikeout nearly a quarter of the time against lefties and the ballpark should definitely help Hamels today. Hamels, when not dealing with injury, is one of the steadier pitchers in the games and basically gives repeat performances every single season. K's more than a batter an inning. Limits, to some degree, the walks and the xFIP sits consistently in the mid 3's. The Marlins can put the bat on the ball with power, so limit your excitement some.

Jake Odorizzi FanDuel 6900 DraftKings 8000 DraftStreet 15336
No one is questioning the strikeout potential. His K/9 sits up there with the best in the game. The problem for him is the walks. He surrenders too many free passes to work late into games. You might want to take a chance on him today simply because he has the highest K upside of any middle tier pitcher. The matchup and the park are far from ideal, and I think I'll be paying up pitching today. But if you want to raise your basement on a cheap pitcher, insane amounts of K's are the way to do it.

Catchers

Brian McCann FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 3600 DraftStreet 4913
Kind of hate the matchup considering I just threw out Odorizzi above, but McCann's price is simply too low to ignore. The Babip and HR/FB% are due to regress (fingers crossed) and though the K potential is high here, Odorizzi's stuff is built on a certain element of wild and McCann could see a free pass or two. The ballpark is always a factor and I'm buying here almost primarily on price across the industry.

Chris Iannetta FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 3500 DraftStreet 6780
Love picking on some John Danks. I'd be surprised if anyone has recommended (for better or worse) more Batters v. Danks stacks in the industry. Iannetta and Conger split time so check who is starting, but catch is awfully weak today and Iannetta has a great walk rate on the season. He K's a lot too, but that expectation is limited when facing Danks.

Wilson Ramos FanDuel 3000 DraftKings 4000 DraftStreet 6462
Three straight days of Rockies lefties, three straight days of me stacking Nats righties. It's just good science and really hasn't let me down yet. I don't suspect it does today either. Ramos is much better against lefties and Matzek is a used-to-be-prospect who doesn't generate swing and miss stuff.

First Basemen

Chris Davis FanDuel 3200 DraftKings 5400 DraftStreet 6046
Has for sure struggled a little this season to live up to the lofty heights his home run balls sailed to last season. That's fine though. We'll take a bad spell to buy low on the guy, especially when facing some guy names Miles Mikolas, a dude who wasn't interested in striking people out on the minor league level and unfortunately that interest doesn't typically increase as one hits the bigs. Crush is such a huge value today considering the batted ball profile remains intact.

Mark Reynolds FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 4100 DraftStreet 5589
Is actually pretty platoon neutral for his career. And those splits are propped up mostly on the long ball. He needs to go yard to provide value. Thankfully the Rogers Centre plays among the best in the league for righty power and J.A. Happ is a mid 4's xFIP guy with a penchant for letting up the long ball. This is a nice cheap option.

Jon Singleton FanDuel 2700 DraftKings 3700 DraftStreet 3675
Always tough when Chris Young and John Danks pitch on the same day because I want to pick on both of them. One reason I like Singleton today is that his big issue since getting to the bigs (and really since he hit pro ball) is his crazy high strikeout rate. He K's way to much to consider on a daily basis. But when facing a guy like Young, whose K rate is so low you can take a shot at Singleton on some moderate power upside and super cheap prices.

Consider Albert Pujols

Second Basemen

Brian Dozier FanDuel 3300 DraftKings 4400 DraftStreet 7618
A dude with splits really favoring lefties, Dozier provides the perfect combination of power and speed that boosts a player's floor on any given day because he can provide value along a number of different avenues. He's in a bit of a power drought which has the price down and against Jason Vargas you can assume Dozier will at least have the ball in play.

Dustin Pedroia FanDuel 3200 DraftKings 4400 DraftStreet 5878
I want to believe it's all going to come around. And really, against lefties it has. He's been more than effective against them this season and that part of the split isn't at the root of his larger problems. Which in some ways is good news on a day like today when facing a mediocre pitcher like Travis Wood because the price is deflated because of his ineffectiveness against righties.

Howie Kendrick FanDuel 3100 DraftKings 4200 DraftStreet 7329
Let's keep picking on Danks. I think the Angels are in for a big game today as Danks will have to roll through a lineup primarily populated with righties. Dude's wOBA against righties this season is .344 and Kendrick will hit around the middle of the lineup with a split that favors slugging against lefties.

Consider Anthony Rendon

Shortstops

Xander Bogaerts FanDuel 2700 DraftKings 3800 DraftStreet 3288
Is going through a rough patch for sure, making us all take a step back from the proclamations about his future value. Granted one bad stretch does not a bust make and I'm willing to buy some on the early successes he showed against lefties. He still has around an .800 OPS on the season against southpaws and Travis Wood is the definition of average.

Jean Segura FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 3800 DraftStreet 4667
Is better against lefties and playing in the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre makes more than one member of the Brewers an enticing play today. This will be one team you see stacked quite a bit. I like Segura’s speed upside always and he has just enough power to make the ceiling quite high considering the ballpark plays strong for righty bats. Happ is no ace (understatement) and I’ll take Segura at near punt prices on the day.

Ian Desmond FanDuel 3300 DraftKings 4400 DraftStreet 5207
Starting to feel very much like a broken record here but hey, I didn’t choose the Rockies’ rotation for this series. The Nationals have taken full advantage of Colorado’s choice to send three subpar lefties at them. Desmond is another guy heavy on the LvR split and has the power/speed combination that gives him a solid expectation on the day against Matzek.

Consider Jonathan Villar

Third Basemen

So, so much value here today. I’m just going to fire them off. No wrong way to go really

Aramis Ramirez FanDuel 3700 DraftKings 5000 DraftStreet 7978
Has been really hammering lefties this season with a 211 wRC+ and .479 wOBA. Those numbers are outpacing his career averages for sure, but he's had a platoon split that favors lefty pitching so it's all good. The Brewers as a whole look nice to stack against Happ in Toronto. Aramiz is coming at a discount on FanDuel and is in play on DraftKing and DraftStreet.

Ryan Zimmerman FanDuel 3300 DraftKings 4500 DraftStreet 7126
Just another Nat having a nice series against the lefties of Colorado. What else is new? I'm repeating myself for the third day in a row on this, but again, Zimmerman is definitely a guy to target against lefties and his price hasn't come close to catching up in some spots, especially FanDuel.

David Freese FanDuel 2400 DraftKings 3600 DraftStreet 4989
A cheaper option if you want to save here. Freese hits much better against lefties and this season has a .330 wOBA and 112 wRC+ against that hand. Those numbers won't blow you away necessarily, but neither will the prices. He's very cheap across the industry and on FanDuel is close to the minimum.

Evan Longoria FanDuel 3600 DraftKings 4800 DraftStreet 7036
Haven't talked about him in a while mostly because he's been pretty underwhelming this season. In fact, he's really struggled mostly because of an increased ground ball rate. But his struggles aren't because of lefty pitching. There he's more than getting the job done. He's OPS'ing over .900 against southpaws and I love this play today because he's falling off of radars because of his inability to hit righty pitching all of a sudden.

Outfielders

Jayson Werth FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 4100 DraftStreet 6400
Price hasn’t corrected everywhere and honestly, even where it has Werth is still a deal. We had him headline our top plays yesterday and he held up his end of the theoretical bargain, going yard and scoring a few runs. We will take it and I’m rolling him back out there tonight, especially on FanDuel where he remains less than 3K. What a deal for a guy who mashes lefties. Even this season, where is numbers are down some the 145 wRC+ speaks to a guy who much prefers hitting this hand.

Jacoby Ellsbury FanDuel 3600 DraftKings 4500 DraftStreet 6600
I’m looking for Ellsbury to get on base against Odorizzi and do his thing. It also stands to reason that the Yankees will play much of this game against the Rays’ bullpen as Odorizzi’s struggles with command are a real thing. Of course the strike out factor is in play here as that limits Ellsbury’s ultimate upside when one of the three true outcomes means no chance to do anything else. But the price is cheap for a guy who (at times) hits for a little power and who is always a threat to swipe a bag or two.

Alex Gordon FanDuel 3100 DraftKings 4400 DraftStreet 6807
He's having a solid season with the bat and is a guy I actually haven't put into the picks too many times this season. Gordon can do a little bit everything on offense which provides bits of safety when putting him into cash games. And this season he's been all over righty pitching which is good because Kevin Correia is the type of pitcher who wants the ball put in play.

Ryan Braun FanDuel 5000 DraftKings 5900 DraftStreet 9225
Carlos Gomez FanDuel 4300 DraftKings 4800 DraftStreet 8688
Khris Davis FanDuel 3700 DraftKings 4000 DraftStreet 6309
To go with all of your Brewer-stacking needs. These three guys are significantly better on that side of the split and all over crazy high upside because of the power. Gomez adds the speed, but he'll also cost you. Can you tell our system hates J.A. Happ and loves the Rogers Centre?

Yasiel Puig FanDuel 3800 DraftKings 4800 DraftStreet 7238
Not a bad time to take a shot on Puig even against the righty. His price has come down across the board recently and this feels like a great time to buy on the guy.

Consider Oswaldo Arcia
To go
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