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Daily Fantasy Baseball News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 4/11/16
Welcome to the daily MLB updates and news article. We'll try and update it right up to line-up locks with as much information as comes across our desks. Let's get to it!
Last night's picks can be found here, so you can wrap your mind around what you need to be looking at before lineups lock today.
By the way - we keep our projection system updated with all of the batting lineup changes as they occur throughout the day right up until lineup lock. Every day. If you want access to that system so you can cut out a lot of the research element, click the button below!
What We Know
Only one weather concern
After a few rough days, it looks like the weather is finally going to slow down. This makes it much easier to build a roster without wondering whether or not a certain game is worth the risk. The only game that is worth paying attention to today is the Brewers @ Cardinals. It is looking like it should be fine but weather can change in an instant.
Matt Joyce is hitting 3rd
Matt Joyce has been inserted into the Pirates lineup and is batting 3rd against Justin Verlander. Joyce is a player that has crushed right handed pitching to a 121 wRC+ over the course of his career. While Justin Verlander is not a pitcher I like to pick on. the price on Joyce just may be too good to pass up.
Tournament Stacks
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers are in a terrific spot as a whole today against a weak left handed pitcher in Jon Niese. The Tigers hit southpaws extremely well as 8 of the 9 hitters in the lineup have a wRC+ of 100 or higher against them. Niese exhibited a .330 wOBA to righties and his peripheral stats did not shown any sign of improvement. The Tigers are going to tee off on Niese today and you need to have some exposure at the very least. My favorite 4 Tigers are Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler, Victor Martinez and Justin Upton.
Chicago Cubs
Here I am again writing up the Cubs as a good tournament stack. This is going to be a common trend as their offense is just so potent. The Cubs will be facing an average lefty in Brandon Finnegan tonight and will have no problem getting some runs across against him. Finnegan struggled against both sides of the plate last season evinced by his .320 combined wOBA. The Cubs are a team that will usually stagger lefties and righties to keep the pitcher on his toes. My favorite 4 Cubs tonight are Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler and Ben Zobrist.
Sneaky Pitcher
Aaron Nola FD 6800 DK 8600
Opponent - SD (Cashner) Park - @PHI
FD - 30.18 DK - 16.27
Nola is facing off against the lowly San Diego Padres in a game with a 7.5 over.under. The Phillies are also -128 so Vegas is expecting a win. Nola has showed strikeout upside in the past with some games over a 10 K/9 rate. This is the type of spot you want roster Nola in as there is no huge bat to be scared of. The Padres are coming out of Coors which is another factor I like to target. Nola is certainly more of a tournament play due to his low floor and high ceiling.
The "Every Lineup" Guys
Bryce Harper FD 5200 DK 5300
Opponent - ATL (Norris) Park - @WSH
FD - 15.88 DK - 12.39
I don't see any way around Playing Harper in ash today. I could see the tournament fade for the sole reason that tjis baseball, but I am personally not gonna go there. Bud Norris and Bryce Harper have a combined wOBA of .379 and Harper had a 207 wRC+ last year against righties. This is an average ballpark so that does not move the needle too much for me. get Harper into your lineups and watch him do his thing.
Robinson Cano FD 3800 DK 4600
Opponent - TEX (Lewis) Park - @SEA
FD - 12.91 DK - 10.31
Adam Lind FD 2300 DK 3800
Opponent - TEX (Lewis) Park - @SEA
FD - 12.38 DK - 9.81
I am not too sure how Colby Lewis is still in baseball, let alone a starting pitcher in the MLB. He is absolutely atrocious against everyone and somehow worse than that against lefties. The Mariners lefties are in a tremendous spot and these two are my favorite. Lind and Cano both have over a 140 wRC+ against righties over the course of their respective careers. Lind is at such a cheap price it is so hard not to just plug him and spend up elsewhere. I am comfortable with these guys in both cash and tournaments as they have a high floor and great ceiling.
John Jaso FD 2700 DK 3500
Opponent - DET (Greene) Park - @DET
FD - 13.57 DK - 10.75
The Optimizer is really loving John Jaso today against an average righty who struggles against lefties. As mentioned above, Verlander is not a pitcher I pick on a ton but you can find spots to attack him in. Verlander gave up a .268 wOBA and 4.42 xFIP to lefties last season. That basically shows he is due for some serious regression. There is no chance he is even close to that good this season and it is a good idea to attack him before people realize this. Jaso has always been a righty killer and has been a platoon guy for 3 years. Jaso has a 130+ wRC+ in 3 straight seasons against righties. I prefer Jaso in cash as he doesn't have too much pop.
One other note: There are big differences between DraftKings and FanDuel pricing so the optimal lineups are looking quite different.
These are players that show up in each of the top 10 lineups as produced by our lineup optimizer. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're "safe," it just means that their projected weighted-mean point total is a solid building block for a great lineup foundation today.
Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below of our lineup optimizer, on us!
30 Visitor Comments
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Damn you found my sleeper pick Joyce in the mix. I have him starting in 50% of my lineups. Verlander scares me but Joyce has a career 17 AB 6 Hits 2 HR 6 K’s .353 Average, 1.186 OPS against him.
Worth a shot at this price range in a 3rd spot and 9-15 mph right to left winds.
FD early only. Do you go cheap on Pitcher?
Personally, I’m playing Price in all cash game lineups. But Nola is a solid option considering the price.
20 mph winds blowing towards the green monster. Does this change your opinion on Price at all for cash? Thank!
While not ideal, it isn’t enough for me to come down off him considering how far and away he is projected over the other pitchers on the slate. Even if you gave Price say 20% less production because of the wind (which I think is extreme) he’d still be in the top overall lineup.
But I understand the hesitation of course.
Joyce already with 6 points on his 1st at bat. Already paid for himself at that price point.
Thanks for the Joyce and Jaso recommendations lmao LOVING IT!!!!!
Great call on the Tigers bombing Niese….
I can’t seem to fit Scherzer & Harper in the same lineup for the main slate. Are there any punts or other pitchers your fond of?
Thanks!
I can’t believer Verlander is still in the game!! But I’m really glad he is!
He just got pulled for VerHagan.
I hate u Detroit
Dang I spoke too soon ha. Here’s my prediction- Detroit is going to come storming back in this game. Everybody with Tiger stacks are going to be ok.
BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
Still hate u det the one tiger I don’t have and everyone else does lol wow
so… I love you guys… I really do… but the early slate optimized lineup???…………. wow… lol its like so bad? hahaha lets get it on the main slate… 12fdp total currently lol
Things not going according to plan. But from a numbers perspective it looked great. I went heavier on this slate than normal simply because much of the narrative fit what system was pumping out. Loved it going in. It happens.
I totally understand… The life of DFS… And MLB. And to totally be honest and optimistic. We still have a lot of baseball left!!! Let’s get it!
Not looking as bad anymore. FD going to bubble, DK should get home with Wacha win.
Welp. You can’t win em all.
Any thoughts on my above Sherzer/Harper question?
Sorry. Which site?
No problem- FD.
Thanks!
I don’t mind some cheap Astros like Tucker or even Valbuena though the lineup positions aren’t great. Aoki and Lind not bad either but not great ballpark.
I’m looking for a shot in the dark lineup and I want a pitcher from the Marlins vs Mets game. I want to risk it on Cosart and give the kid a chance since the Mets bats have been slow lately. If I go with Matz the Marlins are batting .500 against lefties. What should I do I want a cheap pitcher that should get the win any advice?
I love the Optimizer bc I can take out players – I personally thought Price was gonna blow up, and I played Nola/Wacha but I wish I didn’t play any DET players
I played Matz tonight, do even know whether to check my line up later, right now I’m sitting at -13 points after picking him
Yup matz single handedly screwing me out of this contest… Smh
Thanks Doug. Went Nola on early only FD single mlb bunt. $1 turned inton 10. Finished 50 out of 9000. And I had no points at catcher. Smh. Went Weiters. Only Oriole that didn’t hit.