Daily Fantasy Baseball News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/3/16

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

We've got a chance of rain in a few locations tonight, especially Baltimore and Chicago, so keep a close eye on the Yankees-Orioles and Red Sox-White Sox. But as of Tuesday morning, it looks like all 14 games on the main slate are in play.

Personnel

• Twins 3B Trevor Plouffe has been activated from the DL and is expected to rejoin the Minnesota lineup tonight.
• Brewers OF Domingo Santana was a (really) late scratch from Monday's lineup due to shoulder tightness and his availability for tonight's game is still up in the air as of this morning. Alex Presley filled in at RF and hit leadoff last night.
• Keep an eye on Ryan Braun-related news today. Milwaukee manager Craig Counsel said the slugging 32-year-old was dealing with some soreness after Monday's game. You'd never know it from the results, as he went 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI, a run scored and a walk last night.
• An MRI revealed that Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco has a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder that will require surgery at some point. Mesoraco said Monday that he hasn't decided if he'll opt for the season-ending surgery or try to play through it, but he's on the DL for now.
• A's 2B Jed Lowrie was out of the lineup Monday night due to a calf injury, but did enter the game as a pinch hitter. As of Tuesday morning, there's been no update on his status for tonight.
• John Lamb could get the start on the mound for Cincinnati tonight, as Jon Moscot is dealing with a shoulder injury. Lamb, who was scratched from his scheduled Triple-A start on Monday, has strikeout upside but was hit pretty hard in 10 starts at the big-league level last season.
• Giants 2B Joe Panik is reportedly nearing a return from a groin injury. He was available to pinch hit Monday, but didn't get the call.
• Giants OF Angel Pagan is expected to miss moretime this week due to a hamstring injury, but a DL stint might not be necessary.
• Cubs OF Jason Heyward missed Monday's game due to a sore wrist.
• OF Carlos Gomez could be nearing a return for the Astros. He ramped up activity yesterday, but sat for a third straight game.
• Reds SS Zack Cozart missed Monday's game due to a knee issue, but could be available tonight.

Tournament Stacks

Toronto Blue Jays
This one is automatic. Outside of Coors Field, hitting venues don't come much better than the Rogers Centre, and few teams are better equipped to mash a soft lefty than the Blue Jays. We're expecting to see high ownership rates on Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarancion and Troy Tulowitzki, which isn't ideal for tournaments. Then again, the matchup is so nice, they're going to be tough to fade.

San Francisco Giants
What the Giants lack in outright sluggers, they more than make up for in lineup depth. With solid options throughout the order, they rank among the National League's best in wOBA and wRC+, and they strike out less than any team in the majors other than the Angels (yeah, the Angels). Regardless of which Cincinnati hurler gets the call, we think virtually every bat in the San Francisco order is in play tonight, as the Great American Ballpark adds significant home run upside.

Sneaky Pitcher

Michael Wacha

He's not the sexiest name on the board, but he can get the job done—especially in a matchup at home against the Phillies. St. Louis is a very solid pitcher's park, and the Phils don't have the kind of lineup we would expect to overcome that disadvantage. They rank near the bottom of the league in wRC+ and team wOBA and strike out a little more than league average against right-handed pitching. Wacha isn't a big-time K guy, but he's worked at least six innings in each of his last four starts, and the Cards are a -165 favorite, which gives him nice potential to grab a W today. We'd like to see a little more savings, but we think he can exceed his middle-of-the-road price tag.

The "Every Lineup" Guys

Edwin Encarnacion

He's slumping right now, going 0 for his last 17. That's the bad news. The good news is that he's coming at an extreme discount on most sites, and he's in a great spot to break out against lefty Martin Perez in one of the majors' best venues for hitters. Perez owns a 4.96 xFIP this season and will be facing a Blue Jays lineup loaded with right-handed sluggers. Offense is expected, and Encarnacion should be right in the middle of it, hitting in his customary cleanup spot. His strikeout rate is up this year, but projection systems are calling for regression soon, and Perez doesn't strike people out anyway. And with Encarnacion's patient approach and home run upside, he makes a strong play in all formats.

Neil Walker

Walker is raking this season and there's not much in the peripheral stats to suggest he'll be cooling off soon. The torrid home run pace might not last, but even so it looks like the 30-year-old could be on his way to a career year for power numbers. The good thing about Walker is we don't necessarily need home runs to meet value. He's always been at his best from the left side of the plate, and Braves starter Matt Wisler has been terrible against left-handed hitting through 25 big-league appearances. The Mets are built to take advantage, and Walker should have ample run-producing opportunities. We'd like him more if he were to creep up on the order, but hitting from the six hole hasn't dinged his value so far this season and there's no reason to believe it will start tonight.

NOTE: On FanDuel, strongly consider Brandon Crawford. His price and sub-prime spot in the order makes him tougher to play on DraftKings, but we think he's well worth the $2,800 price on FD.

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!