Daily Fantasy Baseball News & Updates for FanDuel & DraftKings - 8/11/16

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

Another noon start opens up a six-game early slate today, followed by a four-gamer tonight dominated by pitching. Lineups are rolling in, so let's get to it.

Personnel

• Ryan Braun is taking a seat in Milwaukee's series finale with the Braves. Kirk Nieuwenhies will start in LF and hit fifth.
• Yasmany Tomas will sit for the third straight game as he continues to deal with a neck issue. Socrates Brito will be in RF, with Brandon Drury in LF.
• Curtis Granderson is getting the day off and will be replaced by Alejandro De Aza atop the Mets lineup.
• Matt Kemp is getting the day off for the Braves. Jeff Francoeur will be in LF, with Nick Markakis in RF.
• X-rays came back negative on David Ortiz's shin after the slugger fouled a ball off of his leg last night. Nonetheless, he's expected to be out tonight after he had to be helped off the field.
• Mookie Betts also left last night's game due to a calf issue and is considered day-to-day for now.
• Francisco Cervelli left last night's game with a wrist issue and it would be a surprise to see him back out there today. We're still waiting for the Pirates lineup as of this writing, though.
• Jose Bautista is back on the DL for the Blue Jays with a knee injury. That leaves Toronto short-handed in the OF, as Ezequiel Carrera is still working his way back from an Achilles injury.

Tournament Stacks

Texas Rangers
If you've read today's picks column, you probably knew this was coming. The projection system is all over the Rangers bats today, and Vegas agrees with the optimism, putting Texas as the highest total on the board today. As we mentioned in the picks, it's not all about picking on Chad Bettis—but that's definitely part of the equation. He's a league-average guy, and the new Rangers lineup has potent bats throughout. Equally important is the park, which is one of the best offensive hitting environments in baseball, especially on a day like today, where temperatures are expected to be in the high 90s. Heat and humidity favors offenses, and despite some concern that recent architectural changes might have changed the park's profile, it still ranks among the leagues best places to hit both this season and over the last three years combined. Bettis doesn't give up a ton of homers, but he actually surrenders more away from Coors Field (1.3 per 9), and with a .353 wOBA allowed to righties this season and career xFIP north of 4.00 against lefties, there's plenty to like in this matchup for Texas.

Pittsburgh Pirates
This one might test your willpower, because lots of us got burned last night when the Bucs nearly went 0-fer against Edwin Jackson. It was bad. Seven innings, 7 Ks and two hits against a guy who hasn't been a good pitcher since 2011. We talk a lot about recency bias in DFS, and it's a real thing. It's going to take a steady hand to put aside last night's mess and roll out the Pirates bats again today. But we think that's what you should do. And, if we may appeal to a higher authority, Vegas apparently agrees, as Pittsburgh's projected total is over 5, making it the highest on the slate outside of Globe Life Park. Speaking of parks: PNC is not typically a place where we like to stack, but our options are limited today. Other than Globe Life, only Miller Park and Cleveland's Progressive Field profile as favorable to hitters. So on this kind of slate and with a weak lefty on the mound, we're OK with using the Pirates at home. Pittsburgh is tied for third in MLB in wRC+ against southpaws this year, and Christian Friedrich is a fine guy to pick on, with a 4.81 xFIP this season. Feel free to use pretty much anybody here. To varying degrees depending on lineup slots, guys like David Freese and Jordy Mercer are in play because they hit lefties well, and Friedrich actually gives up better power numbers against lefties, so Gregory Polanco deserves consideration as well.

Sneaky Pitcher

Eduardo Rodriguez

Ok, it's not exactly sneaky to recommend a lefty against the Yankees, especially in the post-Beltran days. And on DraftKings, where he's dirt cheap, we think E-Rod could be a highly popular SP2 choice. But on one-pitcher sites like FanDuel, we think he might slip through the cracks just a little, as people flock toward more reliable options like Jon Lester, Corey Kluber and Danny Duffy. And yeah, those guys are probably where you want to look for cash games, but we think Rodriguez can get you good value while allowing you to pay up for bats in tournaments. His 2016 results have been all over the map (and mostly really bad). He has shown glimmers of the guy who was solid in 21 rookie starts last year, but he hasn't put up back-to-back quality starts all season. We're hoping that helps suppress his ownership, and that he recaptures some of his 2015 stuff tonight, because he's in a pretty good spot. The Yankees lineup has been notoriously weak against southpaws this season, and what they gained in the recent call-up of righty power prospect Gary Sanchez, they more than gave away when they shipped Carlos Beltran to Texas. So this is a vulnerable lineup, and Rodriguez got the best of them when hey faced off last month (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R), but true to his 2016 form, he's had only one good start since then. Bottom line: the potential comes in equal proportion to the risk, but we think the upside is worth it in a couple of your GPP lineups.

The "Every Lineup" Guys

Noah Syndergaard

While you've got a few solid options to choose from tonight, the same can't be said for pitching on the early slate. Yeah, you could go with Jameson Taillon or Chris Tillman if you want to fade the chalk, but we can't see going that route in cash games. Syndergaard hasn't been his most-dominant self lately, and the recent rise in his walk rate is somewhat worrisome, but we're not overly concerned. In the five-start stretch in which his command has dipped, he's still striking more than 10 per 9 and has an xFIP of 3.16. So "struggling" Syndergaard is still significantly better than every other guy on the early slate, and while you'll have to pay for him, nobody else comes with a floor or a ceiling as high.

Shin-Soo Choo

Finally healthy (*knocks on wood*), there's still time for Choo to salvage his injury-wrecked 2016 and remind us why the projection system remains so high on him. In terms of projected points, Choo is second only to David Ortiz (who will probably be out) today, and until digging in a little bit, it might be easy to forget why. He posted a .396 xFIP and .216 ISO against RHP last season, and he appears to be rounding into form since coming off of his most recent DL stint. He should be in good spot here today, hitting at the top of the lineup in the best park and for the best projected offense on either slate. Chad Bettis has done a good job of limiting lefty power this season, but we're not really home run hunting with Choo. The upside here comes from the likelihood of getting on base multiple times, and the run-scoring opportunities that should be available if the lineup turns over at the rate it's expected to. If he puts one in the seats, it's just bonus.

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!