Welcome back baseball fans. We have another wonky slate today where DraftKings has left out the Mets/Nationals and Orioles/Yankees game while FanDuel has an all-day slate and has also included the Yankee game in their main slate. Let's look at some other pitcher and stack options for today.
We already highlighted David Price and Robbie Ray in our 4/5/18 picks article. We also highlighted the Seattle Mariners as a popular game stack at their respective team price points. Here we will look at some other (possible GPP) considerations.
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Early Slate
Opponent - PHI (Nick Pivetta) Park - PHI
FD - 24.51 DK - 12.81
After coming up through the Yankees farm system, Smith was traded to the Marlins in the offseason. While he struggled in 18.2 innings last year in pinstripes(7.71 ERA), he showed a lot of promise and strikeout potential with an 8.7 K/9 rate and 13% swinging strike rate. He showed that same promise in his first start for the Marlins as he went 5.1 innings against the Cubs allowing just four hits and striking out eight. More good news as today he will face a struggling Phillies team that has lost four of their five games and scored just four runs in their last three games and overall, lead the league with a ridiculous 29.6% K rate. All things considered, I think he makes an excellent salary relief SP2 on DraftKings and with his sub $6K price tag on FanDuel, he allows you to stack any team you wish in GPP formats.
Main Slate
Opponent - BAL (Andrew Cashner) Park - BAL
FD - 35.93 DK - 0
The main slate on DraftKings didn't include this game but if you are playing over on FanDuel, Tanaka makes an excellent target. She completely shut down the Jays in his first start allowing just three hits and one earned run while striking out eight and walking none. It was a nice rebound after a somewhat disappointing 2017 season where he posted a 4.74 ERA but the good news was that the xFIP(3.44) was over a full run lower and he also had an elite 15.1% swinging strike rate. He now gets a plus matchup vs. an Orioles team that has been a disaster to start the season losing five of their first six games while scoring just 14 runs, good for a .257 wOBA and 61 wRC+. I wrote up Robbie Ray in the main article to cover both sits but FanDuel players keep in mind that Tanaka is a much safer option tonight.
Early Slate
Chicago White Sox vs. Jordan Zimmerman (DET)
Opponent - DET (Jordan Zimmermann) Park - DET
FD - 11.38 DK - 8.68
Opponent - DET (Jordan Zimmermann) Park - DET
FD - 11.2 DK - 8.64
Opponent - DET (Jordan Zimmermann) Park - DET
FD - 12.27 DK - 9.36
Opponent - DET (Jordan Zimmermann) Park - DET
FD - 9.69 DK - 7.29
My favorite stack today is the Red Sox on the early slate vs. the unknown in Yonny Chirinos, especially with the wind blowing out to right over 20 mph. The problem, however, is the extremely high prices making it tough to get all them in a lineup so I will be turning to the "Pale Hose" who have started off the season red-hot with the second-best wOBA(.388), top wRC+(160) and lead the majors in home runs with 14.
It will definitely be key how they run their lineup out there but I will start with Yoan Moncada who should be a staple at the top of the order all season despite his early struggles. He has speed and even a bit of pop in his bat as well. Avisail Garcia took a big step last year and showed a ton of consistency hitting .330 in 561 plate appearance including 18 home runs, 80 RBI, and 75 runs scored. He was slightly better against lefties but the price is right if he remains in the two-hole today. Then comes the power bat in Jose Abreu who has tallied 25+ home runs and 100+ RBi in three straight seasons and already has two bombs in the early going. Right behind him is one of the biggest surprises of the season in Matt Davidson who has a three-homer game and sent his fourth out of the park yesterday in Toronto.
The White Sox have the highest implied runs of the early slate and some of that(ok most of it) has to do with the matchup against Jordan Zimmerman who has been a dumpster fire the last couple years posting ERA's of 4.87 and 6.08 while striking out less than six batters per nine innings. The home runs starting hurting as well last season as he gave up a career-high 39.5% hard contact against and 12.5% HR/FB rate.
Main Slate
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Homer Bailey (CIN)
Opponent - CIN (Homer Bailey) Park - CIN
FD - 10.77 DK - 8.39
Opponent - CIN (Homer Bailey) Park - CIN
FD - 11.18 DK - 8.56
Opponent - CIN (Homer Bailey) Park - CIN
FD - 1.33 DK - 1.04
Opponent - CIN (Homer Bailey) Park - CIN
FD - 11.09 DK - 8.42
The Pirates began a new era this season without longtime five-tool player Andrew McCutchen and, in my opinion, have started out pretty darn good. They won four straight games to kick off the 2018 campaign before losing tot he Twins last night and currently sit mid-pack in most offensive categories(.338 wOBA, 111 wRC+, .164 ISO). It is also promising that they are walking almost 12% of the time and striking out less than 18% of the time which bodes well in today's matchup.
They have the third highest implied runs on the main slate(including Yankees) and will be facing Homer Bailey of the Reds who hasn't posted a HR/FB rate under 10% since 2010 and has posted an ERA over 5.50 in three straight seasons. Josh Harrison starts things off in the leadoff position and has three multi-hit games to start the season(seven total hits) with seven runs scored. Gregory Polanco hasn't been as consistent to this point but does have upside and already has three doubles, a home run, and six RBI. Marte is having a slow start with just five hits to start the year but he has a ton of upside and speed and should be able to take advantage of this matchup. Finally, I wrote up Josh Bell in the main article and he is the primary cleanup hitter in Pittsburgh and has started red-hot with hits in all five games(eight total) and hit his first home run yesterday. The park is a bit of a downgrade when comparing it to Yankee Stadium or Miller Park and that should only help with the ownership even on a small slate.
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View Comments
Tanaka is a "she"...... He had a sex change in the offseason because everyone got tired of hearing about his "6 days rest" he's a better pitcher. only makes sense to refer to him as a woman... LOL!!!!!