As usual, every baseball team is in action on Saturday. Six-game evening contests (7:10 ET) at DraftKings feature three of baseball’s best pitchers. Clayton Kershaw $12400, Felix Hernandez $11500 and David Price $10200 are all capable of scoring 30-40 FPTS; pick two and hunt for bargain bats.
Expecting the Tigers to provide plenty of run support against John Danks $5700 makes me lean to Price over Kershaw. (That also leaves almost $300 more to spend on each hitter.) King Felix is an excellent bet to bounce back from a rare off-night.
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Turbo contests span just four games and close at 4:05. Strategy there depends on whether you like Ubaldo Jimenez $7100 or Danny Salazar $8800 in Cleveland. I wish Jesse Chavez $6600 was pitching at home but there’s one other option — because Odrisamer Despaigne has been bumped to Sunday, Andrew Cashner $7800 moves up to start today.
Early contests (eight games, 1:07) add the likes of Madison Bumgarner $10500 and Yordano Ventura $7900 to the Turbo pitchers. Drew Hutchison $7000 is much better than he showed last start, so it’s tempting to take a strong position on the Blue Jays, whose RH batters should feast on Brett Oberholzer $5200. That’s our focus today in the sample lineup and Short List.
Russell Martin $4100 gets the nod over Buster Posey $4500 at C. Although Matt Wieters $3700 returned yesterday (2-for-3, 2 RBI) he is not expected to catch in back-to-back games for a while. If he’s the DH, he’s worth considering. Jonathan Lucroy $3500 went deep last night and appears fully healthy again.
Edwin Encarnacion $4700 is a 1B possibility despite a .218 AVG and a tender hamstring. We touted Adam Lind $4400 yesterday (34 FPTS) and are torn between him and Brandon Belt $4300 this afternoon.
Dustin Pedroia $4200 continues to hit every bit as well as the most expensive 2B — .415/.425/.690 over ten games — and if you are looking for a cheap bat, 2B/3B Cory Spangenberg $2900 has five hits and two walks in his last three starts.
At third, everything points to Josh Donaldson $5200 at home against a lefty. Rookie Joey Gallo $3500 took the infamous Golden Sombrero last night (4 K in as many AB) but is also a home run threat on every swing.
We can’t spend top dollar at every position, or Troy Tulowitzki $5300 would be an automatic pick at SS. I’m tempted to save there with Alcides Escobar $3900 or Xander Bogaerts $3600.
As predicted, Giancarlo Stanton $5700 went deep in Colorado last night and has a great matchup as he tries to homer in a fourth straight game today. Again, being budget-conscious in order to afford MadBum, we are shopping for value in the OF. Jose Bautista $4900 is hard to ignore, and Justin Upton $4600 is a nice price, but less-expensive options are plentiful. Gerardo Parra $3300 will play every day for the Brewers until Khris Davis (knee) returns, Chris Colabello $3400 could be in the middle of multiple rallies in Toronto and regular readers already know about my DFS man-crush on Billy Burns $3800.
Pos | Premium | Bargain |
SP1 | Madison Bumgarner $10500 | Andrew Cashner $7800 |
SP2 | Yordano Ventura $7900 | Drew Hutchison $7000 |
C | Russell Martin $4100 | Jonathan Lucroy $3500 |
1B | Adam Lind $4400 | Brandon Belt $4300 |
2B | Dustin Pedroia $4200 | Cory Spangenberg $2900 |
3B | Josh Donaldson $5200 | Joey Gallo $3500 |
SS | Troy Tulowitzki $5300 | Xander Bogaerts $3600 |
OF1 | Giancarlo Stanton $5700 | Gerardo Parra $3300 |
OF2 | Jose Bautista $4900 | Billy Burns $3800 |
OF3 | Justin Upton $4600 | Chris Colabello $3400 |
The Fantasy Spin features DFS advice every day of the NBA season and we’re turning out attention to baseball for the summer. Follow Kent Williams @SheridanFantasy for updates.