FanDuel MLB DFS Tips for 8/22/15

Last night in the GPP contests, the top winners all had Jerad Eickhoff as their pitcher and his price was only $3000 and he got 15 points.

Of course every winner had Cespedes in their LU too and he had 28.75 points.

I was rank in the top 60 in a GPP and won $60 with Kendry Flores as my pitcher. Flores was $5000 and if I had picked Eickhoff instead, I would have won $1000!

I probably would have won the GPP and $5,000 since I would have $2000 more in salary if I took Eickhoff over Flores. Talk about a huge blunder. I would have had more salary space to pick up a better 1b than Billy Butler!

No use to beat myself up over this but it gets frustrating when there's such a big difference in money. I usually have 10 to 15 entries in GPPs.

At the end of the night, I often win from two bucks to $40 bucks and on a good night, I can make from $50 to $100. If I end up losing money, it only is about 5 to ten bucks and I do end up breaking even often.

You might want to target batters in small ballparks tonight such as in Baltimore, Cincy,  Boston, Houston, and Colorado.

Which pitchers do you go against and stack four hitters tonight? I like to have a stack against
Delgado and Chris Rusin. Delgado will be on a pitch limit and hopefully the Reds can score some runs and get some hits and homers against the Arizona pitchers.

Let's go over all the positions on Saturday.

Pitchers -

Greinke $12,500
Gray $10,700
Martinez $10.400

These are the three most expensive pitchers. Martinez and Gray get to pitch against weak offenses in great pitching environments while Greinke is on the road in Houston but the Astros strike out a lot.

I don't like Martinez that much now as he has not been pitching like an ace and the Cardinals are no lock to win the game since their offense is struggling due to injuries and Ian Kennedy can pitch well against them.

The A's are no lock to beat the Rays too with Erasmo Ramirez on the mound but Gray should subdue their lineup.

I might want to take Greinke over these two pitchers since I know the Dodgers are motivated to hit after getting no-hit last night and Kazmir has shown cracks of late.

Cheaper alternatives are Yordano Ventura at $8300 and Kennedy at $7900. Do I really trust Ventura pitching on the road? I don't but I like the price tag and maybe he can do some damage against the Red Sox bats.

Carlos Rodon of the White Sox is cheap at $6800 and I like his strikeout potential. He struck out 11 Angels two starts ago and he could be a good cheap option vs. the Mariners.

I will have one LU with Joe Ross of the Nats at $7300. He has pitched better at home and he can get a lot of strikeouts against the Brewers.

There's a lot of cheap and bad pitchers today and I only like Randy Wolf at $4700 and Matt Barnes at $4600. Wolf is a Tiger now and he has a lot to prove coming from the minors. Wolf is 39 years old and it's his birthday so why not take a flyer on him against the Rangers? He might only get me 5 points but I would load up on expensive hitters and hope one of them hits 3 homers like Cespedes!

Barnes has swing and miss stuff and he had 7 strikeouts in his last start against the Indians. 

Catcher -

You should go cheap on catcher today since there's not a lot of quality hitting catchers tonight. Caleb Joseph is $3400 and that's too much for me. D'Arnaud is $3900 just because he's hitting at Coors.

Hundley at $3300 for the Rockies is on some of my LUs against the lefty Niese.

I also like Victor martinez batting cleanup today.

First Base -

There are so many expensive hitters at 1B. I like Joey Votto at home against a subpar pitcher in Delgado.


Second Base -

Dee Gordon is expensive at $4200 but he's on fire and I would pick him up if I could.

Third Base -

Josh Donaldson is at $5700 and I think I want to avoid him today even though he is up against a lefty. The price tag is just too high for me and I'll take my chances that he won't get multiple homers today off Heaney.

Arenado is $5100 but of his 30 homers, only two of them have come against a lefty and Niese is pitching for the Mets.

I might go with Uribe at $3400 and save some $.

Shortstop -

Tulo at $3800 seems affordable and he's up against a lefty but Heaney isn't a bad pitcher at all.

A bargain at $2400 might be Johnny Pererta of the Cardinals. Kennedy has given up 26 homers this season.

Outfielders -

Harper, Cargo, and Cespedes are all $4900. Which one is the best pick of the three?

Jay Bruce at $2800 is cheap but when will he ever hit a homer again or get some doubles? He is in a major slump.

AJ Pollock had a big night on Friday but at $4400, I don't like him today against DeSclafani. Desclafani is only 7-8 but he's a decent pitcher and not a gas can.

FanDuel Lineup Constuction Tips for MLB for 8/21/15

I will be updating this blog entry throughout the day with more tips and advice for Friday's games.

We have a full slate tonight with 14 games so there is no need to worry about picking hitters with high ownership rates.

There are five aces on the mound tonight with Bumgarner, Price, Cueto, Sale, and Felix Hernandez.

Bumgarner goes up against the Pirates who do not hit lefties as well as righties. I'll have a LU with MadBum as my pitcher but he costs $12,800 and I know I won't get many big-time batters in my LU with him.

Sale goes up against the struggling Hernandez in Seattle while Price  pitches against the Angels on the road.

The Red Sox are on an offensive tear but Cueto can put an end to that tonight.

The Nationals return home after a long road trip out West and Gio Gonzalez could be a smart pick-up as the Brewers don't hit lefties well.

If you are looking for game stacks, you might want to take a close look at the Phillies/Marlins and the Mets/Rockies.

I don't know who these starting pitchers (Jared Eickoff and Kendry Flores) are in the Phillies/Marlins game and Bartolo Colon will be taking on Jonathan Gray at Coors.

Eickoff is only $3000 and Flores is $5000.  You might be tempted to make a LU with Eickoff and put in hitters such as Bryce Harper, Jose Bautista, and Carlos Gonzalez but I've realized that this idea doesn't seem to ever work out.

If you don't want to select any of the expensive aces, think about Chris Bassitt of Oakland who is throwing a lot of Ks and will face the Rays at home. Bassitt is only $7600.

I will be back later today with more tips and stats.

UPDATE: I am back with more stats and tips. Gio Gonzalez got rocked in San Francisco in his last start when he lost command of the strike zone but tonight he is at home where he has a 2.60 ERA and as I said previously, the Brewers don't hit lefties well.

Gonzalez knows he has to pitch better tonight as the Nationals' hitters might be tired coming off a long trip out West.

Another pitcher I like is Justin Verlander. Verlander is cheap at only $7700 and he can get you 7 innings and maybe 7 to 8 strikeouts tonight against the Rangers. I still believe in Verlander and I think he still has something left to prove this season.

Giants vs. Pirates 

I think the Giants are a sneaky stack tonight against Locke. The Giants are struggling on offense but I might take a chance with one LU and take four hitters from SF.

Marlon Byrd is 5-14 lifetime against Locke with a homer. Buster Posey always does damage against lefties and I'd include Matt Duffy and Brandon Crawford in my SF stack.

None of the Giants are on fire right now but Kelby Tomlinson is 8-20.

Aramis Ramirez is 6-18 lifetime with one homer against Bumgarner. Bumgarner is the hottest pitcher in the league right now and I would avoid all Pirates' hitters unless you want to fade him and go against the grain.


Nats vs. Brewers

Jimmy Nelson is weaker against left-handed hitters but the Nats don't have that many lefty hitters in their LU. Bryce Harper will cost you $4900.

I have a gut feeling that Gonzalez will pitch well so I won't have any Brewers in any of my LUs in GPPs.

Twins vs. Orioles

Tommy Milone has had a lot of success vs. the Orioles in his career so don't just assume the Orioles will crush this average lefty tonight.

The Twins are mashing right now and they get to hit once again in a small ballpark. Brian Dozier will be in my LUs as he hits well against lefties and is 5-13 in his career against Chen.

Chen has given up 24 homers this season and 21 of them have been to right-handed hitters.

Indians vs. Yankees

Carlos Carrasco and Masahiro Tanaka are two quality pitchers going against each other and I will assume both will pitch well tonight in a great pitching duel. This game will probably go down to the bullpens.

Rangers vs. Tigers

I really like Verlander tonight even though he is up against Colby Lewis. Lewis surprisingly has 13 wins! His ERA though is 4.49 and he can blow up at any time.

Victor Martinez is 9-17 with two doubles against Lewis while Miguel Cabrera and Rajai Davis have a combined 42 ABs against Lewis. Lewis won't be a mystery to most of the Tigers' batters.

Royals vs. Red Sox

Henry Owens struck out 10 batters in his last start but gave up 7 runs and 3 homers. Yes, I will have a Royals stack tonight!

Johnny Cueto is one of the best pitchers in baseball and I won't have any Red Sox hitter in any of my LUs.

Diamondbacks vs. Reds

I like taking hitters in small ballparks.  De la Rosa and Holmberg are both average pitchers.  This could be a 8-6 game but it could only be 5-4 as well. I just can't get a good read on these pitchers.

Wellington Castillo and Paul Goldschimdt has cooled off but AJ Pollock is still hot.

Joey Votto is 8 for his last 22.  Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce have been struggling and Brandon Phillips might be out for a few games.

Phillies vs Marlins

Eickhoff is one of the players the Phillies got in the Cole Hamels trade from the Rangers. He will be facing a red-hot Marlins offense led by Dee Gordon, Martin Prado, and Marcel Ozuna.

Dodgers vs. Astros

The Astros have not done much damage against lefties lately and Brett Anderson doesn't give up a ton of homers. The Astros have a lot of lefty hitters.

Jose Altuve is 13-33 but Carlos Gomez is 2-26 in the last 7 days.

Mike Fiers is a decent pitcher with good stuff and not a lot of history against many of the Dodgers.

Chase Utley might get the start today for the Dodgers and he is on a tear. I'll have Utley in some of my LUs if he starts.

Mets vs. Rockies

I'm looking to fade the 42-year-old Colon tonight at Coors. I don't know how much he has left and I will take four Rockies in a stack.

Jose Reyes and Nolan Arendo have been hitting well lately.

Gray for the Rockies has pitched well in three starts but he hasn't gone more than 6 innings yet.

Blue Jays vs. Angels

David Price is a true ace and I will have him in some GPPs. I won't select any Angels tonight.

We all know the Blue Jays smash lefties but Josh Donaldson is 2-16 lifetime against Hector Santiago and only Justin Smoak (5 for 8) has good numbers against Santiago.

Batter vs. Pitcher doesn't ever tell the whole story and you should never fully rely on previous history.

Rays. vs. Athletics

The A's are one of the worst teams against lefties but Billy Butler is 7-14 against Smyly.

Mark Canha is the hottest hitter for Oakland as he is 10-25 in the last week.

Chris Bassitt has improved this year and he has been striking out a lot of batters. He has the advantage tonight in that none of the Rays have ever hit against him.

White Sox vs. Mariners

Nelson Cruz has hit homers and is 6-13 against Sale and Mark Trumbo is 4-8.

King Felix has not pitched like an ace recently but he will be at home tonight and I know he will want to pitch well against Sale. I expect a pitching duel.

Cardinals vs. Padres

John Lackey is a solid pitcher for GPPs tonight as he gets to pitch in Petco Park. Andrew Cashner
has given up 12 homers to lefties this season.

The Cardinals have many injured players on offense and I expect a low-scoring game.

Matt Kemp is hot right now and is 11-23 for the past week.