Hopefully you had a solid weekend. Solid like a Rougned Odor right hook! Now, THAT was some chin music!! I didn’t tune in much since weekends, for me, are centered more around kids’ activities, running errands, and a little of my own recreational sports mixed in. For us, this weekend was very solid. Friday night was chill with some cocktails on the patio, Saturday had a cheerleading/school parade and festival for my daughter that led into some friends coming over for dinner…..and more cocktails, Sunday was some afternoon old-man softball with another set of friends that bled into a backyard BBQ….and more cocktails. So, while the liver and social life need a break, I’m jonesing to get back into a little DFS for the weekly grind. Notice nowhere in there did I mention a work week or grinding my job or any of that bullshit. Priorities, dudes, priorities!
**Editors Note** We are running our Summer DFS Army promotion right now where you can lock in your membership at 20% off the regular monthly rate. Check out the details HERE. In addition, we worked out a great promotion with our friends at Draftkings. Now through the end of May, you get a $25 Ticket Pack when you register for a new depositing Draftkings account via the link below. To sweeten the pot we are throwing in a free month of DFS Army membership as well!
Another nice sized slate of 9 games. Nothing immediately stands out as too juicy to pass up here other than Shoemaker taking on the Dodgers….which means Kenta Maeda is drawing a nice shot at a win. Let’s look a bit deeper….
You actually have a decent choice of multiple slates today. If you want the early only, you get 6 games (the 6 and 7 pm starts from CLE down to MIN). If you want the main slate, you get 8 games only excluding the CLE game at 6 pm. Either slate looks to be of decent size and playability.
Weather Concerns: KCR – I can speak from living in STL that across Missouri we are expecting slow, steady rain for about 36 hrs here off and on. I really don’t know if that will PPD the game in KC, but I can tell you I’m not messing with it at all. DET game looks fine despite having a yellow designation.
CIN@CLE – Both pitchers off my radar today. I’m not sure how I feel about targeting Lamb, but I think we need to look into targeting Cody Anderson. He may be a heavy favorite, but he carries a SIERA approaching 5.00, which means he can be tagged. Cody left his last game early with leg cramps and had this start pushed back. I’m guessing he’s also not at 100% right now. CLE is affordable, too. Anderson hasn’t made it through 6 innings since early April and hasn’t scored 20 fantasy points in his last 6 starts. That’s indicative of a guy giving up earned runs. Newsflash, if a dude is giving them up in bunches, like his 7.31 ERA suggests, you best be looking to grab some. This is a secure spot to target imo. I won’t be doing much with CIN bats, but I’ll look into them a little.
ATL@PIT – Again, neither pitcher are really on my radar. Niese happens to be a contact guy, otherwise I might be on him for cheap. I’m certainly not targeting him with ATL bats. Williams Perez, however, is one of the shittier pitchers on the slate. Again, he’s target worthy. High SIERA and low strikeouts make for a target we should get a little scratch out of. There are whispers that he “found something” from his recent recall to the majors, but he doesn’t typically string great starts together for long. I’m not afraid to roster up some Bucco Bats here. Raise that Jolly Roger!! I’m comin’ aboard for ye wenches.
BOS@KCR – Off it due to weather, and it pisses me off.
MIA@PHI – I might look at Eickhoff under different circumstances, but I’m not attacking the Marlins offense right now. I’m not rostering Phillies either. Neither pitcher is great, but neither is a complete schmoe. Fading this game.
TBR@TOR – I’m not terribly interested in this one, either. I might roster Smyly some in GPPs since he can strike hitters out and the Jays swing and miss at a clip of around 23%, 5th most of the slate. He’s not Vegas approved, so I don’t think he’ll be terribly popular. But, JA Happ is competent as well and the Rays carry a slightly better strikeout ranking if you roster Happ since they are currently ranked 2nd on the slate at 24%. I’m looking for weaker pitching but I might dip into this game here and there for bats, too. But, competent pitching isn’t what we look to target unless willing to gambool it up a bit.
MIN@DET – Zimmerman is too expensive imo considering we have Maeda and Smyly on the slate for cheaper. But, he’s not in a terrible spot. You just need to know what you are getting from him. If you don’t know, you may as well save some money and gamble on the cheaper pitcher in a comparable spot, otherwise I just see it as foolishly wasting money. He has 50+ upside, but has only brought you 20 in his past two starts. Your call. Again, I’m not targeting him, though with bats. I’m not targeting Berrios either. Berrios has some upside with K potential, but I’m not confident enough in him to put him in as my pitcher. Maybe on DK where I have to roster 2 of them, but it still makes me reach for the Tums.
NYY@ARI – This is your highest scoring game on the slate. I’m not on the pitchers here. I am looking for bats, but am not super excited about the game. I will have some exposure, but I’m not sure how much. The lefty Yanks are in play in this homerun hitters park. I’d love to be more excited about DBacks, but they haven’t looked very good for a week or two now and make me want to look elsewhere first until they draw a super crap pitcher, which I’m not willing to call Pineda just yet.
TEX@OAK – Holland and Manena both suck. I wish the game was in TEX and I’d be stacking it. Since it’s not, I’m more inclined to limit my exposure. I will have some again, but it will be of the non-stacked variety. I’m off the pitchers if you didn’t pick up on that.
LAA@LAD – This is the game I’m targeting, honestly. Shoemaker really sucks. I’m all over some Dodger bats in conjunction with some of the other games I mentioned I sort of liked. I’m not full stacking them but I will be grabbing pieces here and there from the game. I’d like to see some Cory Seager and Chase Utley the most, but all or more or less in play using a combo of the matchup and the prices. I also love Kenta Meada here. Even though LAA doesn’t swing and miss much, their offense isn’t a significant threat, Vegas loves Maeda here, and he can strike batters out when “on.” So, that combo, along with his price, has me looking to him first in cash games. Hopefully everyone just runs to Zimmerman’s 10k tag and I get Maeda for 2k less, a little lower ownership, and Zimmerman implodes. Might be wishful thinking, but….. I have a dream!! LAA bats suck, get off them tonight.
NEW FEATURE: In the narcissistic society we live in, we all try to come up with cute nicknames and whatnot. For some reason, I had fun last year with making every name fun and attaching “dong” to the end of it when they hit one out. My brother and I texted back and forth last season and tried to get creative as hell with the innuendo buried deep in the names. It seems to fit in using my own name inside the DFS Army, ChoppoDong, to make some sort of Dong of the Day call here. So, for Monday, I like the idea of……
That’s right. I give you the KangDong tonight. If you like the idea of playing with Dongs, then you and I might be……………baseball…………………friends. Nothing more. Get that mind out of the gutter!
Pirates Twins Baseball
That’s your rundown. Like I say you can find me inside dfsarmy.com or follow me @choppography on Twitter. There will be player picks, a litany of stats released, and cheatsheets given out to our subscribers as well where we not only talk a lot of smack, but also teach players how to build their own competitive lineups instead of just reaching out and buying them and finding out they are only tying others in tourneys because others did the same lazy thing. We also have a podcast hitting the air shortly, so there’s plenty of jibber jabber for you to follow as your work week begins. Later peeps. Hooah!