Searching For the Free Square
In the game of Bingo, every card gets an empty spot in the middle called the “Free Square”. Since it’s the middle square, the free square is essentially the ideal spot from which to build lines around. In DFS we define the Free Square as the player to build your line-ups around. Generally, this player represents the closest we can find to a sure thing for the slate. This column is all about trying to identify the free square for a particular slate. We are going to be searching most often for one SP, one OF, and one IF. The type of player we are looking for that allows us to load up the rest of our lineup with high salary studs. Occasionally it will be a high priced stud in a great spot, The goal of this column is to use quantitative data to identify the free square for the days Daily Fantasy Baseball slate. Each slate we will take a deep look at three or four players which represent outsized value on the day’s slate of games and choose the one which best represents the top value and floor play to earn the title of the slates Free Square of the night.
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Recap
For our pitcher free square last night we had Carlos Martinez who ended up with 27.0 DKFP which was good enough for right around 3.4x value! For our infielder free square, we had Matt Carpenter who ended up with 23 DKFP which was good enough for 23 DKFP which was good enough for 6.4x value! For our outfielder free square, we had Kole Calhoun who had 2 DKFP.
Tonight
After a shorter slate yesterday we have a huge 15 game slate ahead of us for tonight. On the pitching side of things, we have Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, and Dallas Keuchel. On the hitting side of things, the teams with the highest implied run totals are the Houston Astros, Washington Nationals, and the Atlanta Braves.
Free Squares
- Chad Kuhl SP PIT ($6,800)
- Chad Kuhl and the Pittsburgh Pirates take on the Detroit Tigers tonight at home in PNC Park. The Pirates are currently -165 favorites and the Tigers have an implied run total sitting at right around 3.71 runs. Chad Kuhl has had quite the roller coaster season and always has the ability to strike out a ton of guys. He has the following advanced numbers on the season:.369 wOBA given up to righties, .295 wOBA given up to lefties, 19.1 K%, 9.8 BB%, .320 BABIP, 32.9 Hard%, 4.84 SIERA, and a 4.64 xFIP. He gets to take on the Detroit Tigers tonight who have been averaging right around 4.81 runs per game this season. They have the following ranks against right handed batters: 7th in BB%, 14th in K%, 22nd in OPS, 25th in ISO, 21st in wOBA, and 18th in wRC+. This is a solid matchup for Kuhl tonight as the Tigers have not been that solid against right handed pitchers this season. He is very affordable tonight and allows you to go get one of the higher priced aces tonight.
- Asdrubal Cabrera 2B/SS NYM ($3,400)
- Asdrubal Cabrera and New York Mets will take on the Texas Rangers and pitcher Andrew Cashner tonight at Citi Field. The Mets have an implied run total sitting at right around 4.55 runs. Asdrubal has had a decent year and he has been hitting righties pretty well this season. He has the following numbers vs. righties on the year: 10.3 BB%, 15.2 K%, .713 OPS, .156 ISO, .254 BABIP, .310 wOBA, 92 wRC+, and a 37.0 Hard%. He gets to face Andrew Cashner tonight who has the following numbers vs. left handed bats on the season: .93 HR/9, 12.8 K%, 12.3 BB%, .252 BABIP, 5.83 xFIP, and a 31.6 Hard%. Cabrera has a solid matchup tonight, is priced affordably and has some positional flexibility all factors which make him a solid play tonight.
- Max Kepler OF MIN ($3,000)
- Max Kepler and the Minnesota Twins will take the Milwaukee Brewers and pitcher Matt Garza tonight at Target Field. The Twins have an implied run total sitting at right around 5.12 runs. Kepler has been having a decent season and he always brings a ton of power potential to the plate. He has the following numbers vs. right handed bats on the season: 8.9 BB%, 17.3 K%, .836 OPS, .206 ISO, .312 BABIP, .354 wOBA, 120 wRC+, and a 36.7 Hard%. He gets to face Matt Garza tonight who has the following numbers vs. left handed bats: .320 wOBA, .86 HR/9, 11.9 HR/9, 9.1 BB%, .274 BABIP, 5.85 xFIP, and a 33.8 Hard%. This is a solid matchup for Kepler and all of the Twins lefties tonight. I love him as an affordable one off in the outfield with a ton of upside potential tonight.
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We have a huge slate ahead of us tonight with a ton with of huge tournaments on the docket tonight. I hope we narrowed down a few places or players we can target tonight. We have tons of tools and content available at the DFS Army this year for MLB so don’t miss out on all of those opportunities to make some money. Click the link “DFS Army VIP Membership” and sign up and join the Army today! With my free square pick, I am going to go with Pirates pitcher Chad Kuhl tonight! Good luck Army!
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