Welcome to the Core 4! My name is Michael aka @MadnessDFS on Twitter, make sure to give me a follow as I’ll occasionally make updates to the article throughout the day as news breaks and lineups come out. But, you’ll mostly find me in our VIP coaching forums where I provide detailed lineup maneuvers and answer all lineup questions. With that said, let’s get it started!
Purpose of the Core 4: These four players are guys that I want to get high exposure to in my cash game lineups and if doing multi-entry, using the Domination Station to either lock them in or set high exposure percentages to them. These are players that I see as underpriced, in great matchups, good conditions, or simply just have a hunch. I also need to mention that these plays are normally geared toward Draftkings pricing and scoring, however the stats and reasoning behind liking them stays true no matter the site. Be sure to compare this article with the players mentioned on our Coaches Notes/Player Picks every night to get a sense of where you stand and to get multiple coache’s outlooks on the slate. With that said, let’s jump in!
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Last night’s Core 4 results:
- Griffin Canning: 28.5 Draftkings points; 6.0 IP, 7 SO, W
- Ketel Marte: 0 Draftkings points; 0-5
- Josh Bell: 13 Draftkings points; 1-4, 2 RBI, 1 run
- Travis Shaw: 0 Draftkings points; 0-2
CORE 4:
Lucas Giolito (SP) – $10,300
Giolito gets a pretty solid matchup with a New York Mets team that seems to not know if they are rebuilding or wanting to contend. But, we will know more come 4 pm this afternoon when the trade deadline has passed. The first reason I like Giolito is that he is $1.5k cheaper than his pitching opponent, Jacob deGrom. Don’t get me wrong, deGrom is a great option here, but I think you can get similar upside here at a cheaper price tag, although sacrificing a little floor. Giolito has an elite strikeout rate of 29.7% on the season to go along with the Mets’ 22.7% k rate. The Mets do have an implied run total of 4.5 runs here, but I’m not all too worried about it, as the only hitters I’m really worried about in this lineup are Peter Alonso and Michael Conforto. I will also say, Giolito’s price on FanDuel is incredible and he would be close to a lock for me over there. I love Giolito in this spot.
Danny Santana (2B/OF) – $5,300
Santana is absolutely smoking the baseball right now. He has scored at least 17 Draftkings points in three of his last four games and has scored at least double-digit fantasy points in six of his last ten. He gets a matchup with opener Matt Wisler and the long reliever, Wade LeBlanc as long as he isn’t traded. Neither of these pitchers scares me in the slightest. The thing I love about this game is it will be a hitters paradise at a balmy 96 degrees around first pitch. Santana is crushing lefties this season, he has a .587 slugging percentage, .381 wOBA, and a .293 ISO against southpaws. Yes, he is expensive, but the multi-position eligibility helps make things work and I love this game for hitting purposes.
I’m going to continue to drive home the coaches notes/player picks here, these are something you need to look at before submitting your lineups! Often times we don’t have enough time to write big long write-ups on every single player on our coaching sheets, but trust me the research is there behind every pick! The Coaches Notes have a little bit of everything no matter what type of player you are. They have Draftkings notes, FanDuel notes, Showdown slate notes, and CashKeg’s Main Slate cash notes (see results below). Take these and compare them to the rest of the tools we offer on the site and you have already strengthened your chances of doing something like bobbywow did here when he won $50,000.
Rhys Hoskins (1B) – $4,200
Hoskings seems to finally be figuring things out at the plate after a very slow start to the season. He gets a matchup with Jeff Samardzija here and has started to hit the ball as of late. I take Samardzija’s stats with a grain of salt given his home ballpark his great for pitching. He’s given up five more home runs and has a higher ERA on the road, here he travels to a home run-heavy Philadelphia ballpark. Hoskins is reverse splits on the season and is really hitting right-handed pitching very well. On the season Hoskins has a .511 slugging percentage, .372 wOBA, and a .268 ISO. The thing I like most about Hoskins here is his discounted price, he really allows us to fit Santana and Giolito in without having to completely punt elsewhere along with giving us a bunch of upside.
Khris Davis (OF) – $3,300
Khris Davis is your cheap, value play of the night. As I noted yesterday, I want to provide at least one value option in the core to allow you to add some of your own favorite plays to your player pool/lineup as well. Davis allows us to do this fairly easily. Davis has been ice cold ever since starting the season off in a blaze of fury. His unproductivity of late has allowed his price to drop to a very low level. As I write this he already has three hits, a homer, and 22 Draftkings points against the Brewers on Tuesday night. Tonight he gets a matchup with newly acquired Jordan Lyles who has not been good as of late. Lyles has given up at least five runs in three of his last five outings and has given up 20 earned runs in his last 11.3 innings pitched. I don’t think this will sustain, but if Davis is getting hot here I want to be on board especially at this price tag against a struggling pitcher.
Simple Coaching = Simple Results
Our coaches build their sheets with their own “Core” plays in them (blue in color). You can use these to form your own foundations, or as a consensus across coaches to solidify your own thoughts. However, I definitely recommend upgrading to a Full VIP member so you can access our coaching discussions in rooms like, #cash-keg-allsports where our coaches explain when and why they change some of their thoughts based on late lineup confirmations. These pivots dramatically increase your edge as a player!
As always I appreciate everyone who gave the article a read! Feel free to mix it up with me in our coaching forums as news breaks and lock approaches. Let’s win some cash, whaddya say?!
