Andrew MillerFantasy Baseball

Fantasy Baseball Daily Fix: April 19, 2013

Good morning! It’s finally Friday, and that means it’s a great time to begin playing daily fantasy baseball at DraftKings. There are a ton of different games you can play each day, ranging from free entry to the big bucks. Today, I’m playing the $3 Double Up where the top 25 of 50 participants win some moolah. Once you decide to start playing, make sure you claim your deposit bonus!

DraftKings Team of the Day

Pitcher: Anibal Sanchez at LA Angels, Brett Anderson at Tampa Bay – Both pitchers are throwing against teams in the bottom-third of scoring, and both games are being played in pitchers’ parks. I like to go with (close to) sure things at pitcher because they’re more reliable on a start-to-start basis than hitters are. I wanted to go with Bumgarner and Strasburg here, but those guys cost too much and then severely hamper you at other positions.

Catcher: Tyler Flowers – Flowers is a pretty good value play tonight as the Twins are starting Vance Worley who’s giving up 18.8 hits per nine innings and is barely striking out anyone.

First base: Todd Frazier: Todd Frazier hits home runs, and Kevin Slowey gives up home runs – lots of them. Playing in GABP is just icing on top of the cake.

Second base: Jose Altuve – Altuve was well down the rankings by cost, but his 8.2 points per game at DK is good for seventh among second basemen. He’s hitting against the always volatile Brett Myers, too, so I’m hoping he’ll have a big game.

Third base: Pablo Sandoval – Sandoval’s another good value play, as his cost is really low compared to his production. He has a career .872 OPS against righties, and a righty Edinson Volquez is.

Shortstop: Jed Lowrie – Despite being the most productive healthy shortstop playing, Lowrie somehow has the same price as Reid Brignac. He doesn’t have great career numbers against righties, but the value was too good to pass up.

Outfield: Ben Zobrist, Austin Jackson, Torii Hunter – Zobrist is always a good play, because he’s not very prone to slumps as he walks, steals and scores a lot. He shouldn’t leave you with a goose egg very often. Tommy Hanson is starting against the Tigers, and he’s given up three homers in only 11 innings. He’s giving up a ton of hits and not striking out too many, either. Jackson and Hunter get on base a ton and are top options to score on any given night.

Thursday Recap

There were a lot of aces in action Thursday. Adam Wainwright, Chris Sale, Cole Hamels, Justin Verlander, Yovani Gallardo and Jon Lester all did their thing. However, Matt Cain and David Price gave up a combined 12 earned runs in 12 innings. Both pitcher’s ERAs are now above 6, and their owners have to be worried even if they won’t admit it. Go ahead and send out an offer for one of those guys and see what the other owner says. Don’t insult them with an offer of Pete Kozma for Price, but see if you can sell high somebody getting a lot of publicity or who’s off to a hot start. Cain’s strikeout rate is still very good, and his walk rate is better than his career average. He’s just getting a bit unlucky in basically every predictive metric. Price’s numbers are down a bit, but he’s also been unlucky, too. But don’t be afraid to pounce.

The star of the day award goes to Hisashi Iwakuma who shut out Detroit on only three hits. He only struck out two and walked one in six innings, but that walk was only his second of the season. He now has a 1.69 ERA in 26.2 innings and four quality starts with an 18:2 K:BB. In Yahoo! leagues Iwakuma’s only owned in 77 percent of leagues, so go get him.

Arizona’s Patrick Corbin also had a great start at Yankee Stadium, only allowing two hits and striking out seven in 7.1 innings. He’s only owned in six percent of ESPN leagues, so go get him, too. Tony Cingrani made his debut for the Reds and pitched five innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts. But he walked three Marlins and if he was pitching against almost any other team probably would’ve gave up more than one run. Like I said in this week’s Rookie Report, pick him up if you want to but don’t drop any top 35-40 starter for him.

Chase Headley played in his first game of the season Thursday and went 1-4 with a run and an RBI. Didi Gregorius, the shortstop acquired by Arizona in the Trevor Bauer trade, hit a home run in his first at-bat of the season. Pedro Alvarez finally got off the schneid and hit his first homer of the season. Evan Gattis hit another home run, so keep riding his hot streak but definitely see if anyone will buy him while he’s hot.

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