2013 Fantasy Baseball

2013 Fantasy Baseball Daily Fix: May 27, 2013

Take a moment today between the baseball, beer and barbecue to remember all of those who have lost their lives serving in country so that we can continue to enjoy baseball, beer and barbecue on this Memorial Day.

DraftKings.com Team of the Day:

DraftKings has set up a special tournament today where all proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross. DraftKings will match dollar for dollar the amount of funds the ticket sales have generated. The cost to enter this charity tournament is $5 and entries are unlimited.

Starts at 1:05pm EST on 5/27
$5 Entry
100% of the proceeds go to the Red Cross
DraftKings will match dollar for dollar every entry to into the tournament
For those wanting to donate more, this tournament is multi-entry
Enter here for the OKC Disaster Relief Contest

Today, we are also going to participate in the  MLB $1,000 Moon Shot [$1,000 Guaranteed] for just a $2 entry you can pick up $300 for a first place finish. The top 200 score some green in this contest. Don’t forget to claim your deposit bonus!

Rotoinfo.com provides excellent updates as lineups roll in. I’ve got some fun choices below – read along and enjoy.

Adam Wainwright | P | Cardinals | $9,900 – Wainwright has been fantastic lately and faces a Kansas City team that has fewer home runs this month then the Chicago Cubs pitchers do.

C.J. Wilson | P | Angels | $7,900 – Wilson looks to be rounding into form with a 2.49 ERA over his last three starts. He faces a Dodgers team in disarray and is backed by the hottest offense in the league currently.

I would also consider Clayton Richard and Martin Perez for those who want to go el cheapo guapo for starting pitchers. I’d avoid Francisco Liriano as many of the Tigers have solid records against him.

Victor Martinez | C | Tigers | $3,200 – Martinez has a solid record against Pirates’ starter Francisco Liriano hitting 458/500/792 over 24 plate appearances with a home run.

Carlos Pena | 1B | Astros | $3,800– This is a bit of a hunch more than anything. Yes, Pena has two HRs in his six ABs against the Rockies Jhoulyis Chacin, but that’s hardly enough of a sample size to make a definitive statement.

David Adams | 2B | Yankees | $2,000 – Somehow Adams’ salary went down since last week. He’s starting every day. He may be the best value in the game right now.

Josh Donaldson | 3B | A’s | $3,900 – Speaking of values, Donaldson is right up there as well. Facing lefty Madison Bumgarner, who has been average over his last three starts makes him even better.

Jhonny Peralta | SS | Tigers | $3,500 – Facing a lefty and Peralta has been quite good lately. He owns a 294/400/471 line in 34 ABs lifetime against Francisco Liriano. He’s also knocked two home runs against him.

Mike Trout | OF | Angels | $5,600 – Trout seems to be regressing his way right up the leader boards. He’s the hottest player around and a must-own for today.

Carlos Gonzalez | OF | Rockies | $5,000 – Not much to go on here other than CarGo is awesome. Houston starter Bud Norris has been terrible and Gonzalez has a HR off of Norris in six ABs.

Chris Young | OF | A’s | $3,600 – On fire over the last week and facing a lefty (he’s owned lefties in his career) who he is 7 for 14 against lifetime.

If you are looking for stacking options I’d look at the Tigers against Francisco Liriano and the Pirates.

The First Pitch:

Bryce Harper was removed for a pinch runner after walking in the seventh. It seems his knee is still bothering him (though he did steal base in the game). I doubt the Nationals will DL him, he will miss a few days according to Davey Johnson. Stephen Strasburg was dominant over eight innings striking out nine Phillies and only giving up five hits. His mound counterpart, Cole Hamels threw a quality start, but again got no run support (though if your lineup includes Delmon Young – cleanup hitter, it’s amazing the Phils scored one run.  It looks as though the Phillies are inching closer and closer to being sellers at the deadline. They just don’t have enough offense to keep up.

Max Scherzer moved to 7-0 in the Detroit Tigers’ 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins Sunday afternoon. Scherzer was less than efficient throwing 109 pitches while striking out six in six innings. However, he’s been everything a fantasy owner could have hoped for thus far into the season. Avisail Garcia picked up a pinch hit triple in the sixth inning and the Tigers cruised from there behind Drew Smyly’s effective relief work. Mike Pelfrey took the loss for the Twins and his ERA sits at 6.85 for the season. The Kyle Gibson era can’t be too far off.

Jim Johnson imploded again in Baltimore and the Orioles suffered a 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. Earlier in the week on the Fantasy Fix podcast I said not to worry about Johnson. It looks like I’m going to be wrong here. They wasted a solid outing from Miguel Gonzalez. Johnson gave up the game winning hit to number-nine hitter Munenori Kawasaki (who gave perhaps the greatest post-game interview ever). I’ll do a little Closer Report right here as I think Darren O’Day is probably the play should Johnson lose his job. Brian Matusz is an interesting option and would be the dark horse for me. Matusz has improved (in a small sample) against righties this year. Matt Wieters was the offensive star going four for five with three RBIs and a stolen base.

In other closer implosions, Chris Perez of the Cleveland Indians imploded and then left with a shoulder injury that did not look good. Joe Smith came on to give up a game winning double to struggling Jacoby Ellsbury. It’s unclear where the Indians would go for closer should Perez miss time. Vinnie Pestano was seen as the handcuff for Perez probably up until earlier this week. Pestano struggled with his velocity though the Indians say there is no injury, just rust from his recent DL stint for elbow issues. Joe Smith didn’t help himself with his poor showing on Sunday (though it was a tough position). My pick should Chris Perez miss time? Cody Allen – he’s been outstanding this year and has the stuff to be an effective closer.

Clay Buchholz has been scratched from his Monday start for the Boston Red Sox. He hopes to start later in the week. He’s no longer a two-start pitcher for this week.

We have the potential to see some interesting young starters this week as Martin Perez and Tyler Skaggs will start on Monday. Is Kyle Gibson that far off? How about Michael Wacha? We’ll also see Michael Kickham for the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday. Zach Wheeler should be up in a couple of weeks. We’re getting close to passing the Super 2 deadline so we’ll probably see a few more young arms up in the next week or so.

Hector Santiago has been moved to the Chicago White Sox bullpen to accommodate the return of John Danks. I think we’ll see Santiago back in the rotation sooner rather than later.

Nathan Eovaldi should be called up later this week to fill the hole in the Miami Marlins rotation with Alex Sanabia hitting the DL.

As this went to press, there was talk of Nick Franklin being called up by the Seattle Mariners. I can’t see him coming up to sit. He should be owned in all leagues.

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2013 Fantasy Baseball Daily Fix: May 28, 2013