MLB Wednesday 7/29/15

Only nine games on the DraftKings slate tonight.  Clayton Kershaw was scheduled to pitch tonight but he was scratched.  All of the other "aces" went in the day games (Archer, Lester, Kluber, King Felix).  Let's take a look at how I plan to attack what's leftover.

STARTING PITCHERS
With Kershaw out of the mix, that leaves only a few options to really choose from.  Tyson Ross is the most expensive guys on the slate at $10,800.  I usually only target him at home in Petco, but he does draw a fantastic matchup against the Mets on the road.  Masahio Tanaka is next expensive at $10,200.  He draws a more difficult matchup against the Rangers in Arlington, but he has pitched extremely well of late, registering over 23 points his last three starts.  The rest of the SPs to consider are a little shaky.  Garrett Richards ($9,300) is on the road in Houston, Lance McCullers ($8,800) opposes him, Jose Quintana ($8,300) is on the road in Boston.  None of those guys stand out to me with the exception of McCullers, who is intriguing with Trout announced out of the lineup.  For my money, I'm rostering John Lackey, who at $8,600 is a great value and a safe play for cash.  He's at home, where he has a 1.97 ERA in 11 starts.  He's also allowed two or fewer earned runs in eight consecutive starts.  That trend continues tonight in my estimation.

So what pitchers are we gonna try and target tonight.  I got my eyes on Jerome Williams pitching at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, as well as Mike Foltynewicz in Baltimore and Rick Porcello at home against the surging White Sox offense.

CATCHER
I'm going back to the well once again and saving a spot for Matt Wieters.  He's facing Mike Foltynewicz who has given it up this year to lefties to the tune of a .424 wOBA.  Plus he's still bargain priced at only $2,900.  Sold!  Others of interest include Yasmani Grandal, AJ Pierzynski and Stephen Vogt.

FIRST BASE
My original plan was to roster Edwin Encarnacion, but he was scratched with a jammed finger.  So I'm heading back to the Jose Abreu well once again.  This guy almost never lets me down.  Very consistent for cash game play.  He came through with a 28 point effort last night.  He faces off against Rick Porcello, who hasn't been particularly effective against hitters from either side of the plate.  Will be pairing Abreu with a couple of his teammates to employ a mini-stack.

Chris Davis ($4,200) is another option I like today against the righty Foltynewicz.

SECOND BASE
Nobody stands out at 2B in my eyes.  Going with Kolton Wong.  He has a decent matchup against righty Andrew DeSclafani, who has allowed a .352 wOBA to left-handed batters.  Wong, for his part, has been decent lately, with hits in six straight games.  Plus he bats leadoff.

THIRD BASE
Another position where nobody jumped off the page.  I like A-Rod of course, but his pricetag is a little steep for my cash game liking at $5,000 in a matchup against a RHP.  Kinda like Xander Bogaerts at his bargain price of $3,400 against lefty Quintana in Boston.  Also looking at Matt Carpenter at $3,900 against DeSclafani, but he's not been swinging a hot bat of late.  In the end, gonna bite the bullet and lock in A-Rod, who has been scorching hot of late with a .437 wOBA and six HRs over his last 10 games.

SHORTSTOP
As soon as I saw the pricing, I locked in Troy Tulowitski as my SS.  End of story.  Not only the narrative of his first game in Toronto, but facing a gas can like Jerome Williams who has given up a .362 wOBA to right-handed hitters since the start of 2014.  Tulo hasn't been hitting like Tulo of late, but does have a .373 wOBA against RHP since the start of 2014.  And at only $4,100, he's a no-brainer to me.  Lock and load!

OUTFIELD
In the OF my plan is to pair Adam Eaton ($4,000) and Melky Cabrera ($3,800) with Abreu in a stack against Porcello in Boston, then spend whatever is left on the best available OF option.  Both Eaton (.463 wOBA) and Cabrera (.430 wOBA) have been on fire the past couple weeks.  Cabrera especially, with six multi-hit games in a row and eight of his last ten.  Pairing these two with Abreu just makes sense.  For my final spot, I got lucky with Will Venable ($2,700) being available for the exact amount I had left.  He's not an auto-play by any means, but he will be hitting leadoff tonight and faces a righty in Bartolo Colon.

Other guys I considered in the OF were Brett Gardner, Jason Heyward and Josh Reddick.  I actually really liked Reddick, and if Encarnacion would have played he would have been in the lineup instead of Venable.

Another good night as the lineup nearly cracks 140 points, despite Tanaka pitching like crap in Texas.  My main targets of Tulo and the White Sox trio all pretty much came through.  Tulo launched a bomb in his first game as a Blue Jay.  Cabrera kept his multi-hit streak alive with three knocks.  And Eaton stayed hot with three hits and a homer.  The pivot to Venable worked out as he scored 17 points.  Wong and A-Rod the only real disappointments, with Wong putting up the goose egg.  Lineup of course cashed in all H2H's, double-ups and 50/50s.  Gonna look to keep the hot streak alive tomorrow.