Fantasy Baseball: Start ’em and Sit ’em for Tuesday, April 1st
By Seth Klein
Wow, what an Opening Day, huh??!
An Alex Gonzalez walk-off winner for the Tigers, Cliff Lee getting rocked (but still winning), a bullpen implosion in Queens, and the first use of instant replay to challenge a call were among the highlights on a big Monday in baseball.
If you want more baseball, well, we got it for you, with nine games on Tuesday’s MLB slate.
We’ll have plenty of waiver-wire articles for you throughout each week, but this daily column will help you make lineup decisions based on who is already on your fantasy baseball team. Optimizing your roster each day will hopefully keep you from racking up a bunch of 0-for-4 performances or even the dreaded golden sombrero.
START ‘EM:
» Seth Smith, San Diego Padres: His numbers against them may have tailed off a bit last year (.258, 6 HR), but Seth Smith has been a righty killer throughout his career. In seven seasons, the 31-year-old has hit .279/.358/.489 with 66 of his 74 total home runs coming against right-handed pitchers. Smith drilled a homer off Dodgers’ reliever Brian Wilson during Sunday night’s 3-1 win and he’ll look to continue a promising start to the season when he faces off against Zack Greinke on Tuesday. Smith has five hits in 13 career at bats (.385) vs. Greinke, including three doubles.
Get these guys in your lineup, too: Andre Ethier (10-for-28, .357 BA, 2 HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI vs. Kennedy), Ryan Doumit (6-for-21, .286 BA, 2 HR, 4 RBI vs. Lohse), Mark Teixeira (6-for-18, .333 BA, 1 HR, 4 RBI vs. Feldman)
SIT ‘EM:
» Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners: The Mariners have some great young players, and Kyle Seager is no exception. After hitting 42 home runs over the past two seasons, the 26-year-old former Tar Heel is ready to raise the bar even further. Now, if it weren’t for those meddling Angels (cue the Scooby-Doo reference)… Seager has yet to master the art of hitting Angels’ pitching, going 41-for-182 (.225) with 40 K and just 14 extra base hits against his division foes. He’s even worse against Tuesday’s starter, C.J. Wilson, batting .130 (3-for-23) with 10 strikeouts, making him an obvious candidate to ride your fantasy baseball team’s bench.
Take a seat, fellas: Miguel Montero (11-for-53, .208 BA, 15 K vs. Cain), Justin Upton (2-for-17, .118 BA, 1 RBI vs. Lohse), Michael Saunders (3-for-23, .130 BA, 6 K vs. Wilson), Nick Swisher (5-for-32, .156 BA, 1 XBH vs. Kazmir)