Daily Fantasy Baseball: DraftKings Lineups for Monday, April 14th

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

On the first day of Passover, I added an 11th commandment: “Thou shall play daily fantasy baseball”.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and won some money with my Saturday plays.  It’s a new week, so let’s start things off with a bang.  Monday’s daily fantasy baseball schedule isn’t overwhelming, with only nine games on tap, but there are a lot of great prices on some players I like.

All player prices are based on DraftKings values.

SP 1 – Jordan Lyles, Colorado Rockies, $6,500 – Lyles, who is currently priced like a relief pitcher, is playing in pitcher-friendly PETCO Park against a Padres team that has struggled mightily at the plate so far this season.  Moral of the story: there is a lot to like with Jordan Lyles today.

SP 2 – Ervin Santana, Atlanta Braves, $10,400 – Santana looked pretty damn good in his last outing, striking out eight batter in eight innings.  His opponents this evening are the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that surprisingly hasn’t been as bad as advertised.  I still expect Santana to be quite solid, though.

C – Devin Mesoraco, Cincinnati Reds, $3,000 – Don’t be surprised if his price goes up this week to about $4,000.  Mesoraco is a great right-handed hitter, who is facing lefty Wandy Rodriguez and the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Go with Mesoraco while he is still almost a punt price.

1B – Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds, $5,000 – Votto has batted .375 against Rodriguez with one home run and six RBI throughout his career.  Batting second in the order and playing at home is also an advantage.  P.S. you get points for walks.

2B – Robinson Cano, Seattle Mariners, $4,000 – The Mariners have cooled off over the past week, but they get to play against Colby Lewis of the Texas Rangers, who hasn’t pitched since 2012.  I expect a slugfest here.

3B – Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies, $3,800 – Arenado is one of my favorite players to watch — the Manny Machado of the west.  He’s had decent success against Padres’ starter Eric Stults, even though it’s a small sample size.  I like this price point.

SS – Brad Miller, Seattle Mariners, $3,800 – Miller’s price has dropped significantly since the first week of the season, but I forecast a nice game tomorrow for the same reason I picked Cano.

OF 1 – Christian Yelich, Miami Marlins, $,4900 – Yelich is a little pricey, but he does have a lot of good hitting tools that generate fantasy points.  The 22-year-old looked pretty good against Jordan Zimmermann last week and will look to continue hitting well off him.

OF 2 – Yoenis Cespedes, Oakland Athletics, $4,100 – Cespedes has become an all or nothing hitter in my opinion, but this is a good spot for him.  His opponent, the Angels’ Hector Santiago, has struggled so far this season, so lets hope he does again Monday.

OF 3 – Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay Rays, $4,400 – Zobrist homered from both sides of the plate yesterday and is batting .333 over the past seven days.  His career numbers against Wei-Yin Chen are pretty impressive as well.  Maybe this is the beginning of a nice power streak for the Rays’ veteran.

Always check weather conditions and daily lineups before creating your rosters. Good luck to all.