Identifying the top high salary and value pitcher plays from around Major League Baseball for your June 30 DraftKings lineup.
Our goal is to help you win DraftKings contests with consistently strong lineups. To accomplish that, we’ll be highlighting some higher salary players worth paying up for, and some value picks that will help you save salary in key areas. These picks are specifically for DraftKings lineups, so all references to prices and fantasy points are based on DK figures.
As always, be sure to double-check final MLB lineups and monitor weather situations before locking in your DFS lineups.
High Salary
Madison Bumgarner, Giants (13,000): No surprise here — Bumgarner is far and away the best pitching option on Thursday’s slate. He’s topped 30 fantasy points in three of his last five starts and should have little trouble quieting the Oakland Athletics (35-43). He won’t come cheap, but you almost have to roster him, especially in cash lineups.
John Lackey, Cubs (10,600): Lackey gets the nod here over Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco, who has a much more difficult matchup in Toronto. Lackey gets a visit to Citi Field to face the banged-up New York Mets, losers of four straight. Lackey will also be motivated to bounce back from his worst outing of the season in his last start.
High Value
Gio Gonzalez, Nationals (7,400): Gonzalez’s last two starts have been downright dreadful — -0.65 points at Milwaukee, -0.40 points at San Diego. On Thursday, he returns home to face the last-place Cincinnati Reds. While Cincinnati has some big-time power hitters (Jay Bruce, Adam Duvall), the Reds also strike out a ton (667; eighth in MLB).
Wei-Yin Chen (6,900): Chen’s price plummeted in advance of his June 18 start against Colorado, and it hasn’t risen since despite a solid start (7 IP, 7 Ks, 2 ER, 22.75 DK points) his last time out against the Cubs. Chen will face the last-place Atlanta Braves on the road on Thursday. For such a deeply-discounted price, Chen looks like a solid value play.
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