Identifying the top high salary and value pitcher plays from around Major League Baseball for your July 8 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
Chris Sale, White Sox (13,500): This was an easy one. Sale has struck out at least seven batters in each of his last five starts, while topping 20 DK points in four of them. Sale already leads the majors with 14 wins, but he’s a heavy favorite to pick up his 15th on Friday against the last-place Atlanta Braves. Sale isn’t cheap, and he’ll likely be popular, but he’s simply too good to ignore.
Jose Fernandez, Marlins (13,400): Fernandez always has major strikeout upside, but against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, he’s a legitimate threat for 12-plus strikeouts. First, he’ll be motivated after his last start, which saw him give up nine runs (six earned) to Atlanta. Second, Cincinnati ranks 11th in the majors in strikeouts with 722, so they already swing and miss pretty frequently. Corey Kluber (11,000) and Noah Syndergaard (10,800) are also strong high-salary choices.
High Value
Scott Kazmir, Dodgers (9,100): With so many quality, albeit expensive, options on the board Friday, paying up for at least one stud pitcher is the best way to go. The less expensive options just aren’t as appealing. Kazmir is coming off a brilliant 10-strikeout, 35.10-DK point outing in his last start. He should be able to put together a solid outing at home against the San Diego Padres.
Collin McHugh, Astros (7,500): Again, we’re going to suggest paying up for pitching on Friday’s slate. But if you need a cheap option to pair with Sale or Fernandez, McHugh is intriguing. Oakland has the second-fewest strikeouts among the 30 MLB teams this season, but at 37-49, the A’s are still struggling through a tough season. McHugh struck out nine and tallied 21.35 DK points in his last start, so he’ll look to build off of that on Friday.
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