FanDuel MLB: Picks and Pivots for August 1

Jul 30, 2016; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets former catcher and Hall of Fame member Mike Piazza reacts to the crowd during the ceremony retiring his number (31) prior to the game between New York Mets and the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports /

FanDuel MLB: Picks and Pivots for August 1st

Welcome to the Monday edition of Picks & Pivots, a daily fantasy baseball column focused on providing analysis and insights into the top FanDuel MLB lineups. The purpose of this column is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big payday!

I am back after taking Sunday off as I had the opportunity to take my father to the Mets-Rockies game on Saturday night to see Mike Piazza have his number retired alongside Tom Seaver! I am back now and ready to get into the DFS slate for Monday!

FanSided and Fantasy CPR have you covered – For additional FanDuel MLB analysis, take a look at Matt Rogers FanDuel Economics column or Mike Marteny who provides Draft Kings MLB Picks analysis giving you the most in-depth DFS coverage for tonight’s baseball slate.

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Monday’s action kicks off at 7:10PM EST with 8 games on the Main FanDuel MLB slate to choose our lineups from!

I will continue to track winning Tournament lineups and compare trends over 5 day periods to help us understand what it takes to remain profitable. I HIGHLY recommend each of you do this each morning to look back on the previous night and understand how the winning lineups are constructed in the games you participate in.

The view below tracks GPP entries over various time periods, breaking out key metrics to understand the trends and compositions of GPP winning rosters:

Time Period	Score	Pitcher Salary	Pitcher %	Hitter %	Hitter $/Player	Value
Season	255.3	$ 8,644	25%	75%	$ 3,295	7.29
5 Day	251.6	$ 8,517	24%	76%	$ 3,310	7.19
Prev Day	213.1	$ 9,500	27%	73%	$ 3,188	6.09

Now on to the picks…For more DFS Strategy insights, check out my latest article to help take your game to the next level! I highly recommend gamers track their game performance across the various types of games they play – GPP’s, Cash, Multipliers etc – as this simple exercise will help teach you more about profitable roster construction than you can imagine.

Next: Who is the top pitching option on Monday's Slate?

Jul 21, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg (37) throws to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /

On an abbreviated slate like we have on Monday night, I typically look first to identify the “safest” play as I am less likely to take a chance on my SP with only a few games to play and will look to differentiate my lineup.

Stephen Strasburg ($11,600) at Arizona: The reason I opened this section with my reasoning is because I do not want you to simply see that I am recommending the top priced pitcher and think this is a cop-out! With only 8 games on the main slate, locking in the elite arm is the key foundation for a winning roster in any format Monday night.

Strasburg over the last month has averaged 47.8 points per game which is over 6 points higher than the next closest hurler on the slate and gets a match-up where he is an extremely strong favorite (-192).

Three of Strasburg’s last 4 games have scored over 50 points, giving us not only the safest floor but also the highest upside of any starter we can choose from and I am happy to use my budget on a night like Monday to lock in those “guaranteed” points.

Strasburg has the 4th highest K rate of any pitcher in MLB at 30.9% and he gets to face an Arizona squad that strikes out at a 23.3% clip against RHP which is 5th most in all of baseball.

Tonight is a night where paying the freight for the top end pitcher makes sense and I recommend locking in Strasburg and simply moving on.

Next: Top Hitting Options

May 4, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Seattle Mariners right fielder Nelson Cruz (23) celebrates at home plate with designated hitter Franklin Gutierrez (21) and second baseman Robinson Cano (22) in the fifth inning against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports /

Looking over the Monday night slate there are no eye-popping early Vegas totals, which means another day of “spreading” your offensive targets instead of employing full on stacks may be in order!

Nelson Cruz ($3,900) & Franklin Gutierrez ($3,500) against LHP Eduardo Rodriguez: The first place I am going to start my lineups on Monday night is Seattle as we can lock in two high upside bats against a highly hittable lefty both for under $4k.

Cruz and Gutierrez are one of the best platoon min-stacks you can employ in DFS and they get to face a LHP in Rodriguez that we should be looking to pick on!

Rodriguez has been hit hard by RHB all season, surrendering 11 home runs in only 38 IP. Digging deeper into the stats, he is giving up 49% fly balls and only striking out 15% of batters, so we have a pitcher who is not striking batters out and gives up a ton of fly balls!

This sets up really well for Cruz and Gutierrez and I am happy to make them my top 2 bats when starting to build my lineup.

Indians versus RHP Tyler Duffey: In his past two starts, Duffey has gone 3.2 innings and given up 17 hits and 11 ER so yeah this is someone I plan on targeting!

The middle infield of the Indians, Jason Kipnis ($3,800) & Francisco Lindor ($3,700) are a fantastic mini-stack to get exposure to this game. Kipnis in particular is averaging 14.2 points per game over the last two weeks.

Hitting Summary: Clearly based off my recommendations to this point, between Strasburg and the high-priced Mariners/Indians, I am going with a full on stars/scrubs approach to this slate! It will be critical to identify some key bargain plays as lineups are released, but I love the approach of building off Strasburg and locking in 4 of the top hitters on the slate as the foundation of your lineup and mixing/matching value from there!

Next: Top FanDuel MLB lineup

May 3, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) and second baseman Jason Kipnis (22) celebrate after scoring during the first inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

Below you will find my initial lineup for Monday’s Main FanDuel MLB slate including notes/comments on my roster construction.

Pitcher:

More from FanSided

Catcher: Travis d’Arnaud ($2,100) Assuming Travis is still a New York Met after the 4pm trading deadline and is not shipped as part of a Jonathan Lucroy deal, he makes a great bargain play against C.C. Sabathia

First Base: Derek Dietrich ($2,300) Dietrich is expected to get time at first base against RHP so verify he is in the lineup, but would make an intriguing punt play at 1B

Second Base: Jason Kipnis ($3,800)

Third Base: Matt Reynolds ($2,000) With Jose Reyes on the DL and Asdrubal Cabrera likely facing an extended absence, it is likely that Reynolds will be called up to play SS for the Mets. Another bargain play that will need to be checked before lineups lock!

Shortstop: Francisco Lindor ($3,700)

Outfield: Nelson Cruz ($3,900)

Outfield: Franklin Gutierrez ($3,500)

Outfield: Preston Tucker ($2,100)

Next: DFS Strategy - Take Your Game to the Next Level

Best of luck tonight gamer’s! Make sure to review the lineups as they are announced before locking in your lineups!