MLB FanDuel: Diamond Dozen April 24th

MLB FanDuel:  Diamond Dozen April 24th

Welcome to the first MLB FanDuel Diamond Dozen edition for the MLB season.  The Diamond Dozen is designed to cover a few things to help you set your lineups for MLB DFS.  I will give you 3 position players to pay up for, 3 value plays, my top 3 pitchers, and the top 3 team stacks I’m targeting each day.  You can use this as a guide to help you get your rosters set.  Be sure to check with all of the MLB content here at Fantasy CPR to help you set a winning lineup for the contests you decide to play.

Yesterday saw two teams put up over 10 runs.  The Detroit Tigers scored 13 and the Seattle Mariners scored 11.  A lot of winning lineups had players from these games.  Ivan Nova scored 49 FDP’s against his former team and also anchored a lot of winning lineups.  Tonight we have 9 games on the main slate for FanDuel.  The Washington Nationals are visiting the Colorado Rockies and have the highest run total on the slate with 12.  The Minnesota Twins at the Texas Rangers have the second highest at 9.5.  The San Diego Padres at the Arizona Diamondbacks is the only other game over 8.5 with a total of 9.  Let’s get to it and take a look at the my top 3 pitchers to target for today.

MLB FanDuel Diamond Dozen Top Pitchers

Zack Greinke – $10,000

This slate doesn’t exactly scream great pitching, and I can understand why you could feel uneasy about rostering Greinke on this slate at this price.  If you want to try to get exposure to the game at Coors Field, using Greinke will make that extremely difficult but you can still get that done.  Greinke has put up over 40 FDP’s twice this year in 4 starts.  One of those starts came in his last outing against these same San Diego Padres.  He threw 8 innings with 6 k’s and allowed 1 earned run with a walk.  That game was in San Diego so we have a negative park shift for Greinke tonight but I still like his chances in this one.

Amir Garrett – $7,700

If you’re willing to risk it, Garrett is someone who has as much upside as Greinke at a much cheaper price.  He is facing a Brewers team that is extremely dangerous, but they also strikeout a TON.  Garrett is fresh off a good start against Baltimore.  He threw 7 innings with 12 k’s and allowed 1 walk with 2 earned runs.  He should get his share of k’s today, but he could also get lit up by a scary Brewers lineup that has been on fire.

Jhoulys Chacin – $6,800

This is a pure GPP play that is absolutely crazy.  So crazy, that I can’t believe I’m about to write-up reasons you can roster him.  Well…..here goes.  Aside from his first start of the season against the Dodgers, Chacin hasn’t been THAT  bad.  He has scored 45 FDP’s twice in three games, and one of those was his last start against the Diamondbacks.  He was on the other side of the Greinke game, and got the win.  He held the Dbacks to just 3 hits in 8 innings while striking out 5.  The park shift will make repeating that performance difficult, but if you’re willing to roster Greinke based on his last performance against the Padres, you at least need to consider doing the same for Chacin.  He helps all the big bats fit, but has the most risk of getting blown up of these 3 pitchers.  I would only use him if you make multiple lineups.

MLB Diamond Dozen Top Bats

Bryce Harper (OF) – $5,500

There will be nights when I will fade Coors Field, but tonight is not one of those nights.  Harper is the most expensive position player on the slate, but the dude is an absolute beast.  He is hitting .400 with 7 home runs, 20 RBI’s, and has scored 22 runs.  He is averaging 19.47 FDP’s per game and can go off for 60 on any given night.  He is facing the left-handed Tyler Anderson, but I don’t think it matters who Harper is facing.

Charlie Blackmon (OF) – $4,500

Blackmon is starting to heat up.  He has a hit in 13 of his last 14 games, and has scored 22.2 FDP’s or more in his last 3 games.  He is going up against Jacob Turner in Coors Field tonight.  Turner is getting the start after being called up from Triple-A Syracuse.  The Rockies side of this game may be the side to have.  Blackmon is the table setter for this offense that is beginning to up runs.

Nolan Arenado (3B)- $4,900

I generally won’t have all three high-priced players from the same game, but tonight it just worked out this way.  Arenado does very well against righties, especially at home.  Both teams in this game have team totals above 5 and if you spend down at pitcher you can make some of them fit.  I like the Rockies side of this game a little more than the Nationals side, but either way I’m expecting plenty of runs to be scored.  Arenado hasn’t hit a home run in 4 games but I think that changes tonight.

MLB Diamond Dozen Top Value Bats

Adrian Gonzalez (1B) – $2,700

The Dodgers do much better against right-handed pitching and have Matt Cain to feast on tonight.  Gonzalez is 17-52 with 4 home runs in his career against Cain.  With the expensive names at the top of the first base position Gonzalez will surely have low ownership and will help make room for the expensive guys I previously mentioned.

Yasmani Grandal (C) – $2,800

Sticking to the Dodgers here against Cain.  Grandal is a switch hitter that seems to be better from the left side.  He has a hit in 5 of his last 6 games with a home run and 3 RBI’s over that span.  The Dodgers have a team wOBA of .353 against righties and I think they are pretty sneaky tonight.

Addison Russell (SS) – $2,700

This is one of my favorite players to roster almost every day.  He hits in the middle of a very good Cubs lineup, plays a position that isn’t very deep, and is cheap.  I’ll be rolling him out once again tonight despite the righty on righty match-up.  He has 5 hits in 4 games with one of those a game winning walk-off three-run homer against the Brewers.

MLB Diamond Dozen Top Stacks

Colorado Rockies

I really like the Rockies tonight.  This game will be pretty chalky but there is a good reason for it with the expected 12 run total.  The only way you’ll be able to stack the Rockies is if you spend down on pitching.  There are some good left-handed options in Blackmon, and Gonzalez that will look great with Arenado.

More from FanSided

• Yankees: Luis Severino has blunt assessment of another miserable outing
• Bills: 3 2023 roster holes that could cost Josh Allen a Super Bowl
• Colts RB Jonathan Taylor shoots down rumors of troubling injury
• MLB Rumors: Favorite to trade for Justin Verlander emerges and it’s not the Astros
• NY Mets should disband franchise if nightmare Justin Verlander report becomes reality

Los Angeles Dodgers  

Matt Cain is not very good and the Dodgers will likely attack him with a lefty heavy lineup.  Cain has a .390 wOBA against lefties and a .341 wOBA against righties.  The Dodgers haven’t gotten off to a fast start, especially on offense, but they have shown they can put up runs in bunches.  I think they get things going as soon as tonight.  They also provide the pricing to add some exposure to the game at Coors field.  Adrian Gonzalez, Yasmani Grandal, and Corey Seager are all good options to stack in this one.

Texas Rangers 

The Rangers have a team total of 4.89 today and could go overlooked because of the games at Coors Field in Colorado and Chase Field in Arizona.  The Rangers are facing Phil Hughes who is a fly ball pitcher.  The lefty bats of Mazara, Choo, and Odor are where I would start in this one.  The wind could be a slight factor by game time, as of now it’s blowing in from right but the stadium blocks wind very well so it could end up being a non factor.

Good Luck Tonight….Let’s Get It!

Next: FanDuel MLB Picks and Pivots

Best of luck in your MLB FanDuel contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!