FanDuel daily picks: Fantasy baseball lineup – April 2, 2018

Monday offers a small four game slate in the afternoon before we get to the big main slate in the evening.

Hopefully someday soon, we can get back to just one slate and call it a day. For another day at least, we have a split day. We’ll be bringing you both slates as always but we’ll look and see how yesterday treated us.

The main slate wasn’t very good to us as the sample lineup only hit 79.9. For the second straight day, Cubs pitching lets us down as Jose Quintana got slapped around for five runs. The only player that cracked double digits other than Quintana was Paul DeJong, who cranked two homers.

The all day slate was much better, hitting a score of 184.2. Gerrit Cole was a monster with 60+ points plus Jose Altuve, DeJong, and Mitch hanger all came through in a big way. Let’s dig into the box to figure out where we should be looking on Monday.

Starting Pitching, High End Spend

Early Slate

Jameson Taillon, $8,200

.286(4 for 14), 18.8 strikeout rate

The early slate is pretty barren as far as big name pitchers. Taillon fits the bill sort of by default. Minnesota exploded for seven runs yesterday and that is a small concern. They do have a solid lineup. The Twins smash fastballs but Taillon throws a sinker or a curve almost 60 percent of the time. Minnesota is also coming into a much worse park in Pittsburgh then they were just in in Baltimore. Taillon is a touch risky with a lower strikeout ceiling than we would normally put in this slot.

Main Slate

None

This isn’t a cop out but there aren’t any pitchers that are above $9,000 for the main slate as most teams are on the backend of their rotation. Charlie Morton is $8,500 and that’s a fair price for him being at home against Baltimore. He may end up as my main pitcher but it’s truly a grab bag without any truly elite option. It’ also important to note that Morton was much better at home in addition to his strikeout rate spiked with Houston last year.

Mid-Range

Early Slate

Jordan Montgomery, $7,300

.222(2 for 9), 16.7 strikeout rate

Im usually not one to play a pitcher in Yankee Stadium(plus I want to stack four bats from their lineup) but the Rays were abjectly terrible against lefties in 2017. That was with Corey Dickerson and his .309 batting average. Dickerson is now in Pittsburgh and the Rays could be even worse this year. Taillon is likely to be highly owned and Montgomery is one of the few potential alternatives.

Main Slate 

You can make an argument for Taijaun Walker, Mike Clevinger, and maybe even Tanner Roark. My favorite of the bunch might just be Clevinger. The Angels do have a dangerous top of the order but Clevinger experienced a breakout season in 2017. On FanDuel, you don’t get docked for walks which is one of the weak links in his games.

Value

Early Slate

Mile Mikolas would have been interesting at $5,500 but he’s at Miller Park. I’m not touching Jason Hammel or Francisco Liriano. If you must, you could roll the dice on Liriano but it’s far from a recommended play. It might just be best to eat the Taillon chalk and build a strong lineup.

Pitchers to target against – Zach Davies(vs. St. Louis), whoever Tampa decides to throw out there

Main Slate

I’m not dumpster diving on this slate. Pitching is scary enough as it is without taking on additional risk.

Pitchers to target against – Bartolo Colon(at Oakland), Hyun-Jin Ryu(at Arizona), Jaime Garcia(vs. Chicago White Sox)