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FanDuel Picks and Lineup for Wednesday, April 4th

By Adam Strangis

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL - MARCH 13: Aaron Sanchez #41 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches in the first inning during the spring training game between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium on March 13, 2018 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by B51/Mark Brown/Getty Images)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL - MARCH 13: Aaron Sanchez #41 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches in the first inning during the spring training game between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium on March 13, 2018 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by B51/Mark Brown/Getty Images) /
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Welcome into the Wednesday edition of the FanDuel fantasy baseball column. There’s a whopping 13 games today so let’s get right into the picks and lineups.

The slate is split once again today and the early slate is actually bigger than the Main slate since it’s getaway day. What is possibly the most frustrating aspect is if you want to play Washington Nationals ace pitcher Max Scherzer, FanDuel is forcing you to play the All Day slate. That’s incredibly annoying considering some of the star power in that game. Bryce Harper and Freddie Freeman went nuts last night and now it’s not part of the early slate for some reason.

Last night saw some VERY high scores, but we were able to keep up. The early slate missed out on Didi Gregorius but did dodge the  bullet of the Cubs/Reds getting cancelled. It barely held on in 50/50’s. The evening saw much better results as the main lineup put up a respectable 179.5 and the GPP special that was tweeted out hit 200.2. It was a nice bounceback all around and we’ll look to keep that momentum going. I’m still kicking myself for not leaving josh Reddick and his 50+ points in the lineup, but you also can’t predict a grand slam.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – MARCH 13: Aaron Sanchez #41 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches in the first inning during the spring training game between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium on March 13, 2018 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by B51/Mark Brown/Getty Images)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – MARCH 13: Aaron Sanchez #41 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches in the first inning during the spring training game between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium on March 13, 2018 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by B51/Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Starting Pitcher, High End Spend

Early 

Corey Kluber, $11,300

.178(16 for 90), 21.4 strikeout rate

Whew buddy, we have a ton of ace caliber pitchers on the early slate. Scherzer, Kluber, Syndergaard, Severino, Keuchel and Nola are all on the hill today. I’m leaning towards Kluber at this point for a couple reasons. First, righty batters hit .186 off of Kluber last season and the Angels typically have at least five to six right handed batters in their lineup. Second, Angels Stadium grades out as a slightly pitcher friendly park against righties. Lastly, Kluber throws his slider, sinker and cutter as his primary mix. In 2017, the Angels were 26th against the slider and just 14th against the cutter and sinker. There’s plenty of factors that lean towards Kluber today.

On the flip side, it’s hard to ignore Syndergaard put up over 40 FanDuel points without a quality start and giving up four runs. That’s not going to happen very often and you could easily go with him if you desperately need the extra $500.

Main 

All the aces are on the mound during the day and nobody truly grades out as a high-end spend for the evening slate.

Mid-Range

Early

On this slate, it’s not recommended to go against the grain and not pick your favorite quality pitcher. It’s just too easy to fall behind in cash games if you take a mid-range pitcher and he gets shelled. Of course, in GPP’s, you want to be different. As a total risk/reward play, Patrick Corbin at $.    He put up 41 FanDuel points against the Colorado Rockies. Even though the Dodgers offense is good, Colorado is likely a hair better. Just know that Corbin could get blitzed.

Main 

Felix Hernandez, 

.223(27 for 121), 27.7 strikeout rate

The trusty war horse may not be what he used to be and the upside may not be great, but Hernandez is in play given the slate. He’s pitching in San Francisco, which is always great for pitchers. He has a good track record against the Giants. In addition, the Giants were dead last in wOBA against right handed pitching in 2017. That lines up with a .248 batting average and a .693 OPS. The new additions of Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria don’t do enough to change those numbers to not at least consider Hernandez tonight.

Value

Early

I’m not diving any lower than Corbin today, if that. Pitching is just too important to mess around on this slate.

Main

Aaron Sanchez, $6,200

.000(0 for 15), 17.6 strikeout rate

Seeing as how most of the big name pitchers are already gone, you could make the argument that Aaron Sanchez is the best pitcher on the slate. The White Sox were below average last year vs. righties with a .248 average and a .309 wOBA which isn’t scary at all. Sanchez had a rough outing last time out with four walks and just two strikeouts but that was against the Yankees. The White Sox were average to below average against every pitch Sanchez throws in 2017. I was a little surprised at just how low his price was.