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FanDuel Picks and Lineup for Friday, April 6th

By Adam Strangis

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 01: Lance McCullers Jr. #43 of the Houston Astros throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in game seven of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium on November 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 01: Lance McCullers Jr. #43 of the Houston Astros throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in game seven of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium on November 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images) /
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Welcome into the Friday edition of the FanDuel picks and lineups column! We have a really fun slate on tap and we’ll be focusing mostly on the Main portion.

Before we get rolling for Friday, we need to go over the results from Friday. The Early slate broke badly for us as we hit 113 even. It just missed cashing in 50/50s and it really didn’t help that Miguel Cabrera left his game early. I’d like to think had he stayed in, we could’ve crossed that cash line.

The four game evening slate was a little kinder to us as we took on the Masahiro Tanaka chalk and still walked away a winner with a score of 123.3 . Tanaka was around 80 percent owned in my contests but Robbie Ray outscored him and our little find of Daniel Descalso paid off handsomely for us with 18+ FanDuel points at a near minimum salary.

One of the main reasons we’re going to include the All Day slate is because we finally have Coors Field on the slate! We’ve been waiting all season for a Coors Field game and we’ll definitely have a piece of it. The bad side is FanDuel doesn’t have almost any tournaments to speak of on the all day slate. We’ll try to keep the main focus on main slate players but still give options for every game. There’s quite a few options to go with on the other games as well so let’s dig in.

LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 01: Lance McCullers Jr. #43 of the Houston Astros throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in game seven of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium on November 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 01: Lance McCullers Jr. #43 of the Houston Astros throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in game seven of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium on November 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images) /

Starting Pitcher, High End Spend

Lance McCullers, $8,600

.214(3 for 14), 42.9 strikeout rate

I’m licking my chops to be able to hit submit with McCullers in my lineup today.His price tag is insanely affordable.  He clearly has some of the best upside of the slate almost every single time he toes the rubber and today is no different. First, Minute Maid Park actually finished 2017 as the most pitcher friendly park in MLB. Secondly, McCullers might have the best curveball in the game today. Last year, the Padres finished last against curveballs and it wasn’t all that close. They also struck out the fourth most times in the league against righties last year.

San Diego was also terrible against the four seam and was 25th in wOBA against sinkers last season. The only pitch McCullers throws that the Padres do well against is the changeup but he only throws it about 10 percent of the time. There is  a legitimate chance at a line of seven innings pitched with under two runs given up with double-digit strikeouts. McCuller should dominate the Padres today.

Mid-Range

Luis Castillo, $7,100

.118(2 for 17), 47.1 strikeout rate

The Pittsburgh Pirates have started off the season hot with 5 wins in 6 games but Castillo could put a stop to that today. The Pirates offense is top 10 in runs but that has been buoyed by 13 runs in their first game. The Bucs are hitting just .245 against righties so far and with just a .724 OPS. Pittsburgh matches up horribly against the arsenal for Castillo. He throws a four seam and changeup as his main two pitches with a slider and sinker mixed in now and again. In order, the Bus finished 2017 ranked 28th, 26th, 27th, and 29th against Castillo’s mix. It also helps this game is in PNC Park, which is typically pitcher friendly. This is especially true against lefty batters. Pittsburgh’s biggest power bats are left handed hitters and almost every factor syncs up in favor of Castillo today.

In Consideration – Carlos Carrasco vs. Kansas City Royals

Value

With the way McCuller and Castillo are priced, they might be the only two pitchers that I have exposure to today. There’s just not many reasons to not pay for McCullers when a player like Kenta Maeda is more expensive with a lower ceiling.