FanDuel picks and lineup for Saturday, April 7

Welcome into the Saturday edition of the FanDuel Picks and Lineup column! we have a nicely split slate today so let’s not waste any time getting into it.

The Saturday slate is divided into two main part and that’s what we’ll focus on today. If you feel like playing the all day slate for access to the games that are in the 4 pm slot, feel free to reach out on Twitter for any help I can offer @bucn4life. We have another Coors Field slate which is always fun.

Yesterday, we didn’t play as much as we had planned. Given the weather concerns that plagued the games, I withdrew from my all day contests to see how things would shake out. It turned out to be the right call as we were able to focus just on the main slate and put up a score of 160.3. That should have been plenty to cash any 50/50 and may have even snuck into the back end of a tournament. We look to keep the train rolling down the track, and we’ll be jumping on the Cole Train to do it on the Main slate.

Starting Pitcher, High End Spend

Early

Jose Berrios, $9,500

.167(1 for 6), 16.7 strikeout rate

Even with Zach Greinke on the slate, Berrios has the best upside of any pitcher. He’s also cheaper than Greinke so that helps as well. We all saw the ceiling last time when he pitched a complete game in Camden Yards. The Mariners aren’t striking out a ton against righties so far in 2018 but they are also in the bottom half of the league in runs. Part of that is because they are missing Nelson Cruz in the middle of their lineup. The youngster for the Twins was also way better at home last season, with an ERA under 3.00 and a batting average against of .199.

Main

Gerrit Cole, $9,100

.250(7 for 28), 32.3 strikeout rate

I may or may not have started dancing around my living room when I saw Cole’s price for today. Coming off a 61 point effort his first time out in a far worse matchup I assumed he’d be at least $10,000. Seeing as he’s not mean two things. The first is we still have room to spend on some bats. The negative part of that is he will be the mega-chalk, just like his teammate was yesterday. I’m eating the chalk all day long as the Padres were dreadful against his pitch mix in 2017. The ceiling is far greater than anyone else on the slate.

Mid-Range

Early

Sonny Gray, $8,800

.333(30 for 90), 23.2 strikeout rate

True, Gray isn’t exactly cheap. However, he could be a good contrarian option tonight as my personal disdain for playing pitchers in Yankee Stadium is shared by many. Gray is the exact type of pitcher that can succeed even in that daunting park. Last season, he got back to generating a ton of ground balls(52.8 percent) and he strikes out his fair share. Baltimore is scuffling mightily to score at the moment and leads MLB in strikeout percentage so far. Gray could pay off his salary even though it’s a touch high.

Main

Marcus Stroman, $7,900

.171(6 for 35), 16.7 strikeout rate

There is certainly risk to be had here but this profiles as a potentially good spot for Stroman. He is in a hitters park but he also generates a massive amount of ground balls. In 2017, Texas was about mid-pack as far as hitting ground balls so that’s a check for Stroman. Last season, Texas struck out over 24 percent of the time, fourth worst in baseball. This year they rank 20th but are still over 21 percent. The Blue Jays ace is quietly in a pretty good spot and everyone and their mother will flock to Cole.

Value

Early

Michael Fulmer, $8,000

.194(6 for 31), 13.5 strikeout rate

This is certainly a risky play as Fulmer isn’t a strikeout artist and the White Sox have come out of the gates on a tear offensively. The Pale Hose are top 10 in MLB in runs but a good chunk of that has come against lefties. They have shown improvement against righties in the short sample size of 2018, but it’s worth noting that they were 27th in wOBA against righties last season.

Main

I can’t go there on this five-game slate. The pickings get slim really quick and I think it’s either Cole or Stroman this evening.