FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Monday April 23
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back to FanDuel MLB Daily lineups. This is the Monday, April 23rd 2018 edition. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.
We weren’t able to get posts written this past weekend due to family commitments. However, we did tweet out some FanDuel MLB lineup recommendations for the Sunday main slate, and boy did it work out well.
Lance McCullers Jr. ($8,800) wasn’t as dominate as we were hoping against the White Sox, in Chicago, on Sunday. However, he did last six innings, earned a quality start and win, along with his three strikeouts. Lance also gave up on only one run, so we were able to get a solid 34 FanDuel MLB points out of our pitcher sport, for a modest salary.
Offensive stacks is where the big point winnings came from, though. We decided to stack the Cardinals again, and they piled up nine runs on the Reds. Yadier Molina ($3,300) remains red-hot at the C/1B spot and gave us 21. 9 FanDuel MLB points with three hits, including a double, and two runs with one RBI.
Paul DeJong ($3,900) has become very expensive, but remained hot as well with the home run and 28.7 FanDuel MLB points. But playing Dexter Fowler ($3,200) made it easier to afford DeJon and he gave us another 27.7 points. Also, stacking some Yankees like Miguel Andujar ($2,900) who had 24.7 FanDuel MLB points helped.
We also threw in Whit Merrifield ($3,400) at the 2B spot, since he’s off to a great start, and he gave us another 18.7 FanDuel MLB points. All of these guys should be in consideration throughout the week, depending on the match up.
For the FanDuel MLB slates on Monday, there is an All-Day and Main selection. Fade the all-day, as there were likely weather-related concerns. So we’re focusing only on the Main slate today. There are several teams taking Monday night off, so with eight games in the Main slate, we only have 16 teams to sift through for our lineups.
Before we get there, a reminder to never take a DFS MLB optimal lineup as ‘bible’ for your personal lineup each day. Use the suggestions as guidance. Also, make sure you follow final lineup thoughts throughout the day on our twitter account @FantasyCPR or me @mattymcmatt17 look for late breaking lineup news.
Weather Note: As we just mentioned, there are weather-related concerns in the Cincinnati area as a big storm system moves through the Ohio value, up and down the US. It is highly likely the Braves and Reds do not play tonight, due to a postponement. There’s also the possibility of a delay in Colorado, so the Rockies stack will have some risk against the Padres. With weather-related considerations addressed, let’s get to the top pitching options…
FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate
Gerrit Cole ($10,700) may seem like an obvious pay-up play at the pitcher position for the Man FanDuel MLB slate today. However, we think there’s risk with that pick. You shouldn’t take on too much risk if you’re paying nearly $11K for a pitcher.
Cole is averaging almost 57 FanDuel MLB points-per-game, but he saw his K-rate drop significantly against the Mariners in his last outing, averaging double digits to only five in seven innings in Seattle. That may have been due to the match up, finally facing someone other than the Padres or Rangers. Tonight, Cole and the Astros host a tough Angels lineup, often overlooked by FanDuel MLB players.
Playing Cole tonight isn’t worth it to us. So most FanDuel MLB players who have a similar perspective will likely immediately go to Carlos Carrasco ($9,600). In what should be a solid play, the Indians right-handed hurler is already off to a great start, winning three in four starts, with a very low 0.81 WHIP and 2.6 ERA this season. But Carrasco’s K-rate is only around 20%, yielding a lower point total they we expect from Carlos.
For that reason, we continued to review the rest of the pitching options, and found an obvious potential value play, Trevor Cahill ($6,600). He was only recently signed by the Athletics and spent a quick stint in the minors to get warm.
In his first outing against the White Sox, Cahill gave up five hits and two walks in seven innings, but fanned eight hitters while giving up no runs and took the win in a quality start. Trevor piled up an incredible 55 FanDuel MLB points with a cheap salary. Cahill is cheap again tonight because his historical numbers haven’t been great.
However, if you played Trevor last season, you may recall he looked very good in the early part of the year, before suffering an injury. We also noticed the Rangers are suffering from a 24.3% K-rate against RHP’s, 9th worst in baseball this season. They also have a very low 85 wRC+ in this scenario.
Yes, there’s risk with a Cahill play at pitcher, but the value potential is enormous on a night when we could use the salary to stack big bats. If you can’t stomach Cahill, go with Carrasco, but we’re taking a shot with Trevor tonight.
FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate
We’re super excited with the salary left to spend on offensive stacks, because tonight is a great night for it, weather permitting. For starters, Bryan Mitchell is starting for the Padres in Coors Field, and Miguel Gonzales is starting for the White Sox in Chicago.
Both pitchers have an xFIP this season above 6.00. That is horrendous! Neither pitcher has a K-rate above 8%, which is fantastically terrible, and they both are walking batters at an incredibly high rate. Mitchell has a very high 1.88 WHIP, but compare to Gonzalez’s 2.43 WHIP, it almost doesn’t seem that bad. Compared to the rest of the starting pitchers on this slate not-named Matt Moore, though, it’s pretty bad.
That opens the door wide open for a two great offensive stacks tonight, the Mariners and Rockies. From the Mariners, we’re mostly grabbing infield hitters, like Robinson Cano ($4,100), Kyle Seager ($3,100), and Jean Segura ($3,500). But we’ve also gotta pay for Mitch Haniger ($3,500) in the outfield. The Mariners’ slugger has been on fire to start this season.
From the Rockies, we still have plenty of cash left over to pay up for an early season hot bat from Chris Iannetta ($3,400) at the C/1B position, Ian Desmond ($3,300) in either the OF or Utility spot, and current DFS MLB optimal lineup superstar Charlie Blackmon ($5,200). If Cahill has a good night with these bats and their pitching match ups, we should at least easily win cash games. But some of the bats may be chalky.
FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup
So with Cahill or Carrasco at our pitching spot, and an attempt to stack the Rockies and Mariners for offense, we’re feeling pretty confident with our lineups tonight. However, there’s one value pick we noticed, which we’ll likely utilize in our lineups Monday.
Michael A. Taylor ($2,200) has been hitting the ball very hard to start this season, but often right to the defenders. However, his hitting trajectory is starting to open up, and it paid off last night against Alex Wood and the Dodgers.
The duel-threat offensive hitter had a home run, two stolen bases, two runs, a double, and three hits with an RBI. Michael A. was basically the Nationals entire offense last night, and he rewarded FanDuel MLB players with an awesome 45.9 points on a very low salary.
The Nats have Chris Stratton pitching to Taylor and others tonight in San Francisco. We think the Nats bats can exploit Stratton, although not as well as the Rockies and Mariners will exploit their match ups. Still, given Taylors ridiculous value potential, we’re going to add him to our lineup, giving us even more cash back and making the big-bats stack from the Rockies and Mariners even easier.
With that summary in mind, here’s a look at the sample lineup the Main FanDuel MLB slate on Monday, April 23rd:
FanDuel MLB MAIN Slate Sample Lineup:
P Trevor Cahill ($6,600)
C/1B Chris Iannetta ($3,400)
2B Robinson Cano ($4,100)
3B Kyle Seager ($3,100)
SS Jean Segura ($3,500)
OF Charlie Blackmon ($5,200)
OF Mitch Haniger ($3,500)
OF Michael A. Taylor ($2,200)
UTIL Ian Desmond ($3,300)
Remaining Salary: $100
Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for today. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building FanDuel NHL lineups. We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across MLB, NBA, NHL, and EPL this spring!