FanDuel MLB Lineup and Picks for Friday, April 27

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Welcome into the Friday edition of the FanDuel Daily Fantasy MLB column! We have a whopping 14 games in front of us so let’s dig in!

Yesterday’s day slate wasn’t exactly kind to us. It depends on what you played because the sample lineup that was in the article likely case but I made a critical pivot before lock from Ozzie Albies to Brian Dozier, which cost me money. Even though the main lineup flailed, the GPP option was fantastic with score of 180.1 and that helped ease the pain. Let’s get into tonight’s slate!

NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 10: Jacob deGrom #48 of the New York Mets in action against the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field on September 10, 2017 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Reds defeated the Mets 10-5. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

Starting Pitcher, High End Spend

Jacob DeGrom, $10,600

.279 (12 for 43), 22.2 strikeout rate

One thing this slate doesn’t lack is options for pitching. Indians ace Corey Kluber is firmly in the running here but DeGrom enters a game against the Padres in good form and is cheaper. On the monster slates, I want a really good pitcher I feel like I can trust at the cheapest price possible. I mean, that’s generally the goal anyways but that goes double for the big slates. The Padres can’t hit righty pitching in 2018 and they carry the highest strikeout rate in the league. San Diego also ranks no higher than 23rd in almost any major offensive category. It’s going to be interesting to see what the ownership percentages are but I’m likely siding with DeGrom tonight.

Also Consider – Corey Kluber $11,200, and Stephen Strasburg, $10,100

Mid-Range

Drew Pomeranz, $7,200

.254 (15 for 59), 15.4 strikeout rate

Needless to say, there’s a ton of pitchers who could be successful today as it’s one of the bigger slates we can have. Pomeranz will be making his second start of 2018 and the results from his first were mixed. He gave up too many runs against Oakland but he struck out seven batters in under four innings of work. The Tampa Bay Rays are actually a little bit better against lefties than they were in 2017 but they’re still top 10 in strikeout percentage. Even with the improvements, the Rays are just league average in OPS, ISO and wOBA against the handedness. Pomeranz is best served as a GPP target but he could be the difference in a winning lineup.

Also Consider – Blake Snell, $7,700 — this may seem crazy to attack the Red Sox. They rank dead last in OPS, ISO, and wOBA against lefties so far in 2018. Yes, that’s likely to change. Some of it is skewed by the fact they got no-hit by lefty Sean Manaea. This is a GPP special only as Snell has the raw stuff to strikeout any team in baseball.

Value

Reynaldo Lopez, $7,400

.226(7 for 31), 3.1 strikeout rate

The young fireballer from the White Sox holds some appeal today. Lopez is technically more expensive but I’d likely rather play Pomeranz. He’s a bit of a weird case as he’s been a little lucky. His metrics don’t suggest he’s as statistically dominant as he’s looked because of a high strand rate. Still, he’s striking out almost a quarter of the betters he’s facing. The Royals don’t strike out as team at a high rate but they rank 23rd or worse across the board against righties. Lopez has been a fly ball pitcher this year but he’s giving up hard contact under 30 percent of the time. That’s a good place to be when you’re pitching in Kaufmann Stadium, one of the friendliest pitcher parks in baseball.

Also Consider – Miles Mikolas, $6,700