FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Monday June 4

Welcome to FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups for Monday, June 4th 2018. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

If you went with Mike Clevinger, yesterday’s FanDuel MLB Main slate was a dude. If you grabbed the value play with Dylan Covey, you likely had a very good day. Our offensive stacking targets weren’t great either, though.

Jon Jay popped a home run for the Royals, and we flipped to Jay once the lineups posted. But only 18.7 points across several Royals players is not ideal. Similarly, Trea Turner slapped a two run home run for 22.2 points, but again, the Nats mostly came up short.

We should have a better outcome tonight, but in all honesty the pitcher pick isn’t necessarily an easy on. We only have five total MLB games today, and four games in the Main FanDuel MLB slate. The additional game is the first set of a double-header between the Yankees and Tigers. That game could impact the Main slate, as each team could sit some of their players in the second half. So this slate will be tricky.

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: After a tropical system drenched much of the eastern half of the United States over the last week, it appears the country is beginning to dry out today. We can finally stop talking about the risk the Yankees and Orioles played each day, and focus solely on lineup performance. There are no weather-related issue today, so green light to play all teams tonight!

With weather-related considerations addressed, let’s get to the top pitching options…

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

Today’s pitching slate isn’t as horrendous as yesterday’s, but I still don’t like it. I debated with one of our other writers last night about whether there was even any clear top picks. My conclusion is still, there isn’t.

But, fortunately there is a clear delineation between the top four picks, and the bottom four picks. So we at least have a bucket of arms we’re grabbing for a pitcher pick, and another we’re targeting for offensive stacks.

At first glance, Zack Godley ($8,500) and Nick Tropeano ($8,000) appeared to be the safe play for the day. Godley has a history of high strikeouts in a game, and Tropeano has been pitching well, at times, this season.

But, Tropeano’s xFIP is above 4.00 and they both are only fanning hitters around a 20-21% rate. That is lower than ‘safe’ for me, especially considering their FanDuel MLB salary. As we’ll see with the offensive picks, we’ll need a decent amount of salary left over after we pick our pitcher pick, and we’re giving up too much for either Zack or Nick, for a likely 20 to 30 FanDuel MLB outcome, and little upside.

Then my mind moved toward making a risky move like Julio Teheran ($7,600) against the Padres in San Diego. On the surface, the match up looks ideal. But, the Padres offense has been OK at home lately, and Teheran has a 4.96 xFIP. That’s second worst of all pitchers on the mound tonight, and Julio’s K-rate is sub 20%. So taking a hard pass on Teheran as well.

This is leading me to a conclusion I hadn’t considered when I started looking at the lineups last night. Domingo German ($6,600) undeniably has the top K-rate of any starter tonight, 27.5%. So we know there’s a higher ceiling with this pick.

The Tigers do have some solid bats, but several are injured right now, and German is getting them in the second leg of a double-header. German has a 3.66 xFIP, second best tonight, a decent 1.33 WHIP mostly banged up by walks, but a high 5.45 ERA.

The risk with Domingo is the Tigers bats get hot in the second game, and he gives up more than three runs and doesn’t last more than five innings. But, the upside is 40 to 50 FanDuel MLB points with a potentially monstrous offense. It may seem more like a GPP play, but you can use German in either format. We’re sticking with Domingo tonight.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

The Yankees have Mike Fiers tonight, and that’s a solid match up for the Bronx Bombers. We’ve been waiting out weather conditions in Baltimore, and now have two changes (assuming you also play the All-Day slate) to play Yankees in our lineups today.

Greg Bird ($3,400) is still a cheap option likely hitting between Aaron Judge ($5,200) and Giancarlo Stanton ($4,900). Miguel Andujar ($3,000) continues to provide value at the 3B position, and Aaron Hicks ($3,500) is our favorite value in the outfield. The only problem is we’re unaware of the lineup until after the first game is played.

So instead of leaning heavily on the Yankees lineup, we’re more focused on the Angels facing Danny Duffy and the Royals in Los Angeles today. Duffy is giving up 1.95 home runs per nine innings this season, the most of any starter tonight. Danny has the highest xFIP, worst ERA, and worst WHIP of all starters tonight.

With German in our lineup at pitcher, we have plenty of cash left over to grab Mike Trout ($5,500), Andrelton Simmons ($3,600), and Justin Upton ($3,500). We’ll also consider the value offered by Ian Kinsler ($2,800). Don’t get too stuck on these guys though. Once the Yankees lineup is out, we can figure out the right mix and match between the two offenses.

 FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

With two teams completely stacked in our lineup, we need to swap in a player from a third team. For now, we’re looking for a mid-salary range guy with big upside potential. Honestly, we don’t like many of the options from the other teams, but one name stuck out as we looked at recent offensive history.

Last season, Andrew McCutchen ($3,100) started to get hot in June. This season, McCutchen has been a disappointing offensive weapon for the Giants, but he’s 3-for-11 since June 1st, with a home run, two runs, and five RBI’s. Maybe it was just a good series against the Phillies, but Cutch brings that hot bat to the plate again, tonight, against Godley and the D-backs. We’re going to take a shot with him, for now.

So, with Domingo German locked in as our risk, but high value potential, pitcher for tonight, we’re mostly stacking Halo bats with the Yankees. We can afford expensive options like Trout, Judge, or Stanton tonight, while also grabbing several mid-$3K bats for our lineup. But remember to grab that third tea, player. For now, we’re considering McCutchen.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the MAIN FanDuel MLB slate on Monday, June 4th:

FanDuel MLB Main Slate Sample Lineup:

P              Domingo German ($6,600)

C/1B       Greg Bird ($3,400)

2B            Ian Kinsler ($2,800)

3B            Miguel Andujar ($3,00)

SS            Andrelton Simmons ($3,600)

OF            Mike Trout ($5,500)

OF            Aaron Hicks ($3,500)

OF            Justin Upton ($3,500)

UTIL        Andrew McCutchen ($3,100)

Remaining Salary: $0

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.

Next: MLB DFS Picks and Pivots

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