MLB DFS Bargain Bin- Thursday, August 30th Evening Slates

MLB DFS Bargain Bin – Thursday, August 30th Evening Slates

Welcome to a Thursday edition of the MLB DFS Bargain Bin, where the goal is to provide a general overview of the ledger and touch on where the weakest pitching spots might be, and by extension, where there may be some value bats to consider. Additionally, I’ll look to identify where a value arm or two might be intersecting with an offense that’s running cold or is otherwise inefficient against a certain handedness.

Before we go MLB DFS Bargain Bin hunting, a few particulars about format and content:

The nature of the beast with value plays is at least a modest amount (and sometimes substantially more) of risk. After all, these players are usually priced where they are for a reason. Therefore, the Bargain Bin may prove to be a bit more of a rollercoaster ride on some slates than your typical “tout” article!
Naturally, that doesn’t mean there isn’t upside to be had. All of these selections are therefore suitable for GPPs (and usually avoidable for cash games), and they can often help you accommodate multiple higher-priced studs into your lineup.
In this DFS MLB Bargain Bin Quick Hits version, I’ll suggest players that are typically value-priced across all four major DFS sites (Yahoo, FanDuel, DraftKings and FantasyDraft). Naturally, check final pricing before making your lineup decisions, as I am not listing salaries in this edition.
This is not a position-by-position breakdown, but rather, I’m just identifying games where I think there’s value players in potentially favorable fantasy spots.
The goal is to recommend truly affordable players, as opposed to, say, a player priced just $300-$400 away from the highest-priced option at his position. I don’t have set-in-stone price limits in mind for each site, but I do consider legitimate affordability a very important criterion.

With those housekeeping items out of the way, I’ll give you my thoughts on where there may be some value spots to exploit on Thursday’s evening slates!

DFS MLB /

MLB DFS Bargain Bin – Thurs. Aug. 30th Evening Slates Bargain Pitcher

Joe Musgrove, PIT at STL

For those that are willing to spend up to what will likely be the upper periphery of true value range, I also like German Marquez a lot Thursday in a matchup versus a Padres team that he should be able to rack up some strikeouts against. Additionally, I gave Musgrove’s opposite number Thursday, John Gant, some consideration, but the Pirates have actually been able to get to him pretty well in two previous meetings.

That leads me to Musgrove, who has a few factors working in his favor against an increasingly depleted Cardinals squad. St. Louis continues to lose important offensive pieces to injury, with Jedd Gyorko the latest such casualty. The versatile infielder succumbed to a groin injury in Tuesday’s game, and he was officially placed on the disabled list Wednesday. He joins Marcell Ozuna and Kolten Wong under that designation, further weakening the Cardinals lineup for the moment.

This is naturally a favorable development for Musgrove’s prospects Thursday, a matchup that he’ll walk into with a 2.92 ERA, .235 BAA and .270 wOBA across 37.0 road innings this season. What’s more, the right-hander has only allowed seven extra-base hits (three doubles, one triple, three home runs) overall away from PNC Park over a 153-batter sample, a testament to how effective he’s been in road environments. And although Musgrove has been a better strikeout pitcher at home, many of his other metrics look better on the road, including WHIP (1.03, compared to 1.31 at home), BB/9 (0.97, compared to 2.67) and HR/9 (a minuscule 0.73, compared to a still impressive 1.00).

The Cardinals have been nothing special versus right-handed pitching at home in August (.311 wOBA, -1.5 wRAA, .229 average, .165 ISO), and as alluded to earlier, they’ll have less pop in the lineup Thursday than they did in the earlier part of the month with the trio of absences. On a modestly-sized slate, Musgrove, who’s generated quality starts in five of his last six trips to the mound, is a solid, cost-savings option at pitcher.

DraftKings /

MLB DFS Bargain Bin – Thurs. Aug. 30th Evening Slates Quick Hits

With Francisco Liriano on the mound for the Tigers on Thursday, the Yankees are going to be mighty popular, and with good reason. Liriano has allowed a .380 wOBA (including 15 homers) to right-handed hitters. Of the relatively scarce number of Yankees bats, Shane Robinson has a particularly successful history against the southpaw (.385 average over 15 career plate appearances, and no strikeouts), and Luke Voit, Ronald Torreyes and Austin Romine are appealing as value options as well. Also worth noting that although he’s a left-handed hitter, Brett Gardner owns a .333 average against Liriano over 13 plate appearances.

On the other side,

J.A. Happ

represents the second part of the lefty vs. lefty matchup, and he’s been very effective since joining the Yankees. However, it’s worth noting that several affordable Tigers have solved Happ very consistently in the past, beginning with Nicholas Castellanos, who’s touched him up for a .579 average over 21 career plate appearances, and who owns a .457 wOBA and .514 CXwOBA versus southpaws. Additionally,

James McCann

(.308 average over 14 plate appearances) and

Jose Iglesias

(.364 average over 13 plate appearances) also are worthy of consideration.

More from DFS

As alluded to earlier, the Pirates have enjoyed some success against Cardinals starter John Gant in earlier meetings, putting a few affordable options under consideration. Starling Marte stands out the most, given his .800 average versus the right-hander over six career plate appearances, as well his .395 CXwOBA versus righties and likely leadoff role. Adam Frazier, Gregory Polanco, Corey Dickerson and Francisco Cervelli also stand out due to their metrics versus righty arms, as does the switch-hitting Josh Bell, who owns a .359 wOBA and 34.1 percent hard contact rate against righties on the road.

I don’t suggest targeting Mike Foltynewicz based on how effective he’s been, but worth noting Daniel Murphy (.409 average over 22 plate appearances) is worth a consideration as a large-field tournament one-off given his past success versus the right-hander.

The Cubs’ Mike Montgomery has been effective on the road this season against both sides of the plate, but cheap Braves righty bats with some pop like Dansby Swanson, Adam Duvall and Kurt Suzuki or Tyler Flowers can certainly be considered for tournaments.

The Angels’ Andrew Heaney has allowed a .344 wOBA (including nine homers) and a 40.3 percent hard contact rate to right-handed hitters on the road, while Tyler White boasts a .455 wOBA and .532 CXwOBA against southpaws, making him a natural value bat to hone in on Thursday. Yuli Gurriel, the switch-hitting Marwin Gonzalez and Martin Maldonado are other cheap Houston bats worthy of consideration, while Josh Reddick, while a lefty hitter, owns a .381 wOBA against southpaws.

The Astros’ Justin Verlander makes for a sneaky one- or two-off target Thursday, as he does tend to give up his fair share of home runs and has allowed nine round trippers over five August starts. Cheap Angels bats with some pop like Francisco Arcia, Albert Pujols, Kole Calhoun and Shohei Ohtani make for interesting large-field tournament plays that should check in at low ownership.

MLB DFS Bargain Bin – Thurs. Aug. 30th Evening Slates Quick Hits (cont.)

The control-challenged, home-run-allowing Lucas Giolito faces the Red Sox on Thursday, a recipe for potential disaster. Giolito is vulnerable to both sides of the plate, so I consider any affordable Boston bats of either handedness worthy of deploying.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox’s

Rick Porcello

has allowed a .322 wOBA (including six homers) to right-handed hitters on the road, so don’t hesitate to get the likes of

and

into some lineups, along with any other cheap right-handed option that might be in the order.

More from FanSided

The Mariners’ Wade LeBlanc has handcuffed quite a few teams this season with his mix of a mid-80s fastball and breaking stuff, but he’s allowed a .333 wOBA to left-handed hitters on the road. Matt Olson therefore deserves a look if in the lineup, despite the same-handed matchup.

Left-handed hitters are in play on the other side of the matchup, too, as A’s starter Frankie Montas has allowed a .372 wOBA to that handedness, including a .421 figure at home. Feel free to get Robinson Cano, Denard Span, Ben Gamel, Kyle Seager and Dee Gordon into some tournament lineups.

The Dodger’s Rich Hill continues to allow plenty of impactful hits to right-handed hitters at home, as evidenced by a .363 wOBA and 51.5 percent hard contact rate surrendered at Dodger Stadium. The likes of Eduardo Escobar, Ketel Marte, Steven Souza, Jr., Nick Ahmed and John Ryan Murphy can certainly be looked at in terms of cheap Arizona candidates.

The D-Backs’ Robbie Ray has had plenty of trouble versus right-handed hitters this season, but almost all of it has come at home. Therefore, I’m not necessarily high on overloading Dodgers tonight, but Matt Kemp (.429 average over 14 plate appearances) and Chris Taylor (.438 average over 17 plate appearances) both qualify as candidates due to their track records against the lefty.

The Padres’ Eric Lauer has been touched up plenty by both handedness of hitter this season, including in the typically pitcher-friendly confines of Petco Park. Therefore, typically affordable Rockies like Carlos Gonzalez, David Dahl, Matt Holliday, Ian Desmond and Chris Iannetta can all be considered, along with any others that night find themselves in the lineup.

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