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DraftKings MLB Early Picks April 9: Why play Sale if he’s not on sale?

By Mike Marteny

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 23: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox walks to the dugout after pitching during the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game One of the 2018 World Series at Fenway Park on October 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 23: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox walks to the dugout after pitching during the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game One of the 2018 World Series at Fenway Park on October 23, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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DraftKings MLB
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – MARCH 28: Blake Snell #4 of the Tampa Bay Rays walks off the field after the fifth inning against the Houston Astros During Opening Day at Tropicana Field on March 28, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Early Picks April 9: Why play Sale if he’s not on sale?

We have three games for our early DraftKings MLB tournaments today. There may only be six pitchers, but there are some good ones on here. In fact, I could probably make a case for all of them if I tried. I could also make a case against most of them.

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It’s going to be nice for all of our day baseball. It’s going to be chilly in Boston, which should help the pitchers. The wind is blowing out to left at 14 mph in Detroit, so that’s sometime to keep an eye on. The wind will be blowing out at about 10 mph to right center in Chicago.

My core picks yesterday of Snell and Rodon weren’t terrible, I just had the wrong Cubs and too many Pirates. That’s enough to ruin you on a two game slate.

These tips are based mostly on past performance. This is a nice tool for building a lineup, but should not be the only pieces of information you use. We have plenty of writers on here who give you relevant information no matter which site you play on, and we all attack the slate from different angles.

For you first time players, if you would like a free $10 ticket on DraftKings, use this link for the referral bonus with your first deposit of $5 or more!

With only six total pitchers, all of them get their name in lights today so I can highlight the pros and cons of all of them.

DraftKings MLB
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – MARCH 28: Corey Kluber #28 of the Cleveland Indians delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning of the Opening Day game on March 28, 2019 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Early Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Chris Sale ($10,700): It has been a rough start for Sale. A date with the Blue Jays should help. Most of the rough start came at the hands of the Mariners. Sale was solid against an A’s lineup that hits lefties pretty well. However, Sale only racked up one strikeout. The Blue Jays are only hitting .231 in 65 at bats against Sale with four homers, five runs, and 23 strikeouts. The thing is, I don’t know if we can count on Sale for the strikeouts right now. That’s the thing that moves you up the leaderboard. If that component isn’t there, Sale is pretty average, yet carries the price tag of an ace.

Corey Kluber ($9,400): The Tigers have actually hit Kluber well. They are hitting .290 in 155 at bats with seven homers, 19 runs, and 42 strikeouts. Those number are average at best, yet Kluber still carries a well above average price. On top of that, Kluber is 6-3 at Comerica Park in ten starts, but he has a 4.18 ERA. His numbers should be better than Sale’s, but I still don’t know if they will be good enough. However, with the Tigers struggling like they are, it makes Kluber the defacto ace of the early slate.

Middle Tier:

Charlie Morton ($9,000): Morton has a nice matchup here. The current White Sox roster is only hitting .196 against him in 46 at bats with just one run and 12 strikeouts. Morton has turned in two strong starts for the Rays, both against better offenses than this one. I expect Morton’s strong start to continue here, and he is the one pitcher that I would choose to feature in all of my lineups. You can play around with the second ones, but Morton looks to be the only sure thing today.

Jordan Zimmerman ($8,100): The Indians have hit Zimmerman hard over the course of his career, but maybe something has changed. Zimmerman has only allowed one run and seven hits in 13.2 innings pitched this season. Those are elite numbers. Cleveland’s offense has been slow to come around with Ramirez in and out of the lineup and Francisco Lindor still out. If you were ever going to go after Cleveland with Zimmerman, this is the time to do it.

Bargain Pitchers:

Matt Shoemaker ($7,000): Shoemaker has been elite so far. Shoemaker has allowed just four hits in 14 innings this year without allowing a run and striking out 15. This Boston offense is good, but they haven’t hit Shoemaker as hard as you may thing. Boston is hitting just .250 with two homers and five runs in 48 at bats with 13 strikeouts. I would probably take a shot with that for the price anyway. When you add in Shoemaker’s hot start, he’s a given as your SP2.

Ervin Santana ($6,100): I’m not going to tell you what to do with your money, but you did come here for advice. In an injury riddled 2018 season, Santana had an ERA on the wrong side of 8. His 2017 season was good. So was his 2019 Spring. You can do with that information what you want. Just bear in mind that this is Santana’s first start of the season. I doubt he’ll go past five innings, and he’s not a big strikeout guy anyway. This looks like a decent place to use Santana, but I really don’t see the upside here. It’s more likely that Santana allows a few runs and gets yanked early than him notching 20 DraftKings points.

My picks: Morton, Shoemaker

DraftKings MLB
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – APRIL 04: Miguel Cabrera #24 of the Detroit Tigers waits in the on deck circle in the first inning while playing the Kansas City Royals during Opening Day at Comerica Park on April 04, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

For you BvP warriors, there’s some low hanging fruit out here today. Miguel Cabrera is 23-63(.365) with six homers and 12 RBI in his career against Corey Kluber. Josh Harrison has a homer against Kluber and is a perfect 2-2 off of him. Nick Castellanos is 12-45(.267) with a pair of RBI, but 17 strikeouts.

Jose Ramirez is the Cleveland guy you want. He is 5-10 with two triples, a homer, and five RBI off of Jordan Zimmerman. Hanley Ramirez is 10-28(.357) with a homer and six RBI.

If you want to take a shot at Shoemaker, Mitch Moreland is 3-7 with a homer and five RBi against Shoemaker. Steve Pearce has homered off of him as well, but may not be in the lineup with a righty on the mound.

I kinda want to go after Chris Sale. He was better in his second outing, but the stuff that really fools the hitters still isn’t there. Randal Grichuk, Luke Maile, Teoscar Hernandez, and Justin Smoak have all homered off of Sale. They make for a really cheap stack as well.

No part of the White Sox offense is really that appealing to me. You could go after Morton with lefties like Daniel Palka or a switch hitter like Yoan Moncada, but I would leave righties alone and keep the exposure low.

The popular play is going to be to go after Ervin Santana. However, the Rays don’t have much for power no matter how you look at this. Mike Zunino and Avisail Garcia have each homered twice off of Santana though. I would start there and finish it off with lefties if you stack this game.

Next. DraftKings Main Slate MLB Picks - Tuesday, April 9. dark

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