Early DraftKings MLB Picks June 5: Is Arrieta safe?

LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 27: Kyle Hendricks #28 of the Chicago Cubs pitches in the second inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 27, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Early DraftKings MLB Picks June 5: Is Arrieta safe?

The early part of Wednesday’s DraftKings MLB tournaments are a little strange. Fitting for this week, I guess. The Nationals and White Sox start early at 1:05 eastern. Instead of having the early start then, DraftKings chopped that and put it in showdown leaving only two games for the early tournament.

DraftKings MLB Showdown Strategy Notes

For the showdown slate, I don’t really like either starting pitcher, so I think I’m attacking with hitters. I can see the allure of Anibal Sanchez, but he has been far too inconsistent. Even if I use Sanchez, I’m going with a hitter in the captain slot.

Dylan Covey has been awful on the road, so it makes sense to go after him. It also makes sense to attack him with a lefty. The obvious choice is Juan Soto, but that puts a crimp in the rest of your lineup building abilities. Adam Eaton looks too cheap to me. Matt Adams has nice power upside as well.

How you construct the rest of your lineup is going to be determined by whether you think Sanchez is for real of not. If you think he is, then use him. The White Sox are without a DH, which weakens an already subpar lineup.

If you don’t believe in Sanchez, I love the prices on some of the White Sox hitters. Eloy Jimenez stands out at just $5,400. Yonder Alonso is also cheap at $5,600, but he is still hitting under the Mendoza line. I also like the prices on Jose Abreu and Yoan Moncada if you have money to spend.

On the Nationals side, there is plenty to like about Rendon, Soto, and the red hot Howie Kendrick. Kendrick is hitting .400 in 22 games at home this year with five home runs.

When it comes down to it, Soto and Rendon are my top priorities, but using either of them as the captain means that we would struggle to get both in the lineup otherwise. However, by using Eaton as the captain with Rendon and Soto, it still leaves us just over $6,000 for the last three slots.

That’s plenty considering the cheap prices on Jimenez, Brian Dozier, Leury Garcia, and Alonso. Even Gerardo Parra could be worth a look here. He fits if you use the cheap White Sox bats.

FanDuel MLB: SAN DIEGO, CA – APRIL 3: Manny Machado #13 of the San Diego Padres hits a two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park April 3, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Early Notes:

The early DraftKings MLB slate today is just two left coast games. All four pitchers are cheap, so we can pretty much use whichever hitters we want.

As important as hitters are, you really can’t afford to miss on pitching unless all four implode. Kenta Maeda is the highest priced player, but the Diamondbacks are hitting .354 with five homers and ten runs in 65 at bats. Okay, small sample size, right? This isn’t. Maeda is 2-4 with a 7.31 ERA in eight career starts at Chase Field. Stay off of this one.

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Next up is Jake Arrieta, who actually has a favorable matchup on paper. The Padres are only hitting .237 off of him with one homer and three runs in 59 at bats with 14 strikeouts. Solid numbers. What makes me nervous is what the Padres have done to Phillies pitching so far this series. Arrieta has been solid in his career (2-2, 3.86 ERA in five starts) at Petco Park, so by default he is in as one pitcher.

The last slot is much more difficult. Jon Duplantier was solid against the Mets, but still not that good. Cal Quantrill turned in his best major league start and was exiled back to El Paso for almost two weeks. Quantrill dominated the Jays in that matchup, but the Phillies are a different animal.

So who scares us more, the Dodgers or Phillies? For me it’s the Dodgers against a righty. I guess I’m using Quantrill then!

Alex Avila, Adam Jones, Jarrod Dyson, Nick Ahmed, and Eduardo Escobar have all homered against Maeda. Ketel Marte doesn’t have a homer, but he is 7-12 lifetime against Maeda. A Diamondbacks stack seems to be in order, but how much will we have left to spend?

With a four man stack of Marte, Escobar, Dyson, and Jones, we still have plenty left. Sliding in Will Smith and Manny Machado still leaves us at more than $5,000 left for our last two slots. Who thought landing Bellinger would be so easy?

Using Bellinger means we have to pass on Bryce Harper, Renfroe, and Rhys Hoskins. Is that worth it? Should we downgrade somewhere else? The obvious place would be to move off of Dyson and use Alex Verdugo instead. That would leave us facing the decision of Jay Bruce, Peralta, or Dyson. None are bad choices.

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