LINKS YOU HAVE TO BOOKMARK
DFS PLAYS OF THE DAY
Here are some of the best plays of the day if you're looking to set your daily lineup, or if you're playing the daily game. Be sure to look out for the DFS MLB Playbook for some other daily plays (see link above).
C: Salvador Perez mashes lefties pretty dang well with a .307 batting average and .852 OPS in 384 career at-bats against southpaws. Perez faces lefty Jose Quintana who he's hit .333 with two homers against in 30 at-bats.
1B: Adrian Gonzalez hit .303 with a .901 OPS against righties last season and that effort included 23 homers and 83 RBIs in 432 at-bats. Through two games this season he's 6-for-9 with two homers and he faces righty Andrew Cashner Wednesday.
2B: Daniel Murphy has a difficult matchup against the always tough Jordan Zimmermann, but in 50 battles Daniel has come out ahead an awful lot. Murphy has hit .320 with a .933 OPS as he's gone deep three times with eight RBIs.
3B: Alex Rodriguez had a solid spring. He actually looked a bit spry. You never know how a guy is gonna do against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, but if history is a guide ARod might have success given that he's hit .364 with a .955 OPS over 22 plate appearances. He's also gone deep once.
SS: The last three years Jimmy Rollins OPS is .093 points higher against righties than lefties (.736). He's started off his Dodgers career with three hits in eight at-bats as he's homered and also stolen a bag. He faces Andrew Cashner Wednesday.
OF: Ben Revere has hit .368 with a .429 OBP over 21 plate appearances against Rick Porcello. The speedy Revere also has stolen four bags in four attempts.
OF: Hanley Ramirez has hit .345 with five homers in 29 at-bats against old, dilapidated Aaron Harang.
OF: Desmond Jennings had a strong spring, and he should be able to keep that going against Miguel Gonzalez Wednesday. Jennings has only hit .261 in the matchup but thanks to six walks he has a .419 OBP over 29 plate appearances, and in the 23 at-bats in the matchup he's also hit four big flies with seven RBIs.
SP: R.A. Dickey, Blue Jays
Dickey has allowed four homers in 180 at-bats against Yankees batters in his career. He's also held the group to a .239 batting average while posting a 3.40 K/BB ratio. In 17 road starts last season he held batters to a .238 average with a 3.68 ERA.
SP: Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners
Current Angels batters have hit .201 with a .560 OPS against Iwakuma over 145 plate appearances. He's also got better than a 5:1 K/BB ratio against the unit. At home last season he had a 3.02 ERA and 10.5 K/BB ratio. Yeah, he likes it up there.
SP: Mike Leake, Reds
Leake faces the Pirates at home. Last season he was particularly effective there with a 3.26 ERA, 92 Ks in 99.1 innings and he also posted a 3.83 K/BB ratio.
SP: Lance Lynn, Cardinals
Once more into the breach... The Cubs didn't score against Adam Wainwright on Opening Day and they also had a 35.3 percent K-rate, a horrific number. Lynn is a big time K-arm who has struck out 8.75 batters per nine for his career. His career road ERA is almost a run an a half higher (4.15) but this would still appear to be a matchup he can exploit.
PLAYING TIME CHANGES
James McCann will see the majority of starts against left-handed pitching this season while Alex Avila, he of the .619 career OPS against lefties, will ride the pine. McCann has hit .2666 with a .314 OBP and .378 SLG over 351 minor league games. He's obviously of no interest in a mixed league.
FIRST BASE WOES
Brandon Belt could be headed to the DL after he injured his groin chasing a pop up Tuesday night. He said after the game that he can jog fine but making sharp cuts might be an issue. The Giants would likely call up Andrew Susac or Adam Duvall to replace Belt on the roster if a move is made. Susac is a top-100 prospect this season according to Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. The righty swinger has only hit .254/.362/.422 over 249 minor league games but the potential is there for much more. Whereas the numbers aren't for Susac, Duvall has produced in spades. He has three minor league seasons with at least 22 homers and 87 RBIs and he hit .298 with 27 homers and 90 RBIs last season in, get this, 91 games (read that again). Both guys are immediate pickups in NL-only leagues if available.
Justin Morneau had to be removed from action after taking a throw off his chin as he dove back into third base. Given his concussion woes it's concerning though the team expects him to be fine. We'll see,
SEEM RIGHT TO YOU?
Rubby De La Rosa allowed six runs Tuesday to the Giants and still got the win. His ERA for the effort was 10.13. Jesse Hahn allowed three runs - one earned - over six innings. His ERA was 1.50. He got the loss. Be careful not to overestimate the value of wins.
WHO SAW THIS COMING?
Mat Latos was torched, maybe annihilated is a better word, as he allowed seven runs while recording only two outs against the Braves. Points to know. (1) It's one start. Don't overreact. Stephen Strasburg allowed 10 runs over 10.1 innings in his first two starts last season. (2) Be careful in the daily game to avoid looking only at matchups. Yes the matchup on paper against the Braves was mouth watering, but you have to take into account the player as well. (3) Latos spent three months last season on the DL after having knee surgery. He then had a procedure on his elbow as well this offseason. (4) Latos had a poor spring in which he posted a 7.04 ERA and 1.57 WHIP with only nine strikeouts over 15.1 innings. What were you expecting Tuesday? Likely too much.
C.J. Wilson was awful last season and this spring he wasn't much better this Spring with a 1.71 WHIP over three outings. He was sharp in his first start that counted this year though as he shutout the Mariners for eight innings. Don't forget that from 2010-13 there were only a handful of more reliable lefties in the game.