DFS PLAYS OF THE DAY
Daily Lineups
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: Buster Posey can be started pretty much every single day of the season with utmost confidence. Double-down on Thursday as he's hit .417 with a .475 OBP in 40 plate appearances against Ian Kennedy.
1B: Adam LaRoche has a homer, four RBIs an a .353 batting average against Edinson Volquez. In 22 plate appearances he also has a .500 OBP. The last three years he owns a .366 OBP with a .848 OPS against righties.
2B: In 661 games at Great American Park Brandon Phillips has hit .281 with a .790 OPS. He also hit .278 against righties last year despite his overall struggles. He's hit .321 over 28 at-bats against RHP A.J. Burnett.
3B: Josh Donaldson is only 2-for-12 against CC Sabathia. Still, as Jeff Mans said all the time, Donaldson crushes lefties. Over a mere 432 at-bats against southpaws Donaldson has hit .289 with a .953 OPS which includes 30 big flies.
SS: Alexei Amarista has hit .375 against Tim Hudson over 16 at-bats, but the most surprising thing might be that he's also driven in six runs. Not exactly a stellar day for shortstop matchups.
OF: Matt Kemp has hit .364 with a .955 OPS against Tim Hudson over 22 plate appearances. The game gets going at 3:40 PM EDT so I'm assuming it's going to be considered a day game. In 316 day games during his career Kemp has hit .318 with a .918 OPS.
OF: Lorenzo Cain hit .313 with a .827 last season against left handed pitching. To start out the 2015 season he's produced four hits in eight at-bats as he's hit a homer, scored three times, driven three in and stolen a base. He faces run down John Danks.
OF: Alex Rios faces Mr. Danks. As you can tell, I'm not a huge fan of that lefty. Rios has hit .290 over 1,500+ at-bats against portsiders in his career, and he's looked sharp through two games with five hits including a home run. He's also stolen a base for the Royals.
SP: Ian Kennedy, Diamondbacks
The righty faces the Giants and that is far from an imposing lineup if you just avoid throwing meatballs to Buster Posey. Kennedy struck out 207 batters in 201 innings last season, and batters hit just .247 against him in the 17 starts he made at Petco last season. Oddly though, he allowed 10 homers at home and only six on the road last season. Luckily for him the Giants aren't exactly known for hitting the ball into the seats and the current club has hit a total of .233 with a .619 OPS over 247 plate appearances against Ian.
SP: Kendall Graveman
The Rangers offense has the worst WAR in baseball in the early going as they've hit .130 with a .192 OBP and .152 SLG through 100 plate appearances. That's a .344 OPS folks. Graveman rocked it in Spring Training going 3-1 with a 0.36 ERA and 0.75 and has the look of a nice early season play in the daily game. Also helps him that the game will be played in Oakland.
SP: Shane Greene, Tigers
Set to start against the Twins, Greene gets to face Kyle Gibson and the Twins. Some facts. (1) Through two games the Twins haven't scored a run. (2) The team OPS is .333. (3) Torii Hunter is batting cleanup for the Twins. For more on Greene see his Player Profile.
9TH INNING NOTES
I warned you. Joel Peralta picked up his first save of the season Wednesday night, not Chris Hatcher. The Dodgers haven't named a closer and with Hatcher having allowed four runs, two earned, in two outings it would appear that Peralta is in the lead until Kenley Jansen returns. Note the use of the word "appear."
Dellin Betances worked the 8th inning for the Yankees Wednesday while Andrew Miller worked the 9th to earn a save (Betances picked up the win). "It's my job to be flexible because they asked for that, and I think that makes perfect sense," said Miller. "I'm perfectly satisfied with the way that they've prepared us." Betances needed 32 pitches to get through the eighth, and that included two free passes. "I told the guys, this is where you need to be prepared to come in," manager Joe Girardi said. That sounds a lot like a scenario in which the Yankees will either (A) go wit the hot hand in the 9th inning or (B) simply mix and match their pitcher based upon the hitters that are set to come up that inning.
Brett Cecil has had shoulder woes this spring, and Wednesday it looked like he still wasn't right. His velocity was down 3-4 mph and he recorded just one out before being removed after a hit, a walk and a hit by pitch. He's still the closer. For now. For more on closers visit Howard Bender's Closer Report.
INJURIES
Ricky Nolasco allowed six runs in three innings Wednesday, and now he heads to have an MRI on his elbow. He's nothing more than a dart throw in AL-only leagues.
Anthony Rendon (MCL strain) was supposed to be fine in a few days. Then maybe in a week. Then for Opening Day. Well, he just started doing side-to-side work with the next step being "modified ground ball activities." Hard to see him returning before the end of the month. Did the club lie or were they truly surprised just how significant the knee injury was? Either way, you can't feel too confident that the Nationals are going to be accurate when they talk about injuries moving forward, can you? Yunel Escobar will continue to fill in at third base. Meanwhile, teammate Denard Span (abdominal surgery) is set to return to action Friday in a minor league game. The hope is that he will be back in three weeks with the Nationals. Dynamic young talent Michael Taylor will continue to see work in his place.
Justin Verlander (triceps) will throw off flat ground today. The Tigers have ruled him out for Sunday, but they are hopeful that he will return from the DL for his next turn in the rotation next week. Consider me non-plussed.
ADRIAN
Adrian Gonzalez went 4-for-4 with four RBIs Wednesday. Oh yeah, three of those hits were home runs. After hitting 27 homers last year AGone has hit a big fly in all three games he's played this season with a total of five balls leaving the yard. He's the first player in the history of baseball to have five homers in his teams first three games of the season and only the second player in 30 years to have a homer in 3-straight games to start the season (Chris Shelton in 2006). Realize though that the last time AGone hit 30 homers was 2010. Even with this hot start it's not a lock he gets to that level this season.
Oh yeah, in his first at-bat of the season, 27 innings in, Wilin Rosario had a pinch hit. The at-bat ended in a home run. It's still tough to see how he gets the 400 at-bats the Rockies maintained he would pick up after they added Nick Hundley in the offseason to be their primary catcher.