By: Joe Pisapia @JoePisapia17
Rick Porcello was the two-start pitcher of choice in last week’s feature and he delivered 13 innings, 11 strikeouts and not one, but two wins. Not bad! Unfortunately, no home runs for Kole Calhoun, but I stand by the fact he’s grossly overdue in that department. Back to the grind we go, digging for value and trying to find the DFS gems that will end up the crown jewels of your lineup.
Here are the trends, matchups and information you need to know for Week 17 in the world of DFS.
PLAYER AT PEAK SALARY TO AVOID:
David Ortiz BOS ($4.9 K FanDuel/$5.7K Draft Kings)
It’s been a farewell tour for the ages for David Ortiz and Big Papi is certainly going out with a bang! But when Paul Goldschmidt is $1K less on DraftKings (on FanDuel Ortiz’s red hot teammate Hanley Ramirez costs just $3.4K), it’s impossible to justify that kind of salary in your lineup. First base has many options who offer plenty of pop so as much as the story of Ortiz is a nice one, it’s not one worth being a part of for that sticker price.
PITCHER PRICED BELOW VALUE:
Chris Tillman BAL ($8.2 DraftKings)
What more does Chris Tillman have to do to get some respect? His $8.2K salary on DraftKings is nearly insulting, but we shouldn’t complain. Instead, we should be buying shares of Tillman in multiple lineups. First, he takes on the Rockies at home which is not the same offense outside of Coors. Then he gets the division rival Blue Jays in Toronto, but fear not! Despite the appearance of a tough assignment, Tillman has held the Jays to a .220 BAA and his road ERA is actually better than his home version (3.12 versus 3.23 at home). Tillman is a worthy investment of your DFS dollars.
HITTER PRICED BELOW VALUE:
Mat Kemp SD ($2.9 FanDuel)
Matt Kemp has four home runs in his last seven games and is frankly an afterthought playing for the Padres. That’s a good thing for GPP players looking for low ownership percentage players with upside. Matt Kemp is that! He plays in Toronto this week, then at home against a thin Reds pitching staff. Kemp has always been a streaky player and if he plans on matching last year’s second half, it’s only a matter of time before his salary rises.
TARGETING TEAMS:
The Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians have plenty of appealing pitchers to choose from. However, this week they play the Oakland Athletics, who are one of the toughest lineups to strike out. They are 28th out of 30 in terms of least amount of batter strikeouts in the league. Be wary of tempting matchups at first sight. The A’s won’t pad their strikeout totals and that will hurt your fantasy bottom line.
If you think the Athletics are stingy in the batter K department, then get a load of the Angels. They’re the only team in baseball that hasn’t struck out 600 times (just 577 total, best in the league). The Royals arms are probably not the most appealing anyway, but the Red Sox starters this weekend will certainly be up for consideration. Those Sox starters will have a rough go getting fantasy points without wins, so think twice about using them this weekend.
Here’s a look at tonight’s Relative Position Value per Dollar Lineup (RPVPD) for DraftKings. RPVPD is the Fantasy Black Book’s DFS player evaluation tool. For more Optimal Lineups head to FantasyAalrm.com for the DFS Playbook.
P | P
| Col@Bal | 17.9 | $8,200 |
|
P | P
| Sea@Pit | 16.1 | $8,600 |
|
C | StL@NYM | 5.8 | $3,300 |
| |
1B | Ari@Mil | 9.7 | $4,600 |
| |
2B | TB@LAD | 6.3 | $3,600 |
| |
3B | Oak@Tex | 7.7 | $3,700 |
| |
SS | NYY@Hou | 0.0 | $3,900 |
| |
OF | Phi@Mia | 8.2 | $4,300 |
| |
OF | LAA@KC | 10.3 | $4,900 |
| |
OF | Det@Bos | 9.1 | $4,900 |
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Joe Pisapia (@JoePisapia17) is the seven-time best-selling author of the Fantasy Black Book Series for baseball and football and hosts Fantasy Sports Tonight on Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports Radio.