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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: Victor Martinez has been money in the bank against Zach McAllister, and then some. Zach has allowed seven RBIs an a 1.415 OPS to Martinez over 19 plate appearances. VMart has also gone 9-for-18 with a homer and four doubles.
1B: Darin Ruf has a .486 SLG against lefties in just under 150 at-bats. He faces lefty Gio Gonzalez Friday. In 19 plate appearances in the matchup Ruf has two homers, six RBIs and the following slash line (.375/.450/.813).
2B: Neil Walker has an .801 OPS against righties in his career. He faces righty Mike Fiers Friday and has hit a homer while batting .385 in 13 at-bats.
3B: Pablo Sandoval has been stupid good against Nathan Eovaldi. Like it's not even possible to be that good against a pitcher. When that pitcher is Nathan Eovaldi it's all Sandoval... all the time. In 11 at-bats Pablo has hit, sit down, .727. Yes, 8-for-11. One homer, three doubles and nine runs batted in as well.
SS: Jose Reyes has 10 hits in 28 at-bats against the decidedly average Bud Norris. That's good enough for a .357 average an a .400 OBP. Reyes hit .289 against righties last season and swiped 23 of his 30 bags as well.
OF: Going cheap or digging deep? If so, then you want to look Delmon Young's way. The former top prospect in baseball has hit .420 against Mark Buehrle... over 50 at-bats. He's also gone deep four times and drive in nine runs. Yowzahs.
OF: Marlon Byrd won the game Thursday for the Reds, well maybe Gregory Polanco lost it by dropping the liner, but Byrd still hit the ball hard. He figures to do more of the same Friday as he faces John Lackey whom he has hit .370 against with two homers and eight RBIs over 27 at-bats. Byrd had a homer every 27 at-bats last season against a righty.
OF: Andrew McCutchen had a rough spring but he figures to get right Friday against Mike Fiers. In 14 at-bats McCutchen has hit .429. He's hit four homers. He's driven in nine runners. Boom.
SP: Gio Gonzalez, Nationals
Other than Mr. Ruf giving him fits, it sure seems like Gio would be a good play today. The Phils were bottom five in the league last year in wOBA against lefties. Gio also has better than a 3:1 K/BB ratio against the current Phillies roster, and if we remove Ruf the rest of the club has two homers in 140 at-bats.
SP: Derek Holland, Rangers
The Astros have scored three runs in three games. They are batting .096 with a .353 OPS. They also lead the AL with 36 strikeouts. Holland only threw 8.2 innings this spring, but he looked sharp over 37 innings last season with a 1.46 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over six outings and wouldn't be allowed to go this early in the year if he wasn't alright physically.
SP: Taijuan Walker, Mariners
Walker was the king of the spring with a 0.67 ERA and 0.56 WHIP over 27 innings. He also struck out 26 batters and walked just five while allowing a single homer. Oakland's offense has been solid to start the year - they are tied for third in baseball in runs scored - but with the way that Walker looked this spring, and the injures to Coco Crisp and Josh Reddick, it's obvious that that team is without their best options offensively.
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MATT HARVEY - SUPERSTAR
Matt Harvey was routinely hitting 95 mph on the radar gun in his six inning, scoreless effort against the Nationals. He didn't always hit his spots, and the Nats 
are without their top-3 hitters in the lineup, but it was still an impressive effort. Not changing my mind on my Harvey projection though. It's about how he looks in outing 19 or 29, not the first one, that I'm still concerned about, but it was a great start.
BLUE JAYS BULLPEN
Brett Cecil was down about four mph on the velocity chart. He's just not, or at least his shoulder isn't, at 100 percent. He's therefore been demoted from the closers spot with the Blue Jays. Cecil will now work the 7th and 8th innings and try to get his way back to normal (he hit 91 mph on the gun Thursday night and had two strikeouts in an inning, so maybe he's closer to a return than some think?). Who do the Jays turn to? Miguel Castro is the early favorite and he picked up his first save Thursday against the Yankees. However, Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com also had this to say on Twitter. "For those asking, I'd expect Castro to get the save opportunities. But there could be times when he's needed earlier than the 9th." Don't be stupid and blow your budget on Castro. A righty who is 6'5", 195 lbs, just 20 years old, and a guy who had never pitched above Single-A ball before this season, Castro has all of three innings of big league experience under his belt. He also has all of one save as a professional after being selected in the first round of the 2010 draft. He's only 20 years old and is a starter long-term, but he'll get a shot early in his development to throw significant innings. His fastball is impressive and his slider is also a plus pitch. He often loses the strike zone and while he projects as a big time contributor long-term he's not refined enough to have confidence at the moment. Reminder... he has thrown 3.00 innings above Single-A ball. For more see the Closer Report by Howard Bender.
KING OF THE WHIFF
Evan Gattis struck out 8-straight times. Seriously. That's consecutive Golden Sombrero's for the slugger. Gattis is still a 25+ homer bat who qualifies at catcher. Pounce if his owner is panicking.
By the way, thanks to CJ Nitkowski on Twitter... The Astros are on pace for 1,944 strikeouts through three games. That would be 409 more than the current big league record which is owned by the 2013 Houston Astros.
ALMOST - SO CLOSE
There have been 14 no-hitters in Indians history. They almost had a combined one Thursday as they held the Astros hitless for 8.1 innings (they went 17 innings without allowing a run). The big winner in the game was Trevor Bauer who dominated for six hitless innings. Bauer set a career best with 11 punchouts but he also walked five batters causing him to throw 111 pitches through just five innings. Bauer is a huge strikeout arm but efforts like this one, with all the walks, have been his bugaboo. Pretty disappointing actually after Bauer walked just one batter all spring, but overall how can you complain if you started him? He's got the talent to be a weekly starter, but the lack of control will leave his ratios in a state of flux. By the way, the Indians allowed on hit, had 16 strike outs and walked seven batters in the game.
QUICK HITTERS
Adam Eaton made the play of the day in center field. He's also had one hit and no walks through three games. I'm not concerned.
Kendall Graveman got bombed by the Rangers allowing eight runs in 3.1 innings. He's still a decent back of the rotation option in AL-only leagues. Nick Martinez threw seven shutout innings on the other side of the field. I'm still not interested in him in AL-only leagues.
Joe Kelly will start Saturday for the Red Sox. Coming back from biceps tendinitis is the righty who throws really hard - his average heater is 94.7 mph - even though he never strikes anyone out (6.05 per nine for his career). Not mixed league relevant at the moment.
Garrett Richards threw seven innings (96 pitches) of two runs ball in a minor league inter-squad game. He is most likely to start at Triple-A Salt Lake Tuesday next week. So much for him returning on that date to the bigs. Still, barring a setback, he will be back on the hill by the end of the month.
Edinson Volquez allowed one run over eight innings against the White Sox. Still nothing more than a spot starter in mixed leagues if you ask me.