It’s Thursday, meaning it’s an off day for many teams, which can be a good or bad thing for your daily fantasy baseball lineup, depending on your point of view. If having 30 teams’ worth of options can make you overthink your lineup, a cleaner slate limits your decision making. At the same time, though, with so many teams not playing, you’ll have fewer stars around whom you can base your team and more of a need for taking a chance or two. For tonight, I tried to find a happy balance between stars and players riding hot streaks. And I’m using every last dollar to do it.
(P) Ryan Vogelsong $6,000: When deciding on my pitcher, I like to choose someone who has a matchup ripe for a win, has the potential for strikeouts, and doesn’t cost a quarter of my payroll. Vogelsong fits the bill tonight as he’ll throw against the Chicago Cubs, which boasts one of baseball’s worst offenses. In a perfect world, Zack Greinke would be a nice pick here against the San Diego Padres, but not at $9,100.
(C) Alex Avila $2,900: I wrestled with this one, but, in the end, I couldn’t afford to spend much here and I had to take a chance on someone. Avila is hitting just .192 on the season, but had a 3-game hitting streak before his 0-fer last night. I’m not expecting much, but am hoping he can pick up a few points.
(1B) Adam LaRoche $3,100: It took 5 games before LaRoche picked up his first hit on the season, but he made it count. It was his first of two home runs on the day. Now, he’s had at least one hit in back-to-back games. I’m hoping to steal a few points here at a good price on the hunch he’s heating up after his ice cold start.
(2B) Robinson Cano $4,500: Second base is one of the shallower positions today, so I’m going all-in on one of the best at the position. Cano is just crushing right handed pitching right now and he gets another matchup against one tonight in Zach McAllister. He’s hitting .346 against righties this year and all 3 of his homers have come off of them. When you also consider he has 8 hits in his last three games, including all of those home runs, this is as sure a bet as they come.
(3B) Pablo Sandoval $4,100: Third base is another shallow position and, as much as I wanted to spend less here, there wasn’t much value to be found. So, Kung Fu Panda it is. Sandoval is riding a 4-game hitting streak with 2 hits in three of those games. He’s always a threat to go deep, too. You could do a lot worse.
(SS) Jed Lowrie $4,500: Another infield position with little depth tonight. Lowrie has been a machine so far this season and is Oakland’s leading hitter. His 0-4 game on Tuesday was his first hitless outing in 6 games. I’m banking on him bouncing back.
(OF) Colby Rasmus $3,500: Rasmus is slowly finding his rhythm. He’s now had a hit in each of his last 5 games, a run in four, and a home run in three. He’s another guy who is on the verge of breaking out and he comes at a decent price.
(OF) Angel Pagan – The $40-million man has had a very nice season so far and has at least one hit in all but two games this season. He also leads the team in runs with 8.
(OF) Brett Gardner $2,900 – This one is a no-brainer for me. If you can get a player like Gardner at this price, you have to take it. He hadn’t done too much offensively until Tuesday when he broke out with 4 hits and 3 runs. And when he gets on base, he is always a threat to steal. With a very favorable matchup against the Indians, Gardner could be in for a nice night.
