3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 5/7/18

Dallas Keuchel, SP, Houston Astros

FanDuel Price: $8,800

As the most expensive starter on the slate after Stephen Strasburg, you are being asked to pay a premium based off past production if you want to roster Dallas Keuchel on Monday. His struggles so far in 2018 are not being accounted for in the price.

So far this season, Keuchel has posted a 3.97 SIERA due to a paltry 18.3% strikeout rate and a fly-ball rate of 26.1% that would be the highest of his career since 2012 if it holds up. Those numbers are still pretty good overall, but for a pitcher who has relied on keeping the ball on the ground and getting a fair number of strikeouts, an increased fly-ball rate and a swinging-strike rate of just 8.3% is a poor formula for success.

He also has a very high-variance matchup to open the week. The Oakland Athletics rank sixth in wRC+ against left-handed pitching, but it is interesting to note how they have gotten to that production. They rank dead last in the majors in walk-to-strikeout ratio against left-handed pitching, including a poor 24.2% strikeout rate. However, they also rank first in hard-hit rate against left-handed pitching with a 42.2% mark.

Overall, as indicated by the wRC+, this is a poor matchup for a struggling pitcher. Especially given Oakland's hard-hit rate, Keuchel should be completely avoided in cash formats as his floor is too low. But given Oakland's propensity to strikeout, he does remain an interesting dart throw in tournaments. Avoid Keuchel in cash, but consider sprinkling him into GPP lineups.