4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 4/7/15
Things we learned on opening day include: Kyle Kendrick is (very, very, very secretly) an ace, Cole Hamels is not, and Bryce Harper's forearms are rivaled in awesomeness only by his hair. These are all important, I assure you.
We take this knowledge into the second full-ish day of games, ready to base all decisions on what transpired in yesterday's action. Small sample sizes are for winners. Let's pick some of those.
The Milwaukee Brewers don't make this list because I wrote about them in yesterday's piece, but I still think they're a decent play for today. Kendrick's aceness aside, the Brewers have a well-constructed lineup. Let's look at the other teams you may want to stack in daily fantasy baseball today.
Miami Marlins
Yesterday, we learned that the Marlins are only capable of scoring one run in a game. Hopefully you stack well with that in mind!
The Marlins are up against Alex Wood, who is a dope young pitcher. Wood has one fatal flaw, though: he is left-handed.
You see, the Marlins are built to absolutely murk lefties. The chart below shows how a couple of Marlins fare against southpaws. The column "difference" shows how their wOBA against left-handers compares to how they fare against righties.
| Player | AVG | OBP | SLUG | wOBA | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dee Gordon | 0.295 | 0.340 | 0.379 | 0.321 | +11 |
| Christian Yelich | 0.317 | 0.376 | 0.444 | 0.362 | +28 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 0.343 | 0.445 | 0.630 | 0.453 | +62 |
| Martin Prado | 0.366 | 0.398 | 0.590 | 0.421 | +124 |
Martin Prado's numbers rate well on the grossness scale. He ranked 16th in the league last year in wOBA against left-handers while Stanton was fifth. These couple of mashers paired with the on-base abilities of both Dee Gordon and Christian Yelich could lead to a tasty payout even against a quality foe.
Baltimore Orioles
Last year was rough for Nate Karns, who will start for the Tampa Bay Rays against the Orioles today. He had a 5.08 ERA in 27 starts at Triple-A and a 4.50 ERA in the majors coupled with a 5.72 FIP. This isn't to say he won't develop into a fine pitcher -- it's more to say the Orioles could be in for some fun today.
In Alejandro De Aza, Steve Pearce, and Travis Snider, you've got three guys within the top five slots in the order that cost less than $4,000 on DraftKings. The other two guys in that top five -- Adam Jones and Manny Machado -- cost $4,400 and $4,000, respectively. Those are affordable options for a plus matchup.
Arizona Diamondbacks
I recommend checking your voicemail, because it's entirely possible you are the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants today. Their starting pitchers are dropping like flies, and they've seen that YouTube video you posted of you long-tossing in your high school parking lot. Your time is now.
With Ryan Vogelsong on the bump in Chase Field, it's time to deploy the D'Backs. A.J. Pollock's price is already up to $4,100 today from $3,800 yesterday, and for good reason. He's a quality hitter batting leadoff in front of some guys that can mash. That number will go higher soon.
Whether it's Ender Inciarte, David Peralta, or anybody else hitting second, they're worth a look. Hitting between Pollock and Paul Goldschmidt is straight cash, homie. Peralta would be better for stack purposes as he provides a significant amount more independent value, but Inciarte's price tag makes him an option.
Oakland Athletics
numberFire projects Colby Lewis to have a 4.51 ERA this year. He induced groundballs 33 percent of the time last year. He is facing a lineup that hits fly ball after fly ball. There will be bombs.
There are pros and cons of rolling with Oakland. The big pro is that their entire lineup is cheap with not a single position player costing more than $3,900 on DraftKings. The big con is you have to pick which guys are going to provide value on that specific day. Because they don't have any bonafide studs, there's not one guy you can just click and pray.
The good thing about Craig Gentry and Sam Fuld is that they get on base at a decent clip relative to their price. This should help out the guys like Ben Zobrist and Billy Butler in the RBI department. They're riskier in that you don't know who will provide that pop day in and day out, but the pricing associated with the A's and their matchup makes them a viable stack option for tonight.
