Greetings Gamers and welcome to a new month! Once again, we have a every team in action, however – we do have a split slate and some weather spots to watch out for on Wednesday. With the day games after night games, much like on Sundays, we may see some regulars getting a day off during the early slate.
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EARLY SLATE
Boston Red Sox vs RHP Mike Fiers – 5.3 implied runs
While I would love to target the Pittsburgh Pirates in Arlington, there is a chance that weather may claim that game, so to give us a better chance of having a writeup that is still good around first pitch, I will be joining The Masses in flocking to Boston as they take on RHP Mike Fiers who has a woeful 7.03 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, six home runs allowed in his last four starts in which he managed to last just 17 innings allowing 19 runs and 34 baserunners with just 12 strikeouts. On a “positive” note he has allowed just one walk over his last three outings. We want The Usual Suspects from the BoSox, but there is a chance one or two may get a day of rest, so we could see some of the discounted understudies getting a nice spot in the order.
On the other side, we are getting the Oakland Athletics against RHP Hector Velazquez who is in line to make another spot start and he will probably throw in the neighborhood of 50-60 pitches before giving way to the rest of the bullpen. We can take some one-off hitters as with all the right-handed power, the A’s have a few batters who are capable of putting a dent in the Green Monster in leftfield.
MAIN SLATE
Philadelphia Phillies vs LHP Daniel Norris – 4.8 implied runs
Southpaw Daniel Norris has never really been able to harness the glimpses of talent he has demonstrated in his time with the Toronto Blue Jays and now the Detroit Tigers. The former straight from high school second round pick just turned 26 last week and there is of course still time for him to have at least a minor breakthrough.
That will not likely happen on Wednesday in Citizens Bank Park though as the Phillies have a strong contingent of batters swinging the stick from the left-side of the plate who are going to make life difficult for Norris with veterans Andrew McCutchen and Jean Segura at the top of the order setting the table for the power of Rhs Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto and Maikel Franco and of course there is always Bryce Harper who is elite in lefty/lefty matchups and we could see discount options Cesar Hernandez and Aaron Altherr in the lineup as well giving us the ability to craft a variety of stacks.
Norris does have a 23.5 K% over the last 300 batters he has faced, but he is giving up a combined 9.3 BB%, 39.6 HH% and a 40.9 FB% which should lead to a couple of balls leaving the park.
LATE SLATE
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs RHP Clay Buchholz – 4.8 implied runs
On our two game late slate there is no clear pitcher to pick on, though RHP Felix Pena comes the closes as someone who will allow a lot of balls in play, but he does not allow a lot of home runs. While Pena has done a good job of limiting same-handed pitchers with the 238 he has faced since the beginning of last season managing just a .267 wOBA and a .120 ISO, left-handers have been his Achilles heel as he has allowed a .340 wOBA and a .180 ISO with a 9.5 BB% against the last 243 he has faced in The Show.
Having Justin Smoak and Rowdy Tellez both as first basemen is a bit of a problem if you are looking for a full stack, but on these short two game slates, I prefer to not worry about getting more than three batters as a mini-stack from the same team and then filling in my lineup with the best available options at the other positions. Randall Grichuk and Vlademir Guerrero Jr would be the pair I combined with either Smoak or Tellez as part of a synergy strategy.
One-offs we can look to on the late slate include of course Mike Trout but do not forget about Kike Hernandez, Chris Taylor, Evan Longoria, Kevin Pillar and Brian Goodwin who are in above average spots for their skillsets, even though they are facing good pitchers.
As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any questions.
Good Luck Gamers! ~ EMac
