MLB FanDuel Cash Game Options: (4/18/2017)

MLB FanDuel Cash Game Options: (4/18/2017)

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the MLB FanDuel Cash Game Options. Tonight we have a full slate with all 30 teams playing tonight. It looks like the only weather concern tonight will be in Atlanta, featuring the Nationals and the Braves. Always be sure to check out the weather forecasts around the country, as well as the team starting lineups as they are released. Let’s go ahead take a look at some of my favorite cash game options for tonight.

Pitcher

Yu Darvish TEX: $10,700 @ OAK
Yu Darvish finally provided the strikeout upside we expected in his third start of the season, striking out 10 Angel hitters. Tonight he will see another extremely positive park shift at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s have actually done pretty well against right-handed pitchers this season. However, they are currently expected to score the third-fewest runs on tonight’s slate.


Max Scherzer WAS $11,400 @ ATL
Max Scherzer has done pretty well so far in 2016, only allowing three earned runs in 12 ⅔ innings while striking out 17 batters. On top of that, he has allowed a minuscule 13.8% hard contact percentage so far this season. The Braves are much improved from 2016, when they were in the bottom third of the league in wRC+ against right-handed pitchers. However, they are only middle of the pack. As long as Scherzer can navigate around Freddie Freeman, he should be a dependable cash game option tonight.

Luis Severino NYY $7,700 vs. CHW
I generally like to pay up for the safest pitching options in cash games. However, it’s hard to completely ignore Luis Severino’s salary and matchup. The White Sox hitters are off to a pretty cold start to the 2017, with the fifth-highest K% and the fourth-worst wRC+ against right-handed pitchers. Severino on the other hand is coming off a really strong performance against Rays, allowing only one earned run and striking out 11 batters. Currently the White Sox are projected to score least amount of runs on tonight’s slate.

Catcher

J.T. Realmuto MIA: $2,800 @ SEA
J.T. Realmuto gave us zero FanDuel points last night, but I’m going right back to the well with him tonight. Realmuto typically hits in the two-hole for the Marlins against right-handed pitchers. It’s pretty rare to find a catcher who hits in the two-hole, let alone one that is cheap and a pretty good hitter against right-handed pitching. As far as his matchup, Yovani Gallardo was awful in 2016 and so far it doesn’t appear that will change in 2017. In his first two starts this season, Gallardo has given up seven earned runs in ten innings

Salvador Perez KC: $2,900 vs. SF
Salvador Perez is off to an incredibly hot start to 2017, leading all catchers with five home runs so far in 2017. Tonight he has an outstanding matchup against Matt Cain, who is about four years removed from being a decent pitcher.

First Base

Joey Votto CIN: $3,800 vs. BAL
Joey Votto is off to a pretty cold start, mainly to the lack of walks he has been drawing so far this season. On the bright side, he has not been striking out much at all and he has been making pretty solid contact with a 32.6% hard contact percentage. He very well could get things going against Ubaldo Jimenez tonight, who has really struggled in each of his two starts this season, and he was dreadful against left-handed hitters in 2016.

Brandon Belt SF: $2,900 @ KC
There are a couple of cheap options who are both in really good spots tonight. The first one being Brandon Belt. Belt is off to a pretty nice start in 2017, with a 128 wRC+ in his first 13 games. Tonight he has a solid matchup against Jason Hammel, who allowed a hard contact percentage of 32.8% to left-handed hitters in 2016.

Kendrys Morales KC: $2,900 vs. SF
Another cheap option to consider tonight is Kendrys Morales. It appears that Morales has been pretty unfortunate in the early going of 2017. Morales is not striking out a ton and has been absolutely crushing the ball making hard contact 45.7% of the time. However, he only has a BABIP of 0.242. I think he is definitely in a good spot to do some damage tonight against Triple-A call up, Brian Johnson, who will be making his second career MLB start.

Second Base

Neil Walker NYM: $3,100 vs. PHI
Similar to Morales, Neil Walker is another player who is doing much better than his peripheral numbers indicate. His hard contact percentage is right in line with his career average, yet his BABIP is about 0.25 leff than his career average. It’s only a matter of time until that number straightens itself out on it’s own and it very well could be tonight against Zach Eflin. Eflin will be making his 2017 debut and if we look back at his 11 starts at the MLB level in 2016 we can see he was not a very good pitcher. He didn’t strike many batters out (4.41 K/9) and he allowed quite a bit of hard contact (33.2%) to 272 batters that he faced.

Matt Carpenter STL: $3,000 vs. PIT
Matt Carpenter has always been solid against right-handed pitchers with a career wOBA of 0.375 and it’s hard to ignore his salary when he’s hitting in the middle of the order. Chad Kuhl has looked pretty good in 2017 so far. However, he has struggled against left-handed hitters in his brief career, allowing a 0.363 wOBA.

Third Base

Manny Machado BAL: $3,900 @ CIN
We’re really going to want to target Orioles’ bats tonight since they will be facing arguably the worst pitcher on the slate in Bronson Arroyo. In 11 innings of work, Arroyo has allowed 13 hits including four home runs. Manny Machado is another player who doesn’t have much to show for how well he has been hitting the ball. Machado has a hard contact percentage of 38.7%. It’s only a matter of time until Machado breaks out to get back on track with his great 2015 and 2016 numbers.

Mike Moustakas KC: $3,300 vs. SF
I’ve been using Mike Moustakas a ton over last week since he has been absolutely on fire to start the season. In his first 12 games, he has a hard contact percentage of 40.6% and has five home runs to show for it.

Shortstop

Brandon Crawford SF: $2,700 @ KC
I think Shortstop is a great spot to save salary on tonight’s slate. Brandon Crawford is another player who is off to a fantastic start and FanDuel refuses to raise his salary, despite hitting in the middle of the Giants’ order.

Addison Russell CHC: $2,700 vs. CHC
Addison Russell is another cheap option who typically hits in the middle of the order for a really potent offense. I’m not buying into the nice start of Jimmy Nelson and I think tonight is the night that he blows up. Vegas has the Cubs pegged as the team with the highest projected runs scored for tonight and it’s definitely a likely possibility since the wind is currently blowing out to leftfield. Nelson has allowed quite a bit of fly balls so far in 2017 with a 44.1% fly ball percentage. If rate holds steady tonight, Russell very well may be one of the Cubs who hits one out of the park.

Outfielders

Nelson Cruz: $3,700 vs. MIA
When Nelson Cruz faces a left-handed pitcher, he almost an automatic lock for me. He has absolutely crushed left-handed pitching over his career with a 0.395 wOBA, a 0.262 ISO and a hard contact percentage of 37.6%. Wei-Yin Chen is not a good pitcher by any stretch of the imagination and allowed a 1.79 HR/9 to right-handed hitters in 2016.

Adam Jones BAL: $3,600 @ CIN
Another Orioles’ bat to target tonight is Adam Jones. Jones has been crushing the ball early in 2017, making hard contact 40% of the time. I already mentioned how Arroyo is probably the worst pitcher going on tonight’s slate, so load up on Orioles’ bats tonight.

Mitch Haniger SEA: $2,800 vs. MIA
Mitch Haniger has been a pleasant surprise in 2017 and has been one of the hottest hitters in the league so far with four home runs, three doubles and nine walks. On top of that, he typically hits in the two-hole right in front of Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz. I think the right-handed bats of the Mariners are in a great spot tonight since they are facing the aforementioned, Wei-Yin Chen.

Josh Reddick HOU: $2,600 vs. LAA
Another value outfielder to consider tonight is Josh Reddick. Reddick typically hits in the two-hole for the Astros against right-handed pitchers  and has always done well against righties. Ricky Nolasco is another pitcher who we want to have some exposure against, since he is not a very good pitcher and he has a negative park shift to Minute Maid Ballpark.

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