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Mark Strausberg highlights the top FanDuel MLB DFS lineup picks for 7/08/21, and a couple of sleepers to consider while building daily rosters.
Greetings RotoBallers! First off, I'd like to thank Jorge Pucks for covering my Thursday article last week. Perhaps you will see more of Jorge now that hockey season is over. And no, that's not a bad pun. Jorge does excellent hockey analysis during the season. But his MLB picks were decent last week too, right?
So let's see if I can do even better. As mentioned before, I actually prefer these smaller slates because it means the score(s) needed to cash will be lower but even more, it means fewer options to sift through.
We have a couple aces squaring off against one another at the top in Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer, which might limit the amount of ownership of some of the big bats in those lineups. But those are not the teams I will be stacking tonight.
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FanDuel DFS Pitchers
Cash Game/GPP Anchor Play:
Alek Manoah, TOR at BAL ($10,300)
Because Scherzer and Darvish will be facing one another, it is tough to predict which one will get the W. Plus, neither has earned a W yet this month. But you know who has? The guy right below them--Alex Manoah. And it was an impressive win against the playoff-bound Rays. He struck out ten and for the second straight game didn't give up a run. Manoah will also have the luxury of squaring off against the Orioles, who let's just say are likely not playoff-bound.
Manoah will likely be outperformed by one of the two aforementioned pitchers. However, he's cheaper than both and his 2.70 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 43 Ks in less than 37 IP gives us a very nice floor.
GPP Potential Alternate Play
Taijuan Walker, NYM vs PIT ($9,500)
Maybe these two pitchers should be switched. Manoah might be the GPP play and Walker the cash play. Walker after all has been good but not great lately. But my guess is that many will skip past the top options and immediately hop right down to Taylor Mahle at $600 less than Walker, leaving Walker with lower ownership. And I'm guessing those paying attention are aware that Pittsburgh has the fourth-fewest whiffs in the leagues, giving owners a reason to fade Walker.
But I like Walker a lot tonight. Because despite the lack of Ks, the Pirates haven't been doing much plundering this year. They have both the league's lowest OPS and the fewest HRs.
And Walker is good. A 2.44 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 81 K in in less than 84 IP. His underlying stats might say that he's been a bit lucky, but I agree with this tweet:
Not signing Taijuan Walker was a massive mistake...#Mariners pic.twitter.com/DrURTbGbHm
— Russell Hartness (@RussellHartness) July 3, 2021
And let's just say I don't see Walker's 7.4 HR/FB% going up tonight.
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FanDuel DFS Infielders
Miguel Sano - 1B DET vs MIN ($2800)
Sano is not a very secure play and he could easily put up a goose egg. He is currently at the Mendoza line. However, I do like the righthander's chances of going long against the left-hander Tarik Skubal and his 4.35 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. Sano has 14 HRs already, which is even more impressive when you recall that he's getting a hit only once every five at-bats. Sano is actually hitting .250 against Skubal, and he makes for a high-upside cheaper play.
Nico Hoerner - 2B CHC vs PHI ($2300)
But wait, we are not saving money yet! Hoerner is hitting .337 in nearly 100 at-bats this year and is well worth the discounted price. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not an Eflin fan tonight and I think Hoerner easily does enough to pay off his low salary. And the reason we are looking to save some money is because of this next option.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - 1B/3B TOR at BAL ($4700)
As tough as this price is to swallow, it might still be too low. I've said it before, with the season Vlad is having, I need a reason NOT to play him. Winless LHP Keegan Aiken and his 7.46 ERA/1.68 WHIP is not a reason. Vlad should get on base a few times tonight and the only reason he won't is that he's making an HR trot or two.
Bo Bichette - SS TOR at BAL NYY ($3900)
Vlad is not the only son of a former All-Star on the Blue Jays absolutely crushing the ball. Bichette is as well. He's having an extremely solid season, hitting .297 with 16 HRs, but he's been on fire as of late. The last time he failed to reach base was back on June 18th. He went long again last night, and he is now averaging nearly 13 FD fantasy points per game. Fitting in both Vlad and Bo means some concessions elsewhere, but you can see it can be done. Don't be surprised to see another one of these tonight....
Bo Bichette - Toronto Blue Jays (16) pic.twitter.com/bcJX6aFClD
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) July 8, 2021
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Teoscar Hernandez - OF, TOR at BAL ($3500)
But I'm not done stacking Blue Jays. Hernandez is also coming in hot, having gone 3-for-5 with two doubles last night. That now brings his average up to .297. With 259 at-bats so far, Hernandez should easily 20 HRs this year. But in addition to a decent power stroke, Hernandez also has five stolen bases on the season. Averaging more than 11 FD fantasy points, Hernandez could be a sneaky piece of a Toronto onslaught.
Trevor Larnach - OF, MIN vs DET ($2800)
This is not complicated. In addition to Blue Jays, I'm also stacking Twins tonight against Skubal. Over the last seven games, Minnesota is in the top ten for HRs. Given that Skubal is giving up 1.85 HR/9 and has a HR/FB ratio of 17.5%, you are going to want pieces of the Twins line-up tonight and Larnach is an affordable one.
Brandon Nimmo - OF, NYM vs PIT ($2900)
Brandon Nimmo was out for nearly all of May due to an injury. It's a shame because he's having a pretty good season. He's hitting .337 with a respectable .865 OPS. The jury is still out on opposing pitcher, right-hander JT Brubaker. He's had the benefit of a .268 BABIP and both his xERA and FIP are higher than his actual ERA of 4.09. One of the reasons I like Walker tonight is because I think the Mets can give him some run support. He is getting an NL 10th best 5.40 runs per 9 IP. That number of course is likely to drop, but I don't see it happening against Brubaker and Nimmo is one of the pieces that will keep the trend going.
Good luck with your entries!
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