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Welcome, RotoBallers to the first Tuesday FanDuel lineup picks article of the season... and check out the mammoth slate for Tuesday! We've had some decent size slates, but with 28 teams scheduled to play on Tuesday, we have more choices today than we have had any day so far this season. For better or worse, this means the difference between a strikeout and a walk can be the difference between cashing and not cashing. The same goes for a ground-rule double and a homer.
I'm hoping to hit a couple more homers myself, similar to the strong start I had with my Opening Day recommendations. A lineup that included all my suggestions tripled up, so if you followed them, you likely cashed as well. Let's see if I can make it two in a row.
I'll be providing you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for the FanDuel main slate on 4/5/2021. Be sure to also check out all the MLB player news, including late scratches, and the projected and confirmed daily MLB lineups for each DFS slate. You can also check out today's DraftKings MLB DFS lineup picks, and read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports too. With that out of the way, let's get t0 my winning picks!
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FanDuel DFS Pitchers
Cash Game/GPP Anchor Play:
Yu Darvish - SDP vs SFG ($10,200)
Once again, I expect Gerrit Cole to garner a lot of attention. But there's something about this Orioles team that is better than you think (stay tuned later this week for my article on that!). My warning indicator light is blinking, so I'm not splurging $11K on Cole. Instead, let's dip down a little and give Yu Darvish another try.
Many gambled on him last Thursday and he disappointed, as Darvish did not even make it through five innings. His undoing was the long-ball on Thursday. Even more alarming is that the Giants are currently third in the league with six dingers. But Darvish had the third-lowest HR/9 rate amongst starting pitchers last year. I think he can keep the Giants from going long and we see a nice bounce-back game from Darvish. Those same Giants have also struck out a league-average 32 times going into last night's games. I'd expect Darvish to easily match the half dozen strikeouts he had on Thursday, but this time to pitch well and long enough to get himself and the Padres the W as well.
Potential Alternate Play
Adbert Alzolay - CHC vs MIL ($6,200)
With 28 teams in action, it's hard to argue against taking most of the top ten SP options, thereby making Alzolay much more of a GPP-only play. However, if you are looking to go heavy on the bats and skimp on the pitching, Alzolay is an enticing option. In his carafe of coffee (not a full season, but definitely more than the proverbial "cup of coffee") last year, Alzolay struck out a third of all batters he faced. It helped lead him to a spectacular 2.95 ERA and show why Cub management likes him.
The Milwaukee lineup meanwhile continues to put the K in "kee", averaging a dozen strikeouts per game. If Alzolay can strike out even half of that and stay out of trouble, he should easily provide some nice returns at this low salary.
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FanDuel DFS Infielders
Pete Alonso - 1B, NYM at PHI ($3,700)
Alonso is one of the players I was high on in the preseason and his FanDuel price is still extremely reasonable. We knew he wasn't going to wallop 53 homers in 2020, but his 2020 numbers were well short of his 2019 numbers. He had 16 home runs in 239 at-bats. But we can assume he would have hit around 30-35 HRs last year with close to 600 ABs. But those 16 HRs were with a BABIP of only .242. Yes, Alonso is not very likely to approach a .300 BABIP, but that .242 mark was 38 points below his .280 mark in 2019. When his BABIP normalizes this year, we see it will help his batting average and probably increase his HR output. No reason today can't be one of those days.
Jake Cronenworth - 2B, SD vs SF ($3,300)
Cronenworth's salary has gone up $700 just in the last five days, but I still think he's a bargain. As I said last week, Croneworth's 2020 season gave us a glimpse of his potential when he hit .285/.354/.477. He also swiped double-digit bases each of his five years in the minors until he got to the show last year. I'm grabbing Cronenworth while his salary is still extremely reasonable.
Ryan McMahon- 2B/3B, COL vs ARI ($3,500)
Player off to a good start? Check. Good match-up? In this case, it is Luke Weaver, he of the 6.58 ERA. I think that qualifies. Positive Hitting Situation? Hitting 6th at Coors field is pretty close to optimum. Reasonable price? Yup. McMahon checks all the boxes.
Ryan McMahon with a two run shot of his own off Trevor Bauer. #Rockies pic.twitter.com/eCIOozcFJD
— Justin Groc (@jgroc) April 3, 2021
He will be a popular play, but with good reason.
Trea Turner - SS, WSH vs ATL ($4,000)
With the Nationals yet to play this season, you think the right-handed Turner might be salivating at the chance to get some whacks in against the left-handed Drew Smyly? We've been avoiding the $4K range and higher until now. Unleash the Kraken.
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. - 2B/OF, TOR at TEX ($2,300)
After the splurge on Turner, we need to find a budget-conscious option at OF and Gurriel fits the bill. Even with George Springer on the shelf for the time being, the Blue Jays still have one of more lethal line-ups in major league baseball. Gurriel is batting sixth in this loaded lineup and has a hit in all three of the games he has played this year. At $2300, he's an easy addition to your entry.
J.D. Davis - OF/1B, NYM at PHI ($2,500)
Not that JD Davis is much more expensive than Gurriel. I think we see Davis return closer to the nearly .900 OPS he had in 2019 than the disappointing .760 he had last year. Against Chase Anderson and his 7.22 ERA is a pretty good opportunity to help complete that goal.
Mark Canha - OF, OAK vs LAD ($2,700)
Canha might be the epitome of what Billy Beane had in mind when it came to "moneyball" theory. Canha has a great batting eye and is off to an extremely hot start, averaging double digit FDFP per game this season. Ride him while he's hot.
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