Good morning everyone! We’re being graced with another beautiful day of baseball to kick off this Memorial Day weekend. Chris grinded away all week, so I’ll be your guide throughout the weekend, here is to a good one!

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Weather

Keep your eye on the games on the East coast today. Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York seem to have some small rain chances, but it doesn’t look like anything that will threaten the entirety of games.

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Positional Breakdown

Starting Pitchers

It seems that in the “Double Switch” starting rotation I always seem to land Felix Hernandez’s starts. Today is another one of those days and King Felix gets the Houston Astros, again. So you got burned using King against the hapless Astros in his first start against them. The second time, you strayed in a different direction out of fear. In start number three, please use him. There have been concerns with the King not recording as many strikeouts as we would like, but he has looked better in his last two starts. Keep in mind, this guy is one of the best pitchers in baseball and he’s pitching against one of the worst teams. Don’t over think it!

Clayton Kershaw also takes the bump today. Kershaw got burned badly last start against Arizona and I fully expect the beginning DFS players to stay away from him because of that. Do not fear friends, once again this is a case of the best pitcher in baseball facing a weak offense, one that is primarily left-handed at that! The strikeout potential is there, the earned runs will vanish, he’s going to be fine; roster him confidently.

If you aren’t using either of the top two options today, look to Jordan Zimmerman, John Lackey, Shelby Miller and CJ Wilson. 

Catcher

Hector Noesi has found his way in to the “Double Switch” plenty of times, but never as a starting recommendation. Today, he’ll make another appearance, and his opposition, Brian McCann will be the recommendation. McCann has been quite disappointing to daily fantasy players this year. A familiar name and all-star, McCann took his talents to the Bronx looking to increase his offensive production in a very hitter friendly park. While this game won’t be played at his new home, US Cellular is still a very hitter friendly park. Couple that with the fact that McCann has a career .207 ISO against right-handed pitching and that Noesi is not a good pitcher and you might be looking at a very nice point total from Brian tonight.

Others to consider: John Jaso and Miguel Montero. 

First Basemen

Put Miguel Cabrera on top of your radar for first base tonight. Miggy is showing us why he’s the best hitter in baseball and that we were fools for worrying about his slow start. The month of May has been generous to a bunch of top first basemen and hopefully that trend continues tonight. Scott Baker has bounced around in recent years thanks to injury and really is not ready to jump in and succeed, especially against a potent Tigers offense.

If you can’t afford Miggy, take his buddy, Victor Martinez. I think if the season ended right now, Victor might be your American League MVP as he’s been absolutely incredible hitting behind Cabrera. He’s hit 12 homeruns and only struck out 9 times?! Are we joking?! What more could you ask for from a cash game play? Oh yeah, and he’s hitting .327 on the year.

Others to consider: Edwin Encarnacion and Adrian Gonzalez. 

Second Basemen

Robinson Cano actually didn’t get a hit last night but he’s been red hot in the month of May. Robbie finally hit his second homerun in this last week and gets to see some mediocre arms in this series with the Houston Astros. While Safeco is a pitchers’ park, Robinson is too good to be held back. He’s a career .319 hitter against right-handed pitchers and Peacock is surrendering a .341 wOBA to left-handers this year. You can do it Robby!

It’s fun to pay up for the top players, but we can’t always afford to do that. Should you not be able to fit Robinson in your lineup, tilt your GPS to Derek Dietrich. Dietrich has found himself platooning with Ed Lucas at second base and the number two spot in the Marlins order. The Marlins have been uncanny good at home this season and tonight see Marco Estrada at home. All five of Deitrich’s homeruns have come at the helm of right-handed pitchers and he’ll be in a favorable spot tonight.

Others to consider: Ian Kinsler and Howie Kendrick.

Third Basemen

Baseball fans should be very excited that Manny Machado is back and uniform and on the field. One of the most exciting and youngest players in the league, Machado is going to be a successful player in the league for a long time to come. Some of that success should shine through tonight against left-hander T.J. House of the Cleveland Indians. While third base has been a difficult position to figure out this season, tonight I’ll be on Machado a lot. He hasn’t quite grown in to his power yet but is a great source of doubles and hitting in front of Adam Jones and Chris Davis will be in good spots to score runs tonight.

Pablo Sandoval has actually been swinging the bat a little bit better in recent days. The craze headed in to the season was the extreme weight loss that Pablo prided himself on in the off-season, up until recently it hadn’t been working. Skinny Pablo is off to a rough start but is turning it around. Tonight he faces young right-hander Kyle Gibson as the Giants head back to the bay in San Francisco. I prefer to use Pablo from the left side as it is, and he’s been much better from that side this year.

Others to consider: Matt Carpenter and Josh Donaldson. 

Shortstops

Troy Tulowitzki actually won’t be my top play today, odd huh? Traveling across the country to Turner Field in Atlanta doesn’t seem so nice for his extraordinary price. Today doesn’t seem to be a great day to pay up for shortstop, so I’m going to recommend JJ Hardy and Ian Desmond. Hardy gets the platoon advantage over House tonight in a game at Camden Yards that should see plenty of runs. Desmond has less of an enticing matchup but has been hot recently, including a homerun last night at PNC Park. While Charlie Morton is much better against right-handed hitters, Desmond doesn’t exhibit an extreme discrepancy in his platoon splits and should be just fine.

Maybe consider: Starlin Castro and Hanley Ramirez

Outfield

This day doesn’t exactly scream out a lot of hitters to me, but Adam Jones and Nelson Cruz instantly caught my eye. I’ve recommended both of them a lot against left-handed pitchers as they both respectively crush southpaws. Both have been really good this season and I love when hitters get the opportunity to play at Camden Yards. A bunch of balls flew out of Camden last night and I fully expect the same thing today. Jones and Cruz are my top outfield plays on the day.

If you’re looking for some diversity, test out Jacoby Ellsbury. I’ve been on Ellsbury all season long and as soon as I roster him he seems to choose not to play well. The Yankees have one of my favorite matchups tonight against Hector Noesi at US Cellular and their left-handed bats will be ones I heavily target. Of the bats in this lineup, Ellsbury is my favorite as he presents the most upside with both stolen base and homerun potential.

Others to consider: Michael Saunders, Torii Hunter, Christian Yelich, Brett Gardner, Adam Eaton.

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