Good morning! Another day of baseball is upon us and we’re once again afforded the opportunity to win some cash over at DraftStreet. Hopefully everyone got off to a hot start in the month of May, let’s continue it today!

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Weather

It looks like Mother Nature is finally giving us a break. There are no weather concerns today.

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Positional Breakdown

Starting Pitchers

Unlike yesterday, starting pitchers are easy today, but you’ll have to pay for them. Adam Wainwright, Felix Hernandez and Andrew Cashner are all excellent options today.

Wainwright has been tremendous as expected this year and gets matched up with the Cubs. The Cubs did do a good job of torching Tony Cingrani a few nights ago, but I don’t expect them to be any match for Wainwright today. Waino already has five wins this year and is sporting an earned run average below two. Be aware, Wainwright is pitching in the only day game today, so he may not be available on your slate of games, however, if he is, use him with confidence.

Felix Hernandez burned us all the last time he got to pitch against the Astros. He was just about the closest thing to a must play as one can get. Despite his struggles against them the last time out, I don’t think you can stray away from him today. King Felix is striking out 10.23 batters per nine innings and still has an earned run average below three. The Astros still lead the league in K%, striking out nearly 25% of the time. Some people might back off Felix because of his last start against them, don’t let it be you.

Cashner is the flamethrower of this group. A powerful arm with a penchant for striking out hitters, today he’s graced with an excellent matchup. If you didn’t already know, the Diamondbacks really are not a good team. In the bottom third in the league in ISO and batting average, Diamondbacks hitters are not much to be afraid of. Cashner is pitching at home in friendly Petco Park where he brings his excellent ground ball rate (55%) and strikeout potential to the table tonight.

Others to consider: David Price, Stephen Strasburg and Cliff Lee.

Catcher 

Despite his low batting average, Buster Posey has not let us down against left-handed pitching recently. Posey has eight hits in his last 21 at-bats, two of which have gone over the fence. He gets to face Mike Minor who is making his first start this year after a short rehab assignment. Posey has four hits lifetime against Minor and his price still isn’t where it needs to be. Grab him while you can.

Yes, I’m going back to the well and taking players at Coors Field tonight. I wrote about Travis d’Arnaud in yesterday’s “Double Switch” and he didn’t disappoint as he provided just about the only offense the Mets had yesterday. His three-run homer in the ninth inning should have added nicely to your point total if you decided to roster him yesterday. Today he gets to face left-handed pitcher in Jorge De La Rosa and should be back behind the plate for tonight’s game. The hitting environment in Coors is too much to ignore and d’Arnaud is too cheap to pass up on. Take him while he’s at Coors and save some salary.

Others to consider: John Jaso, Yan Gomes and Yadier Molina.

First Basemen

Is it fair to keep telling you to pick Adrian Gonzalez? The guy is mashing baseballs all over the place and was an excellent play yesterday. Moving southeast from Target Field to Marlins Park, Gonzalez gets to face young righty Tom Koehler. Koehler possesses good stuff, but not good enough to get out Gonzalez consistently tonight. We are finally seeing this Dodgers’ lineup put it all together and when they do, they present us with a lot of plays in daily fantasy. Gonzalez is hitting .348 against right-handers this season, including seven homeruns.

Miguel Cabrera is a familiar name, but not a player that I’ve used a whole lot this season. Miggy hasn’t really hit his stride in terms of power potential and has more often than not been a bust for your lineups. Not today. Because Miguel is facing a good, veteran pitcher in James Shields, I feel like most folks will stay away from him and decide to look elsewhere. While there are other options, I think today provides Miggy with an excellent chance to get on the homer train. Shields HR/FB ratio is up almost 3% from last season, and Miggy possesses great numbers against him lifetime. Throw in the fact that he will be low percentage owned, and you’ve got yourself an excellent tournament play.

Others to consider: Justin Morneau, Brandon Moss and Joey Votto.

Second Baseman 

If I keep talking about Robinson Cano he’s bound to eventually homer. I wrote about Cano yesterday in his games back in the Bronx, and he provided a sufficient point total, but no homerun. He’s in another good homerun spot today against weak right-handed pitcher Brad Peacock in Houston. Cano is still the most expensive second baseman on a lot of sites but his percentage of the salary cap isn’t going to kill you if you roster him. Don’t be afraid to use him tonight against Peacock. His one homerun this year came off a right-handed pitcher, lets make it two tonight!

It’s hard for me not to mention Anthony Rendon and what he has accomplished this year. Rendon has basically made himself an auto-play against left-handed pitching and he faces Cliff Lee tonight. While I like Cliff Lee’s matchup against most of the hitters in the Nationals lineup, Rendon still finds his way into my plays. He’s gotten a hit more times than he’s gotten out against left-handers this year! The best part about this play to me is his potential to be low percentage owned. A lot of daily players will see that he is facing Cliff Lee and steer away from him, don’t let it be you. Rendon has proven he’s capable of hitting all left-handed pitching.

Others to consider: Dee Gordon, Neil Walker and Scooter Gennett.

Third Basemen

Adrian Beltre is back! The Rangers lineup has been very inconsistent this year, but with Beltre back, you should see them start to settle down and anchor themselves as one of the best hitting teams in the league. Beltre faces Hector Santiago tonight, a matchup you shouldn’t fear. Beltre has been tremendously better against left-handed pitching this year and sports a .926 OPS heading into tonight’s game. He’s just back from injury so his price hasn’t quite adjusted to his potential, feel free to plug him in.

David Wright seems to always disappoint, but his matchups this series are too good to ignore. Wright has another few games at Coors Field and a few chances to unchain himself from the black list of many daily fantasy players. An awful no hit performance last night has helped Wright’s batting average drop to .252. He still only has one homerun but I don’t expect him to leave this series at Coors with just one. Is today the day?

Others to consider: Evan Longoria, Carlos Santana and Pedro Alvarez. 

Shortstop

As expected, Troy Tulowitzki is always the top shortstop option and is once again today. BUT! To change it up, I’m going to talk about a different guy. Everth Cabrera is one of the highest upside shortstops in the league, despite his lack of power. He’s no longer on the juice, but Cabrera is always a sneaky shortstop option and is rarely a high percentage owned. Tonight he faces the lousy Bronson Arroyo at home in Petco. Cabrera isn’t swiping bags at the rate I’d like him to, but with Bronson’s delivery to the plate, tonight makes for a perfect night to do so. It doesn’t hurt that his salary is depressed enough that he’s essentially a value play!

Others to consider: Hanley Ramirez, Brad Miller and Jed Lowrie.

Outfield

I don’t talk about Mike Trout a lot because he’s seemingly always in play, but I’m going to talk about him today. Have you seen Mike’s price on DraftStreet? He’s out of the clouds and is no longer the highest price outfield option. Make yourself aware that Trout is facing Colby Lewis tonight, a name that shouldn’t make you shudder. Lewis has been good against right-handed hitters and Trout has been worse against right-handed pitchers, but this is merely a price play. Trout’s potential and upside is way too good to be sitting at an affordable price like that. Feel free to use him and watch him lead your team to victory.

Keep your eye on the Carlos Gonzalez situation in Colorado tonight. Gonzalez homered in his first at-bat but was later taken out of the game with a “bruised finger.” I’m most worried that this is some sort of cover up for the knee issue he’s been dealing with, but stay on top of the situation. If CarGo is in the lineup tonight, he’s one of my favorite plays at home against Zack Wheeler.

I called for a Jay Bruce homerun yesterday, and sadly, it didn’t come. Perhaps today is the day? I like Bruce a lot again today against Wily Peralta, but he doesn’t quite make the cut today as my third outfielder. Scrolling down through the list of options, I can’t help but be intrigued by Allen Craig. Can we say that we are finally seeing the Allen Craig we all expected? Craig has nine hits in his last 25 at-bats, two of which have traveled beyond the fence. He faces Travis Wood today in the early game and is priced well below where he needs to be. Craig is much better against left-handed pitching and should take advantage of this matchup well. If you use him at his price you’ll be able to easily afford two of the three stud pitchers today.

Others to consider: Juan Lagares, Coco Crisp, Matt Holliday, Alex Gordon and Charlie Blackmon. 

Mini Stacks

Coors Field – Wright, CarGo, Blackmon, Tulowitzki (very expensive!)

Baltimore – Wieters, Jones, Machado (sneaky, gpp)

Texas – Beltre, Rios, Andrus

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