2014 Fantasy Baseball Daily Fix: April 2, 2014
Welcome to another season of daily fantasy baseball. We have a new partner at Draftstreet.com, and the season is just getting started. The primary advantage of DraftStreet are some new games that should be fun. In addition to the traditional salary cap game, we also have a snake and pick em’ category.
Today, we will be playing the salary cap game. I’m playing the MLB $2000 Guaranteed two dollar game. There are some sizeable payouts, but the two dollar price is a good one for first timers. The setup is a little different from the previous partner, but it ends up working out the same. Draftstreet gives you $100,000 to work with and you have to build a traditional lineup with three pitchers (two starters), one player at each infield slot, three outfielders, and a utility player. Like last season, I will provide two tables for you. The first table will include my lineup and the second will include some reasonable alternatives at each position.
| Player | Salary | Opposing SP | Comments | |
| C | Carlos Ruiz | 5874 | Robbie Ross | Ruiz had an off year last year, but he is an on base machine and the Rangers pitching is shaky. |
| 1B | Brandon Belt | 5948 | Trevor Cahill | Cahill is very ordinary. He had a FRA above 5.00 last season. |
| 2B | Jedd Gyorko | 5649 | Dan Haren | Dan Haren was very ordinary last season, so we should take a chance. |
| 3B | Chase Headley | 5499 | Dan Haren | See above. |
| SS | Alexei Ramirez | 5816 | Kevin Correia | Kevin Correia has always been very hittable and this year shouldn’t be any different. |
| OF | Wil Myers | 6475 | Mark Buerhle | Buerhle has always been very hittable and he’ll likely get more hittable this season. |
| OF | Jayson Werth | 6335 | Bartolo Colon | Colon was good, but he’s also over 40 years old, so call this a hunch. |
| OF | Josh Reddick | 5813 | Zach McAllister | McAllister doesn’t strike me as an incredibly good pitcher as he went undrafted in most leagues. |
| U | Grady Sizemore | 6035 | Ubaldo Jimenez | He had two hits in his debut, so we’ll call this riding the hot hand. |
| SP | Hiroki Kuroda | 16,392 | Houston Astros | The Astros won the opener yesterday, but they still struck out 11 times. |
| SP | Tony Cingrani | 16,245 | St. Louis Cardinals | He struck out more than ten per nine innings last season. Strikeouts are good. |
| P | Ubaldo Jimenez | 13,887 | Boston Red Sox | Jimenez is also a high strikeout guy, so we’re doubling down on Ks. |
There are always alternatives. That is one of the great things about daily fantasy baseball. You pick as best you can and hope for the best. That is also why I always play the low money games. Live to play another day. If you don’t like the picks above you can always give the following players a try.
| Player | Salary | Opposing SP | Comments | |
| C | Jonathan Lucroy | 6424 | Aaron Harang | Aaron Harang is about as ordinary as they come, so this should be a walk in the park. |
| 1B | Logan Morrison | 5363 | Hector Santiago | The Angels got Santiago from the White Sox in the Trumbo deal. He was the throw in. |
| 2B | Neil Walker | 5960 | Edwin Jackson | Jackson struggled mightily last year and Walker already has a dinger. |
| 3B | Kyle Seager | 6019 | Hector Santiago | See above. |
| SS | Jed Lowrie | 5887 | Zach McAllister | McAllister was ordinary last season and Lowrie was surprisingly good. |
| OF | Starling Marte | 5718 | Edwin Jackson | See above. |
| P | Tyson Ross | 14,592 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Ross was surprisingly good last season, so this could be a bargain. |
The Author
