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2014 Fantasy Baseball Daily Fix: April 16th

Welcome to another addition of the daily fix. We have new partners this season with Draftstreet and so far it has been fun getting acclimated to the site. One of the things they offer you is the ability to go with a salary cap system (as most daily games allow) or the ability to go back and try a snake draft. I haven’t tried the snake draft yet, but it I suppose I will at some point. It gives you the rush of draft day without the hangover.

If you are anything like me, you are already having some buyer’s remorse with your full season teams. These things happen. Someone gets off to a slow start and a few guys land on the disabled list and you are looking at the business end of most of your league. It takes anwhile to dig out of that hole. With daily fantasy baseball it takes only a day. Draftstreet offers many types of games for your enjoyment, but I typically stick with the double up bet. It gives you your money back plus 90 percent (they keep ten to pay the bills) and all you have to do is finish in the top half. Naturally, some of you would feel better with a little more risk and a little more reward.

My strategy remains fairly similar to the past couple of times, but we can begin to gleam some things from the early going. So, I might go with some 2014 trends, but most of my strategy revolves around picking on bad pitchers. I also invest pretty heavily in pitching because pitchers usually score the most points. As usual, I will give you my lineup and rationale followed with some reasonable alternatives at each position

Salary Opposing SP
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia 6074 Tanner Roark It may look like I’m picking on Roark and De La Rosa, but it is bad   pitching plus price points
1B Yonder Alonso 4176 Jorge De La Rosa He is as affordable as they come and this is one pitcher he may beat.
2B Jedd Gyorko 4258 Jorge De La Rosa He just got a fat new contract and could potentially be a 20/20 guy   this year.
3B Chase Headley 4705 Jorge De La Rosa Headley is a pretty solid producer at this price.
SS Everth Cabrera 5216 Jorge De La Rosa Cabrera adds the element of speed to the equation.
OF Giancarlo Stanton 8144 Tanner Roark He just surpasses 20 RBIs and we are only in mid April.
OF Marcell Ozuna 5137 Tanner Roark He is off to a good start and he is still at an affordable price.
OF Robbie Grossman 3995 Jeremy Guthrie He got off to a brutal start, but he has been better lately.
U David Ortiz 6243 John Danks Danks used to be good and is paid well, but this is a mismatch.
SP Andrew Cashner 17610 Colorado Rockies Cashner in Petco is a good bet.
SP Anibal Sanchez 17093 Cleveland Indians Sanchez is nearly elite and is going at middle class prices.
P Michael Pineda 17820 Chicago Cubs Maybe it was the pine tar, but he looks like the Seattle Mariners.

It is my obligation to give you some alternatives. I give them with the usual caveats. I cannot guarantee that any of these guys will fit into your salary cap. That will be your responsibility to make it work. Being that as it may, here are some reasonable alternatives.

Salary Opposing  SP
C Dioner Navarro 6546 Mike Pelfrey A high price, but this is an exploitable matchup.
1B Brandon Belt 6053 Paul Maholm Maholm is a fringy guy and Belt is off to a hot start.
2B Howie Kendrick 6082 Tommy Milone I like the matchup, but had to pass on the price.
3B Pablo Sandoval 5451 Paul Maholm This is just the kind of matchup to get him going.
SS Jonathan Villar 4223 Jeremy Guthrie A really nice price for this young talented pitcher.
OF Colby Rasmus 6802 Mike Pelfrey An exploitable matchup, but I was really disappointed in the price.
OF Angel Pagan 7791 Andrew Cashner He is off to a great start, but this was a little too rich for my   blood.
P Yu Darvis 25328 Seattle Mariners I would only pay this price if he were facing the Astros.
P Jose Fernandez 20562 Washington Nationals If you want to really blow the wad on pitching this would be the   direction to go.
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2 Comments

  1. Jim
    April 16, 2014 at 7:19 am

    Grossman demoted for Springer

    • April 16, 2014 at 8:55 pm

      Yes, unfortunately, that happened after the article went to press.