Good morning everyone! Welcome to another edition of “The Daily Double Switch.” Today presents us with the normal, smaller Thursday slate, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t take advantage of it and make some cash tonight!

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Weather

Weather is a driving force today. All the games on the East coast appear to be in jeopardy and should be very closely monitored. Get your meteorological shoes out and do your best with this!

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Positional Breakdown

Starting Pitchers

Because the weather is so scary, it makes picking pitchers even more of a difficult task. Normally when we worry about rain, we are worried a pitcher might start, be delayed and then not return to the game. Tonight Mother Nature is giving us no choice but to be concerned at the very least bit with every pitcher we have to choose from. If you’re going to brave the storms, take a look at Jeff Samardzija. Jeff is one of the guys in the scariest of weather games, but one of the better matchups today. He’s been phenomenal this season, and gives you a great chance for strikeouts and a deep game every time he takes the bump. If you’re feeling risky roll him out.

Let’s say you don’t have your rain boots on and want to be a little bit safer. Ok, then let’s dive in to two Cy Young Candidates, Chris Sale and Max Scherzer. These two guys square off against each other in what should be quite a pitchers’ duel. Sale is absolutely dynamite and takes no-hit stuff to the mound every game, and Scherzer’s strikeout upside is essentially limitless. The only disappointing thing about these two arms are their prices. You’ll have to pay up for them, but do so confidently.

Catcher

On a short slate, especially one doused by so much rain, I tend to only recommend one guy at each position to really help you focus in one direction. That’s going to be the case today, so be prepared. At backstop today, my sights are set in one direction, Jonathan Lucroy. Lucroy has really made a name for himself in this Brewers lineup and a lot of that has to do with how well he hits left-handed pitchers. Today he sees left-hander Jon Niese in another rain plagued game at Citi Field in New York. Niese is a very underrated arm, but shouldn’t be the type of guy who can lock down Lucroy.

First Baseman

It would probably shed too much homer light if I recommended Anthony Rizzo thanks to his recent performance and his matchup with Edinson Volquez, so instead, I’ll point you towards Freddie Freeman. Freeman is continuing to be his productive self and has done so quite well this season. The best part about riding the Freddie train is the matchup against Chacin in Coors Field today. He’s not a huge homerun guy, but Coors Field will help him add to his total; roster Freddie confidently.

Second Baseman

Oh, second base, why must you treat us so? Second base is always the most difficult position, but I’m going to make it simple today. Robinson Cano. Thank you. Robby gets to face off against his former team but this time at “home” in Safeco. We all know that this isn’t the same park that playing in the Bronx presented him, but someone like Cano doesn’t need every little advantage to be a great hitter. He’s facing Chase Whitley guys, don’t worry.

Third Baseman

Instantly, you’ve made choosing a player super hard by even making me recommend a third baseman. Since I’m going to do it, I might as well recommend an off the board, GPP play, Matt Dominguez.I really like Matt Dominguez and sometimes playing him really works (raise your hand if you had him when he double dong’d…raises hand slowly!). He’s better against left-handed guys and while Wade Miley has been “serviceable” he’s not anything that should scare anyone away from using some of the powerful Houston bats.

Shortstop

It would be too easy to recommend Troy Tulowitzki, so I won’t do it. Instead, I’ll say Starlin Castro. You might be thinking about all the bias that has gone into this pick. The crowds are shouting, “Stupid Cubs Homer! He went 0-4 last night against Brandon Cumpton!” You’re right, he did do that, but if you watched his at-bats he could have easily been 2-4 with a bunch of runs batted in. Starlin is back to his old ways. He’s a free swinging, chicken eatin’, mistake makin’ baseball player. He’s been playing really well and scorched a few balls last night into some bad luck. Roster him tonight against Volquez guys, Edinson isn’t good, he’s one later off of true brilliance. (cue laughter about Thomas Edison Jokes)

Outfield

So at the beginning of this column, I said I’d only recommend one guy per position. Whoops. I’m a man of my word, so sorry, but I’m going to do it. Don’t worry though, this guy will homer and we’ll all rejoice and have fun afterwards. Yeah, so do you guys remember who Nelson Cruz is? Yeah, Nelly put back on all his clothes after his torrid week or two, (cue laughter about Nelly rap joke), but tonight faces a left-handed pitcher. You know, the kind that throws with their left arm? The kind that gives up a lot of homeruns to Nelson Cruz. The kind that Nelson Cruz gets all excited about. Yeah, that type of pitcher. It’s going to happen tonight guys, Nelson Cruz is going to homer, and you’re going to be happy.

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