Good afternoon everyone! Hope everyone is fully recovered from Memorial Day weekend and ready to dissect some baseball after a few odd days of DFS. Chris and I are going to be ready to provide you with content all weekend long!

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Weather

The only game of any real concern as of now is the game that’s being played in Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Chances of thunderstorms all day should keep you on your toes before you lock anyone in from these two teams.

Positional Breakdown

Starting Pitchers

It is a short slate today, as Thursday normally is, and with only eight games tonight, it’s tough to find a few pitchers that I truly like. I think oddly enough, Dan Haren has to be on your radar and will be on the radar of your peers heading into tonight. The Pirates just haven’t been a very good offensive team this season and just looked absolutely atrocious at Citi Field against the Mets. They’re traveling across the country for this game and despite Haren’s lower K/9, I fully expect him to pick and choose his way around this Buccos lineup.

Aside from Haren who seems to be the obvious cash game play, Ubaldo Jimenez holds in his right arm a ton of upside for tournaments tonight. Despite the Astros recent surging, this is still a very youthful team that strikes out a lot. Ubaldo certainly has the potential to send a bunch of these kids back to the bench with their bats in their hands, and for that reason should be highly in consideration for GPPs tonight.

One last arm that I feel has to be mentioned is R.A. Dickey. Dickey is of course so difficult to predict because of his unpredictable knuckleball on any given day. Today he squares off with the Kansas City Royals, the team that strikes out least in the league at 15.3%. Despite that very low percentage of strikeouts, I don’t think you can compare it to what the Royals will see tonight against the knuckleball. It’s always a risky play to throw Dickey on your cash game lineups, but for tournaments, he’s a solid option.

Catchers

It feels odd to recommend Hank Conger as one of my catcher plays, but it’s slim pickings today. The pros for Conger are the platoon advantage and the matchup with Brandon Maurer tonight. As I’ve discussed at length before, Maurer is the king of giving up homeruns and hasn’t really changed his tune this season. He’s been pretty atrocious in recent starts and seems fit to be lit up tonight at home against the Angels. Another plus, you’ll get Conger at the minimum.

Jason Castro is helping lead the young Astros to a pretty productive stretch of games. Castro is a guy that seems to always be in play against right-handed pitching thanks to his .205 ISO. Tonight he faces the volatile Ubaldo Jimenez back at home in Houston. If you’re not on board with targeting Jimenez as your pitcher, perhaps you should look in to using Castro behind the dish.

First Basemen

I realize that Edwin Encarnacion is facing James Shields tonight, but does it really matter? Edwin is on a tear and there really isn’t much more to it. We’ve watched this guy become a superstar behind Jose Bautista in Toronto in the last few years and he’s putting his name on the map once again. He got off to a slow start this season but has absolutely mashed in the month of May. May is running out! Use him now!

Paul Goldschmidt hit a ball that probably would have landed on the moon last night and today he gets a nice matchup with fastball heavy Tony Cingrani. Goldschmidt always finds himself in play, but especially tonight at home against a left-handed pitcher. Goldy is hitting .378 against southpaws this season and historically has made them shiver. It’ll be the same feeling for Cingrani tonight.

Second Basemen

It seems in the beginning of the season, most were concerned with Robinson Cano and his transitioning to Safeco Field in Seattle. While the power has yet to come, Cano has been swinging a red-hot bat for the M’s. Tonight he gets to face left-hander Wade LeBlanc at home. Sure, LeBlanc takes the platoon advantage away from Robbie, but does it really matter? Cano has been hitting everything that’s been thrown at him and will once again tonight. This game, despite being at Safeco, looks poised for runs, and you wouldn’t want to miss on perhaps the best hitter on the field.

Daniel Murphy has been a picture of consistency for the last few seasons in New York. The Mets are a joke, but Murphy isn’t as a daily fantasy option. When second base can be a difficult position to roster, Murphy seems to stare you in the face and scream “Hey man! I’m guaranteed points over here!” Yep, I said it, Murphy seems to be guaranteed points at the second base spot, a rare occurrence for two-baggers. He gets the luxury of facing young right-hander David Buchanan today and the nice shift to Citizen’s Bank Park.

Third Basemen

I don’t think Brad Peacock is a good pitcher. I think Manny Machado is a good hitter. Machado is one of the games budding, youthful superstars and is still getting healthy in the middle of that Orioles order. He’s had a rough start to the season but has been much better against right-handed pitchers this season and tonight faces Peacock. Machado doesn’t drive the ball out of the park with great frequency but is a great source of extra-base hits and gets to hit in front of Adam Jones, Chris Davis and Nelson Cruz; use him wisely.

Has the Juan Francisco streak ended? We haven’t heard much from the big guy in the last few weeks as his hot streak took a slight misdirection when Brett Lawrie came off the shelf. I fully expect Francisco to be in there today against Shields, and despite the tough matchup, I like him as a GPP play. He’s got tremendous power and is playing in a very favorable park for hitters. You’ll catch him at a price discount tonight; try it out.

Shortstop

Tonight appears to be a rather difficult spot to pick a shortstop, so I’m going to give you a solid GPP option tonight. Jed Lowrie is one of the many pieces in the Oakland lineup that transcends the platoon advantages on a daily basis. Tonight, Lowrie faces Rick Porcello, who has been good in his own right, but isn’t the best pitcher on the board. Lowrie flexes his muscles from the left-side of the plate and gets the chance to do so tonight. On a night where pickings are slim, I’m testing my hand with Jed.

Outfield

Oh, outfield. The place with the most guys to choose from leads us to a few really nice options tonight. In no particular order, Mike Trout, Raul Ibanez and Brandon Moss tip the scales for me tonight. Trout and Ibanez get the really tasty matchup with homer prone Brandon Maurer while Brandon Moss gets to face Porcello at home with the platoon advantage. Trout has still been quite a letdown on the year, especially for his price, but I see him coming through tonight. Ibanez should help you find some salary relief and provides a veteran bat with the platoon advantage tonight. Moss has been stellar against all right-handed pitchers this season and he doesn’t seem to care who is on the bump and what they have to offer.

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