Yesterday was a success, despite some issues with the Rockies pulling a Popovich on us. Nolan Arenado was a late scratch and his availability is in doubt tonight, as is Corey Dickerson who left last night’s drubbing early in the game with a foot injury. I’m sure we’ll hear something regarding their status prior to game-time, so as always be sure to check lineups.

Today we have a full evening slate on our hands, which is lovely. If you haven’t jumped in to the action on Draftkings, you’re missing out!

I’m going to do things a bit differently than how we typically do it, but it’ll be the same way I did it yesterday so I hope you find it as helpful and that you win lots of the monies. To determine the best values in today’s rankings, I run projections that include opponent’s strength, betting situation, handedness, park factor, projected Game Score, power/finesse pitching tendencies along with ground-ball/fly-ball tendencies. I’ll leave no stone unturned here. And because I love you, The Fix reader, I’ll attach my projection sheet at the end of this article. If you have any last-minute questions, you can find me on Twitter (@RyNoonan).

Stack Options

Pitching is a struggle tonight, so it makes sense that there are a ton of offensive options tonight. The difficulty in that is, there’s so much variance in offensive performance it’s hard to bank on it. I’d much rather have a night of great pitching and limited offensive options, but oh well, here we are. Regardless of whether you’re playing in a cash game or GPP tournament, there’s a significant advantage to be gleaned from stacking. Rostering multiple players who (ideally) bat consecutively in the lineup allows you to benefit from the offensive windfall when a team has a good inning. It’s less essential in cash games (anything were 40%+ win part of the prize pool) than it is in tournaments or GPP’s (think 25% or less are winning part of the pool), but regardless of the contest type we’re always trying to score the most points. So before we get into each position, let’s discuss the best stack options for today’s slate.

1. San Diego Padres

If it ain’t broke…We went to the Padres well with great success last night, and they’re facing another left-handed pitcher tonight in Tyler Matzek. All of the usual suspects are in play, with an emphasis on their right-handed hitters.

2. Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays have already had their way with Bud Norris this season, and get him at home tonight. I’d prefer their left-handed hitters, but I wouldn’t shy away from adding the right-handed thunder sticks from the middle of Toronto’s lineup.

3. Colorado Rockies

At the top I mentioned some of the injury questions that the Rockies are facing tonight, and that takes a bit of the luster off of them tonight. With that said, there are still a few options worth targeting here, and the injuries may keep the ownership lower since the stack isn’t quite as deep.

4. Kansas City Royals

Yes, the Royals! Kansas City is playing well right now, and they face left-handed soft-tosser Tommy Milone tonight. The Royals are mashing left-handed pitching so far in 2015 (wOBA of .362 and wRC+ of 132), and the sample size is relatively large in relation to the rest of the league.

Also, the Diamondbacks, Indians, Orioles, Nationals, and Brewers grade out as strong options tonight.

Starting Pitchers

Woof. When Lance Lynn is your highest priced pitcher I feel like we’re in for a rough one. All kidding aside, while it’s not a top-heavy group of pitchers, there is some depth to the options here. You can check out my detailed breakdown of the pitchers here, but I’ll summarize it for you. Collin McHugh is my favorite play of the day. He’s off to a fantastic start this season, highlighted by his 0.95 FIP and 7.5 K/BB ratio. Of all the top options tonight, he’s in the most favorable situation. At first glance Gio Gonzalez looks like someone to pass on, but his strikeout upside here is ginormous. The Cardinals are striking out at a 29% clip so far against left-handed pitching, and their table settlers are much better against right-handed pitching. Carlos Carrasco was a pre-season favorite of mine, and nothing has changed. Let’s see if he has any hesitancy in this one, his first time out since taking a liner off the noggin.

Lefty Jonathon Neise is not a high upside option due to his lack of strikeouts, but the Braves and their top hitter Freddie Freeman are much better offensively when facing a right-handed pitcher. I don’t like this spot for Chris Archer, despite his electric start to the 2015 season. The Red Sox are not a team I want to seek out, and Archer has benefited from batted ball luck thus far (90.2 strand rate and .163 BABIP-against). The strikeout upside of Francisco Liriano is appealing, but I worry about his pitch count getting out of hand early in this one. The Cubs are seeing a lot of pitches so far, driving up pitch counts and that’s something that Liriano needs little help in doing.

I’m staying away from Brandon Morrow in Coors, despite his encouraging start to the season. There’s just no need to go there. Chase Anderson and his fantastic change-up are still under-priced, and he offers some salary relief today against the Rangers. He’s having success against left-handed hitters, and both Leonys Martin and Prince Fielder grade out as below average against changeups. The battle of left-handers in Anaheim offers some salary relief as well, but I’d feel better about both of them if I could pair them with an upper-echelon ace, and we don’t have one of those tonight.

Hitters

Catcher

Derek Norris wasn’t owned in nearly as many lineups as I thought he would be, though it was still north of 30% in most contests. It should be just as high, if not higher tonight. Facing a left-handed starter again, he’s likely to hit clean-up for the Padres and he’s under $4,000. As I mentioned yesterday, I like to go cheap at catcher or work it into my stack. Norris fits again.  Salvador Perez is a fine play tonight, and makes perfect sense if you’re building a Royals lineup. If you’re using the Indians, then pay up for Carlos Santana here. He’s a fine play despite the high price, and his on-base skills are great with DraftKings scoring.

First Base

Paul Goldschmidt is a beast. He really has not holes in his game, or splits to exploit. If you’re going to spend up at first then do it here. Lucas Duda scores well in the projections, as he typically does when facing a right-handed pitcher. Trevor Cahill has been hard so far this season, so I like Duda quite a bit today. Brandon Moss, Edwin Encarnacion and Kendrys Morales are all in play as well, depending on who you’re leaning with, team-wise.

Second Base

The projections love Rougned Odor, but I’m not quite sure that I agree. Jedd Gyorko is a great fit again, and he fared well last night in a similar spot. Daniel Murphy makes a lot of sense if you’re rolling out Duda at first, which isn’t a bad way to go. The Diamondbacks are rotating players in and out, up and down that lineup, but there could be some value in the second base choice today. I prefer Aaron Hill. If you’re paying up, do so for Dee Gordon. He’s playing well and setting the table for the Marlins, who face the vaunted Jerome Williams tonight.

Third Base

Will Middlebrooks is swinging it well right now, and is a much better hitter in these spots against lefties. He’s worth running out there again tonight. Paying up for Josh Donaldson makes sense with the right mix of players, he can stand alone in Toronto because their stack is expensive. The best value at the position today is Aramis Ramirez. The Brewers lineup took another one on the chin last night, losing catcher Jonathan Lucroy to a broken toe. Look for Ryan Braun and Ramirez to carry this team for the short-term, and while I don’t like the sound of that, it works tonight against Jason Marquis.

Shortstop

We have to mention Troy Tulowitzki when he’s playing in Coors, and while I think you can fit him in today, I don’t think you have to start there. The asking price of $6,000 is a tall one. Fastball-crusher, Hanley Ramirez is $1,500 cheaper tonight, and if you want to, you can use the aforementioned Dee Gordon at shortstop as well. Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar is back in the lineup after missing some time over the weekend, and he’s in a great spot tonight.

Outfield

Options abound in the outfield tonight. Starlin Marte and Andrew McCutchen both had wOBA’s above .400 against left-handed pitchers last season, and they face Travis Wood tonight. The duo of Paulo Orlando and Lorenzo Cain grades out highly today, and it’s one of my favorites. If you’re using Dee Gordon, it makes a lot of sense to use Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton as well. All of the Padres outfielders are in play, and a Kemp/Upton/Myers stack is filthy.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Derek Norris– $3,900 San Diego Padres

2. Salvador Perez– $4,200 Kansas City Royals

3. Carlos Santana– $4,700 Cleveland Indians

4. Caleb Joseph– $3,300 Baltimore Orioles

First base

1. Paul Goldschmidt– $5,900 Arizona Diamondbacks

2. Lucas Duda-$3,600 New York Mets

3. Steve Pearce– $4,200 Baltimore Orioles

4. Kendrys Morales– $4,400 Kansas City Royals

5. Justin Morneau– $3,900 Colorado Rockies

6. David Ortiz-$4,100 Boston Red Sox

Second base

1. Dee Gordon– $5,100 Miami Marlins

2. Jedd Gyorko– $4,100 San Diego Padres

3. Daniel Murphy– $3,800 New York Mets

4. Dustin Pedroia– $3,800 Boston Red Sox

5. Aaron Hill– $3,800 Arizona Diamondbacks

Third base

1. Aramis Ramirez-$3,800 Milwaukee Brewers

2. Jake Lamb– $4,300 Arizona Diamondbacks

3. Alex Rodriguez– $4,600 New York Yankees

4. Josh Donaldson-$5,800 Toronto Blue Jays

5. Will Middlebrooks-$4,100 San Diego Padres

6. Josh Harrison– $4,300 Pittsburgh Pirates

Shortstop

1. Alcides Escobar– $4,400 Kansas City Royals

2. Troy Tulowitzki– $6,000 Colorado Rockies

3. Ian Desmond– $4,200 Washington Nationals

4. Wilmer Flores– $3,200 New York Mets

Outfield

1. Ryan Bruan- $4,600 Milwaukee Brewers

2. Adam Jones– $5,400 Baltimore Orioles

3. Starling Marte- $4,900 Pittsburgh Pirates

4. Lorenzo Cain – $4,800 Kansas City Royals

5. Denard Span– $3,700 Washington Nationals

6. Steven Souza– $4,500 Tampa Bay Rays

7. Hanley Ramirez– $4,500 Boston Red Sox

8. Mark Canha– $3,300 Oakland Athletics

As always, thanks to the folks over at Brooks Baseball and FanGraphs for their incredible work.