RADIO
I saw an amazing thread on Reddit Tuesday night entitled “It’s That Time of Year: How does your league keep the bottom half from checking out.” Seeing as how this is a giant problem I have with nearly 80% of all leagues I play in, I decided to take a peek at what some people are doing to ensure participation amongst their worst teams. Most ideas involved some sort of fine and/or financial incentive while others involved some sort of “paying for the party” punishment.
The most unique and fun prize goes to the league where the bottom four are forced to sit at the “children’s table” at the next Owner’s Meeting (see: party) and the owner of the team that finished last is referred to as “Randy Jones.” I'm guessing Randy Jones was that group's ex-communicated friend after high school. Everyone has one of those in their group. It was fun reading everyone’s take on how best to encourage full ownership participation, but I left the thread wanting more. Challenge to the readers this week: come up with the best idea on how to keep owners participating in leagues. Feel free to use punishment or incentives.
In the meantime, below is my DFS picks for the day utilizing FanDuel budgets and scoring systems. I don’t think I have to tell you that my picks are quite unconventional. As always, remember to check your players to make sure they are in their MLB starting lineups before lineups lock, and make sure you are doing your own research too for optimal performance! The most successful daily leaguers are grinders who are constantly tweaking their lineups as the day goes on and fantasy news gets released. Good luck today, RotoBallers!
Editors Note: we are having a 2nd half promotion for our DFS Expert Picks Newsletter. Purchase 1 month of our in-house daily league lineup picks, and get the rest of the season for free! Sign-up and get the edge to perform at a higher level on sites like FanDuel.
Weather the Storm
A few games in the northern Midwest may see some rain showers so bring an umbrella if you live in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit or Chicago. In all probability there’s no real danger of any games being postponed due to rain. Conditions should be pretty ideal for hitters in Houston (though the roof may be closed due to heat), Baltimore and Arlington.
DFS Pitchers to Avoid for 7/30
Don’t be fooled by Brad Hand’s last two starts. Among all home starting pitchers on Wednesday, his splits rank second to worst in BAA, WHIP and ERA. He’ll be facing a very unfriendly-to-LHPs Washington offense.
In three starts since being traded to the Athletics, Jason Hammel has 10.66 points. Total. To make matters worse, the Astros just don’t seem to understand that they’re not supposed to be able hit RHPs at home.
Hector Noesi isn’t a terrible pitcher. He just pitches like he is against a good hitting team.
The Pirates can hit RHPs and seem to be steamrolling so it’s best to stay away from Tim Lincecum. Even if Lincecum pitches well, it’s hard to rely on the Giants offense right now to get him a win.
Do you trust Kevin Gausman against the Angels in a hitter’s park? If you answered yes to the previous question, better not quit your day job.
Two-thirds of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by batted balls when Colby Lewis is on the mound at Rangers Park.
Jesse Hahn has been quite good this year, sometimes even exceptional. He should pitch well on Wednesday. His downside on Fan Duel is his inability to go deep into games,limiting his ceiling. Padres manager Bud Black even stated this week that Hahn’s workload will be evaluated over the next few weeks. It’s quite possible he will routinely get pulled after only five or six innings until he gets shut down.
The Main Course – DFS Lineup Picks for 7/30
I don’t want to tell you how to run your lineup, but it’s probably a good idea to check the lineup card before the first pitch to make sure your guy is starting.
Starting Pitcher DFS Lineup Picks
David Price, TB ($11,300): It was close between Price and Felix Hernandez, who is also $11,300, but Price gets the nod due to facing a Brewers team that is way worse against LHPs than the Indians are against RHPs.
Zack Greinke, LAD ($9,800): Greinke is the best pitcher play of the day in my book. He’s $1,500 cheaper than the top pitchers and he’s an absolute strike out machine at Chavez Ravine. Add in that he’s facing a Braves squad that is strikeout happy against RHPs and Greinke could give you a 20 point day.
Charlie Morton, PIT ($7,100): The RotoBallsy pitcher pick of the day is Morton. AT&T Park has been friendly to Morton in the past and although he only has five wins, the Pirate offense has been good enough to give him the run support for those four points tomorrow.
Catcher DFS Lineup Picks
![By Keith Allison on Flickr [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://dev.rotoballer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Wilson-Ramos-Washington-Nationals-MLB-News-.jpg)
Wilson Ramos, WAS ($3,000): Ramos has reached base in every game he’s started since the ASB.
He hasn’t recorded a negative point game yet and he’s well overdue for a big game, especially against a lefty. Problem is that he usually rides the pine in a day game after a night game.
Francisco Cervelli, NYY ($2,400): I’m completely shocked the value of Cervelli hasn’t gone up over the last week. He’s scored 19.5 points over his last six games and he’s absolutely demolished LHPs. He is my value pick of the day.
First Base DFS Lineup Picks
![By bengrey on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://dev.rotoballer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/rotoballer-fantasy-baseball-advice-anthony-rizzo.jpg)
Anthony Rizzo, CHC ($4,300): Everyone’s favorite leftie on leftie matchup.
Rizzo has been a one man wreaking crew against LHPs with a .422 wOBA. The Cubs as a team have hit lefties well so Rizzo should get some men on base when he’s at the dish.
Lucas Duda, NYM ($3,700): He’s hit four home runs in his last seven games. He’s facing Kyle Kendricks. The Duda abides.
Second Base DFS Lineup Picks
Anthony Rendon, WAS ($3,900): He hits lefties hard and he’s due so look for Rendon to “Hand” the Marlins a long ball. See what I did there?
Ben Zobrist, TB ($3,700): It’s hard for me not to draw comparisons of Zobrist to Peter Pan in the 1991 film Hook. “You can fly, you can fight, and you can crow.” Just replace all that with hit, get on base and steal. That last part is especially important if Martin Moldonado gets the start for the Brewers.
Neil Walker, PIT ($3,600): His .369 wOBA when hitting as a leftie is third best against RHPs. He’s hit Tim Lincecum pretty well in the past. He hits the fastball really hard and the fastball is probably Lincecum’s worst pitch.
Third Base DFS Lineup Picks
Josh Donaldson, OAK ($4,300): Dude can hit lefties. Hard.
Todd Frazier, CIN ($3,100): Frazier hasn’t hit a home run in a while. It shouldn’t be too hard against Wade “15.1% HR/FB rate” Miley lobbing it up to him in muggy Cincinnati.
Shortstop DFS Lineup Picks
Hanley Ramirez, LAD ($4,300): He’s the biggest LHP hitter on the Dodgers and he’s facing a rather erratic Alex Wood. I wrote last week that every time I pick Ramirez, he bombs. The bad bomb, not the good bomb. I love playing with fire.
Erick Aybar, LAA ($3,000): I guess I’m all in on Los Angeles shortstops. His .336 wOBA against RHPs isn’t overwhelming but it is fifth best in the league. Though he has put up two straight negative point games, he usually responds with a solid game in the third.
Outfielder DFS Lineup Picks
Giancarlo Stanton, MIA ($4,600): He’s way overdue and he’s facing a guy he’s hit a ton of deep fly balls off of. If anyone can hit mammoth home runs, it’s Stanton. Of course he is rather expensive.
Curtis Granderson, NYM ($3,200): Consider this more of a gut instinct than any scientific pick. The Mets outfielder has somewhat struggled compared to his June and early July, but he’s facing an exploitable Kendrick in an afternoon game.
Josh Harrison, PIT ($3,200): Did you know that Harrison has hit a homer in four straight games? Pretty impressive considering that two of those games have been in San Francisco. Dude is on fire and relatively cheap so ride him.
Matt Joyce, TB ($3,100): Ride the Rays also. They’re on fire and Joyce hits RHPs pretty well. He’s also hitting .381 since the ASB and seems to be hitting his stride.
Leonys Martin, TEX ($2,400): Two homers in four career at bats against Hiroki Kuroda is a small sample size, but there’s also something to it.
