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FanDuel Friday: Top Daily Plays for 5/1

Kazmir dominated the Rangers the last time he faced them and should do so again Friday

Kazmir dominated the Rangers the last time he faced them and should do so again Friday

We’re back with another FanDuel Friday and the top experts from our Daily Fantasy Accuracy Cup are spilling their secrets on who they’ll be including in their lineups tonight. Last week, they named some gems of starting pitchers with Carlos Martinez, Felix Hernandez and Gerrit Cole all combining for only 1 earned run. If you had any one of those three in your lineup, your team was going to have a shot.

As for today, here’s 11 players you should consider adding to your FanDuel lineup. Need more options? Check out our FanDuel Cheat Sheet.

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Q1. What one pitcher will you be including in all or most of your daily lineups Friday and why?

Scott Kazmir (P, OAK) – $9,200
“I’m a firm believer in paying for pitching in DFS. If Scherzer was completely healthy, Kazmir would have been an even nicer play as more people would be paying top dollar for Scherzer and Harvey in a game with an O/U set at 6. Now I think the ownership numbers will be tipped in the Harvey and Kazmir camps. Kazmir has pitched very well this season and dominated the Rangers the last time he faced them. Because of the Rangers’ inability to score very much and the fact that Kazmir has been lights out this season, even hitting 10 K’s the last time he faced the Rangers, I’m going with Kazmir in most of my lineups.”
Dennis Esser (Coach Esser)

“Kazmir has been lights out over four starts this season and I expect that to continue on Friday night against the Rangers. With 30 strikeouts in 27.1 innings, Kazmir is a strong bet to rack up plenty of Ks against a team he struck out ten times during his first start of the season. While it would have been easy to pay up for Max Scherzer or Matt Harvey, I feel like those two players will offset themselves. Instead, I will stick with Kazmir and expect him to put up very strong numbers against an average Rangers offense.”
David Kerr (Fantasy Squads)

Matt Harvey (P, NYM) – $10,300
“Harvey is fully recovered from his devastating injury and back to dominating hitters. He’s actually run into a bit of bad luck in his starts so far, but that should correct itself over time as long as he continues to strikeout batters at a huge rate while limiting walks. The scariest bat in the Nationals’ lineup, Bryce Harper, looked hopeless against Harvey’s heat last time out and I expect Harvey to cruise through this lineup.”
Draft Cheat (RotoGrinders)

Ian Kennedy (P, SD) – $7,300
“It’s been a rough start to the season for Ian Kennedy. He was limited to 2 1/3 innings in his debut due to a hamstring injury that sent him to the disabled list. He made his return last weekend and was torched for eight runs against the Dodgers. Kennedy has another tough matchup on the way Friday against the Rockies, but he was a strikeout machine last season (207 Ks in 201 IP) and will be pitching at home, making him well worth using for the price even with the tough opponent.”
R.J. White (CBS Sports)

Carlos Carrasco (P, CLE) – $8,700
“As much as many may want to use Matt Harvey versus a banged up Max Scherzer today, I recommend you fade him and use Carlos Carrasco. On surface, this may be an unwise play versus one of the better offenses in MLB, but every other start for him has been brilliant averaging 8.5 K/9 in those starts. The Indians offense has come alive over the past week and could jump on the opposing pitcher early helping Carrasco glide to a QS and win.”
Terrance Bridgett (ProjectRoto)

Chris Tillman (P, BAL) – $7,200
“I am taking a risk on Tillman duplicating his season-opening win against the Rays this Friday. Remember, this Baltimore “home game” is being played at Tropicana Field. Other than Evan Longoria, none of the other Rays pose much risk to Tillman. Tillman could allow a couple of solo dingers to Longoria and still go 6+ innings for the almighty win. I am banking on 15 points here and using the extra dough to load up on my hitters.”
Heath Capps (Fake Teams)

Tom Koehler (P, MIA) – $6,600
“Due to some tough pricing this week at FanDuel, I will be targeting a “style” of pitcher that is not my norm. Typically, I look to target stud pitchers – pitchers that are in line for a win, high amount of strikeouts and essentially a stud. Instead, this week I am targeting -165 favorite Tom Koehler against the Phillies. Koehler had some great outings last year and followed it up this year with solid outings. The Phillies are far from intimidating and Koehler should be able to put up a nice line along with run support and a win at a discounted price.”
Christopher Rocas (Daily Fantasy Cafe)

Q2. What one hitter will you be including in all or most of your daily lineups Friday and why?

Hanley Ramirez (OF, BOS) – $4,400
“Hanley just finished up April with 22 RBI… in 21 games. He is batting .293 with a .999 OPS, and is tied for the MLB lead in dingers (10) with Nelson Cruz. You’re splitting hairs between Hanley and the upper crust in the outfield ranks, but Hanley is cheaper than four other outfielders on Friday night. I’ll take Hanley versus the shadow of C.C. Sabathia, as he is batting a cool .467 with an insane 1.846 OPS against left-handed pitchers so far in 2015.”
Heath Capps (Fake Teams)

“There is no doubt that Ramirez is completely locked in at the plate right now and he gets a juicy matchup against C.C. Sabathia on Friday night in Boston. Ramirez is batting .467 with four home runs against lefties this season and he should have no problem teeing off against a diminished Sabathia. At $4,400, Ramirez is priced just right and should have no problem reaching value.”
David Kerr (Fantasy Squads)

“Sometimes you got to take the fan out of yourself and use that cold-calculated businessman attitude when building lineups, and this is one of those times. I’m a huge Yankees fan, but even I know C.C. Sabathia is a shell of his former self. With the bat speed that Ramirez has right now and adding in the fact that he’s got an OPS of 1.846 against lefties, it makes him a good bet to hit some rockets off of the former ace. As long as the weather is good, I’m using Ramirez a ton. (I did want Votto against Cahill before Cahill got pulled from the start.)”
Dennis Esser (Coach Esser)

Jose Altuve (2B, HOU) – $4,500
“I’ll be rolling cheap at pitcher Friday, which means I’ll have money to spend on bats. At second base, that means rolling with Jose Altuve. He delivered seven straight multi-hit performances heading into Thursday, and he’s been unconscious against lefties this season, going 12-for-22 with a home run, two walks and two stolen bases. It continues last year’s trend, as he delivered a .414/.447/.566 line with four home runs in 152 at-bats against lefties in 2014. With southpaw Roenis Elias on the mound for the Mariners, Altuve is a must-use.”
R.J. White (CBS Sports)

Mike Trout (1B, LAA) – $5,400
“I mentioned this earlier – that FanDuel’s pricing this week seems a bit harder to fit “studs” in. However, I specifically went cheaper at pitcher to roster Mike Trout. Trout is extremely expensive and boasts a .415 wOBA, .270 ISO and a FB% of 44%. I believe that he will be under-owned this week, and whenever I can get the best player in the Majors at a significant ownership decrease, I am on board.”
Christopher Rocas (Daily Fantasy Cafe)

Stephen Vogt (C, OAK) – $3,100
“Catcher is typically a tough position to fill, but tonight Vogt makes for a very intriguing option, and won’t break the bank. Vogt hammers right-handed pitching, will be hitting in a hitter’s park in Texas, and squares off against Colby Lewis who serves up a lot of home runs, especially to left-handed bats.”
Draft Cheat (RotoGrinders)

A.J. Pierzynski (C, ATL) – $2,900
“Cheaper than Martin, Vogt, VMart, and the popular for today McCann, A.J. Pierzynski is an excellent play at Catcher. Having a .467 AVG over the past week with 9 RBI batting cleanup, he’s batting .422 for the month of April. Pierzynski’s also hitting .439 versus RHP and .474 at home in Atlanta. As much as it pains me to do so versus my favorite team in the Reds, and as cliche as it sounds, I don’t know how he won’t be at least 50% owned or greater tonight in DFS.”
Terrance Bridgett (ProjectRoto)

Thank you to all the experts for naming their daily plays for Friday. Be sure to use our FanDuel Cheat Sheet for more daily advice.

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