Welcome to the Monday edition of the FanDuel MLB value plays. Tonight we have a decent mid-sized slate consisting of seven games. As always, be sure to check out the weather and the team lineups throughout the day. Let’s go ahead and take a look at my favorite value options for today.
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Pitcher
Carlos Martinez (STL): $8,900 at KC
The pitching landscape for tonight’s slate is really not that great and I honestly will probably be using Max Scherzer across the board tonight in all of my lineups. Unless he gets injured after pitching one inning tonight, he should be by far the best option on tonight’s slate. If you want to take a chance on someone else, Martinez is really the only other option who I feel good recommending. Martinez has been really good this season and he has the second-best SIERA of all the starting pitchers on tonight’s slate. The Royals do not strike out a ton, but they aren’t that great against opposing right-handed pitchers and I imagine they become slightly worse over the next week since Salvador Perez was just placed on the DL yesterday.
Catcher
Devin Mesoraco (CIN) : $2,000 vs. SD
The value pool at catcher is not too great tonight. If you’re using Scherzer and you want to go the value route at catcher, I recommend punting with Mesoraco at minimum salary tonight. Mesoraco has not been too great this season, but he still has decent power with a 0.189 ISO against right-handed pitchers this season. Jhoulys Chacin has been excellent at home this season. However, when he pitches outside of his pitcher friendly Petco Park, he really struggles.
First Base
Ryan Zimmerman (WAS) : $3,200 vs. WAS
First base is another spot where value is pretty thin and I imagine this could be the theme of the night at almost every position tonight. Zimmerman is not necessarily super cheap, but I do believe he provides pretty solid value at only $3,200. Zimmerman is having a great season and has crushed both left-handed and right-handed pitchers this season. Tonight he will face a pretty weak left-handed pitcher in Chris O’Grady. O’Grady has looked terrible in five MLB starts this season, with a 5.10 FIP and a hard contact rate of 38.4%. I don’t see him turning it around tonight against the Nationals, who have been one of the best offensive teams in all of baseball this season.
Second Base
Scooter Gennett (CIN) : $2,500 vs. SD
Scooter has definitely had a couple of legendary performances this season and I think this may be another great spot to deploy him again. Scooter has been excellent against opposing right-handed pitchers this season with a 0.408 wOBA and a 0.285 ISO. I already mentioned that Chacin has struggled away from Petco Park and this is just another opportunity to pick on him tonight.
Third Base
Luis Valbuena (LAA): $2,300 vs BAL
Third base is another spot where I’m either paying up or I’m just flat out punting. If you’re punting the position, consider using Valbuena. He does not hit for average, but he still has some pop at home this season, with a 0.212 ISO. I probably would only reserve him for GPPs tonight and I really think the Angels could be a sneaky stack option against Dyland Bundy and the Orioles.
Shortstop
Paul DeJong (STL): $3,000 at STL
DeJong has been one of the bright spots in a struggling Cardinals’ offense this season. DeJong currently has a 0.343 wOBA and a 0.246 since being called up early this season. Ian Kennedy has been decent against opposing right-handed hitters, but he’s not someone who I fear to the point where I’m completely avoiding him.
Outfielders
Albert Almora (CHC) : $2,100 at SF
Almora will almost certainly be in the order tonight for the Cubs since he has absolutely crushed left-handed pitching this season with a 0.403 wOBA and a 0.183 ISO. Also, Matt Moore has been terrible this season, despite pitching half of his games in the most pitcher friendly park of 2017.
Jose Pirela (SDP) : $2,600 at SD
Pirela has been pretty solid this season against opposing right-handed hitters with a 0.348 wOBA and a 0.220. On top of that, he typically hits near the top of the order for the Padres and he has a great matchup tonight against Tim Adleman.
Howie Kendrick (WAS) (WAS): $2,600 vs. MIA
If Kendrick is in the lineup tonight, he is another Nationals’ hitter who we can use against O’Grady. When Kendrick has cracked the lineup this season, he has mostly been hitting near the top of the order. As I mentioned previously, I really like the Nationals’ chances of putting up some huge numbers tonight and Kendrick would be one way to get some cheap exposure to their bats.
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Kaz is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Kaz, follow him @DraftStars_Kaz. You can find more of Kaz’s work at DraftStars.net.
