NOTE: I am in the process of moving so the next few days will be difficult to create videos. I will still release text posts with my favorite picks of the night.
The slate is headlined by Clayton Kershaw ($14,500). His start got pushed back with some soreness in his hip. I am not overly concerned about his “injury”, but more-so that he went from facing the anemic Oakland A’s who ranked 28th in wOBA in the second half, to the Angels who rank 6th. The problem is his price didn’t move. I was happy to pay up for him vs. OAK, but more hesitant vs. LAA. I will lean towards cautious optimism and buy on him especially since LAA loses their DH in this matchup.
I couldn’t be less interested in Matt Harvey ($11,200). He’s just too risky right now and has come up small more time than he’s come up big as of late. The matchup with the Nationals looks good on paper as they rank 23rd in wOBA in the second half, but this is a team that’s getting healthy really fast and it’s only a matter of time before they get back on track.
Danny Salazar ($10,900) is a much more playable option at pitcher than Harvey. Here’s a guy with prolific strikeout ability and 24 Ks over his last three starts. His upside is tremendous and he gets the benefit of facing the A’s that Kershaw missed out on.
Welcome to the Royals, Johnny Cueto ($10,000) ! I am in “wait and see” mode on Cueto today. I won’t risk rostering him against a great TOR offense. Additionally, I am always a little concerned to see how an NL pitcher adapts to AL style of baseball mid-season.
My favorite mid-tier option is Taylor Jungmann ($7500) who has been outstanding in his last 4 starts with DK points of 24, 35, 24 and 18. He faces the scuffling Cubs who rank 26th in wOBA in the second half and strike out at a massive clip.
With no real value options on board, Williams Perez ($4000) becomes the best play if you are desperate to save up on cash. This will be his first start back off the DL but he was averaging 13 DK points a game over his L10. He has also shown flashes of upside with 20 and 25 DK points in that span. He gets the Phillies who have been red-hot, but there is almost certainly regression in their future.