MLB

MLB Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 8/9/13

Pedro Alvarez is just one of many players who should put up big numbers at Coors Field tonight.

We know that people play all sorts of fantasy platforms, not just from from our friends at StarStreet but on other platforms such as FanDuel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud as well. So once again, we have four optimized rosters, all for you, the numberFire reader. One is for free here; the others can be found in our Premium section.

As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. Make sure to check it out to see where the best values are for your team.

Our baseball projections are updated throughout the day, so make sure to come back to double-check your optimized rosters for any last-minute lineup changes. Since most action happens later in the day, we will be ignoring the early games (if there are any) and focusing solely on the late contests. That way, you can use and tinker with our optimized rosters throughout the day.

StarStreet Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
Lance LynnSP26.11$29,2000.89
Chris CapuanoSP17219000.78
Troy TulowitzkiSS17.47$6,7002.61
Pedro Alvarez3B13.35$6,4002.09
Michael CuddyerRF15.7$6,2002.53
Shane VictorinoRF14.08$6,0002.35
Dexter FowlerCF14.11$5,4002.61
Neil Walker2B12.51$5,0002.50
Jonathan LucroyC11.63$4,4002.64
Alex PresleyOF13.76$4,4003.13
Garrett Jones1B12.2840003.07

Fantasy Feud, Draft Kings, and FanThrowdown Optimized Rosters

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The Top Three Pitchers

Lance Lynn – Lynn gets the pleasure of facing a Cubs lineup that ranks 9th in the NL in runs scored and 12th in wRC+. Lynn is a fantasy stud in his own right, putting up an 8.81 K/9 that ranks ahead of Clayton Kershaw, Cliff Lee and Adam Wainwright. He’s got a solid but unspectacular 3.78 ERA on the year, but his 3.08 FIP indicates he’s pitched better and just been a little unlucky.

Chris Capuano – Capuano’s been hot recently, allowed no runs in three of his last four starts, and pitching into the seventh inning each of those times. Capuano has a fairly significant split for his career, .276 wOBA against lefties versus a .346 mark against righties. That should play in his favor against a Rays team with lefties James Loney, Kelly Johnson and Matt Joyce.

Jake Peavy – Peavy racked up 7 Ks in 7 innings in his first start for the Red Sox, and he’s looking to keep it going tonight against the red-hot Royals. Despite their recent stretch of excellent play, Kansas City still ranks just 11th in the AL in runs scored. Peavy’s 8.59 K/9 would rank him 9th in the AL, just .01 behind Justin Verlander. Peavy has also been the victim of some bad luck, since pitchers have little control over whether a fly ball leaves the yard: his 13 percent HR/FB rate is the highest of his career by far.

Top High-Priced Hitters

Tory Tulowitzki – Tulo has a couple things going for him tonight: he’s facing a lefty in Francisco Liriano and he’s playing at home. For his career, Tulowitzki has hit 18 points higher and slugged 36 points better against left handers. And playing in Colorado, he’s slugged .552 compared to .469 on the road. Add it all up and you’ve got the highest likelihood of any position player to homer today.

Pedro Alvarez – Alvarez pretty much only does one thing, but man does he do it well. That thing is hit home runs. Sure, he’s hitting .239 with a .301 OBP, but he’s also leading the NL in home runs with 27. He also gets the benefit of playing in Coors Field’s thin air tonight, plus he’s hit much better on the road all season. He’s hit a totally respectable .276 on the road but just .201 at PNC Park.

Cost-Effective Mid-Range Hitters

Dexter Fowler – Let’s stick with players in that Pittsburgh-Colorado game. Fowler’s put up a quietly solid fantasy season with 12 homers and 16 steals. He, like everyone else on the planet, hits much better at Coors Field. He’s got an amazing split: .302 at home and just .216 on the road. And like Tulowitzki, he crushes left handers, to the tune of a .327 batting average a full 97 points higher than against righties.

Jonathan Lucroy – Lucroy is a great source of power at catcher: His 16 homers is tied for the NL lead and trails major league-leader J.P. Arrencibia by just one. Lucroy’s Brewers face Joe Saunders and the Mariners tonight, which is good news. Lucroy’s hit a full 50 points higher against lefties in his career and has posted a .540 slugging against just .396 when facing righties.