MLB

MLB Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 5/24/13

There aren't many fireballers to choose from today, and that makes Lincecum and his 5.68 projected K's a safe bet.

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
Tim LincecumSP24.67$26,5000.93
Justin GrimmSP22.91$21,0001.09
Mike TroutCF15.1689001.7
Robinson Cano2B15.16$7,0002.17
Alex RiosRF12.92$6,0002.15
Carlos SantanaC12.09$5,6002.16
Jason Kipnis2B13.21$5,5002.40
Chase Headley3B13.83$5,4002.56
Adam Dunn1B13.49$5,2002.59
Didi GregoriusSS12.1545002.7
Lucas DudaLF7.8844001.79

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud Optimized Rosters

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The Three Top Pitchers

Justin Grimm - A 4.02 ERA and a 1.438 WHIP? I think I'll set that aside right next to his .320 batting average on balls in play (BABIP), .024 above the MLB average, despite only a league-average 21 percent line drive rate. Grimm may be nearly exactly league average in strikeout rate, walk rate, and homerun rate, but the Mariners team he's playing has one of the highest strikeout rates and a below-average OBP. I'll take a postive matchup and low cost for the average pitcher here.

Tim Lincecum - There really aren't that many fireballers to choose from today; Lincecum and his 23.9 percent strikeout rate (25.9 percent for his career) are the best you're going to get. His 5.68 projected strikeouts places him as the only pitcher above the 5.5 mark today, even though Colorado as a team is slightly below the league average with their 19.4 percent team strikeout rate. The low downside is nice as well; Lincecum's 0.24 projected losses is only 0.01 off the best mark for a starting pitcher today.

Anibal Sanchez - A Minnesota Twins offense with a walk rate and OBP slightly above average, but a strikeout rate through the roof and very few homeruns to speak of? Well yes, that does indeed sound like a perfect combination for an accurate, high strikeout pitcher, doesn't it? Sanchez's absurd 29.6 percent strikeout rate may not be sustainable given his 20.2 percent career average, but his walks (6.1 percent rate) and homeruns (0.9 percent rate) won't be challenged much tonight.

Top High-Priced Hitters

Robinson Cano - Yes, even when every single second baseman is available for the choosing, the high-priced option is still that much better. We may have had Pedroia AL All-Star ballot, but Cano's day-to-day 6.5 percent homerun rate is too much to ignore. Today would be one of those solid chances for a homerun, given that Tampa starter Roberto Hernandez has allowed them on 4.6 percent of opponent's plate appearances this season.

Mike Trout - Royals starter Luis Mendoza actually hasn't been as bad as his 1-2 record and 5.50 ERA may seem, especially in light of his right around league-average walk rate (8.3 percent) and WHIP (1.361). But even a league-average pitcher is enough for Trout to feast on; his .582 slugging percentage still has him in the top ten in the majors despite not living up to last year's high standards. Throw in 0.20 projected stolen bases and 0.55 projected walks, and you've got a high potential for runs scored from Trout (0.83 projected) tonight.

Mid-Range Cost-Effective Hitters

Adam Dunn - Adam Dunn's main value is going to be from homeruns and long, RBI-producing extra-base hits. That's just a fact. So I suppose it's a good thing, then, that Marlins starter Tom Koehler holds a 4.2 percent homerun rate and a 27 percent line drive rate over 16 career MLB starts. Adam Dunn leads all batters tonight with 0.30 projected homeruns and 0.91 projected runs scored for a reason, you know.

Chase Headley - Headley seems to have dropped a tiny bit in price recently. Headley also has a .394 OBP and hits in six of his past eight games. What? Maybe he doesn't have the hitting streak from earlier in the season, but he's still one of the best options around, especially in light of his 12.4 percent walk rate and totally-unsustainable-but-still-pretty 33 percent line drive rate. Opposing pitcher Brandon McCarthy, meanwhile, has allowed line drives on 26 percent of hit balls in play. The MLB average, by the way, is right around 20 percent.