MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Tuesday 5/10/22

Austin Swaim  —  @ASwaim3 May 10th, 2022
Garrett Cooper and the Marlins have a hefty implied total in Arizona on Tuesday. Which other value options can help save salary for the half-dozen aces on the slate?

With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.

As a result of this, the primary method of selecting hitters is to "stack" certain teams in good spots to produce. Most of the top stacks on a given day come with hefty salaries. In addition to that, a vast majority of pitchers with the upside to win tournaments are high-salaried hurlers.

Therefore, crushing your value plays -- whether it be a pitcher unexpectedly piling up strikeouts or a low-salaried batter racking up points -- can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament.

Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?

Mark Canha, OF, New York Mets ($2,600)

Though they'll be immensely popular, the Mets are hard to ignore today.

They're squaring off with Patrick Corbin, and Corbin's 2022 has been much of the same as what plagued him in 2021. Corbin's skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) of 4.20 isn't bad, but it's not far from his 4.61 mark in 2021. He was last among qualifiers in ERA last year (5.82), and he's well on his way to a repeat with a 7.16 ERA this season.

When Corbin departs, the Nationals will be handing the ball to a bullpen with the seventh-worst expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP) in baseball (3.95). Stacking the best offense in baseball thus far should be a bright green light.

Last time out against a lefty, Mark Canha hit second. He's actually been better against righties as a right-hander himself, but a clip of 98 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) is a fine enough mark still. He's also got a career .194 isolated power (ISO) against lefties, so he can make Corbin pay dearly for a mistake.

Canha, J.D. Davis, and Eduardo Escobar are the best sources of salary relief among a star-studded Mets lineup, so all are helpful inclusions to lineups with Mets stacks that also want to reach one of Tuesday's top arms.

Ha-Seong Kim, 2B/SS, San Diego Padres ($2,600)

The 10-18 Cubs have help on the way.

It's veteran Wade Miley set to make his season debut for the Cubbies. Miley is a groundball veteran hurler who doesn't strike out a ton of batters (18.1% strikeout rate in 2021), but he does a fine job of suppressing hard contact (34.1% hard-hit rate in 2021). He's someone you can stack against in tournaments because he lets so many balls into play.

Miley's headed into the lion's den tonight. The Padres' righty-dominant lineup has the fourth-best ISO in baseball against lefties (.177), and their .709 on-base plus slugging (OPS) against southpaws is ninth-best.

The Friars have a high 4.12 implied team total, and they've got plenty of value options around Manny Machado. Ha-Seong Kim is an interesting one since he'll likely hit second, and the right-hander has shown plenty of power against both right-handers and southpaws. He's posted a .157 ISO against lefties, and his ISO is even higher (.163) against righties.

Austin Nola is also below $3,000 in salary to help make this stack work, but don't forget Machado as part of it. The star third baseman has a .996 career OPS against Miley in 24 plate appearances.

Garrett Cooper, 1B/OF, Miami Marlins ($2,500)

Garrett Cooper went deep in Arizona last night, and that was opposite the platoon advantage he'll have tonight.

With Brian Anderson and Jon Berti on the injured list, Cooper is arguably the Marlins' best remaining hitter against lefties. He's posted a 110 wRC+ against them this season -- highest on Miami's active roster.

Regardless of their injuries, the Fish should be in for a big night according to oddsmakers. Their 4.49 implied team total is amazingly the second-highest on the entire slate, and it's due to their matchup with Madison Bumgarner.

Bumgarner is once again posting an incredibly low swinging-strike rate (7.4%), and it's paired with an 11.2% walk rate. His lack of command has led to an ugly 5.18 SIERA across his six starts to begin the season.

It isn't challenging on your budget to target this solid total. Cooper, Jesus Aguilar, Jorge Soler, and Avisail Garcia are all at or below the $3,000 threshold on FanDuel, leaving plenty of room to roster one of the half-dozen aces on Tuesday's slate.