MLB

MLB Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 5/10/13

We do love Tony Cingrani's strikeout rate, but be careful what fantasy platform you're selecting him on.

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
Shelby MillerSP30.98$29,7001.04
Matt MagillSP22.99$18,1001.27
Ryan BraunLF15.22$8,2001.86
Shin-Soo ChooCF12.74$6,3002.02
Edwin Encarnacion1B13.01$6,1002.13
Chase Utley2B10.24$5,9001.74
Josh WillinghamLF12.46$5,7002.19
Chase Headley3B13.7$5,5002.49
Jimmy RollinsSS11.6$5,4002.15
Mike Napoli1B13.27$5,0002.65
Carlos RuizC10.39$4,1002.53

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud Optimized Rosters

For the optimal rosters for the other main players, be sure to check out our brand new Daily Fantasy Optimized Rosters for our Premium members. We know that you're killing it with our picks; maybe now you'll help us continue to help you win each night, every night.

Access to the optimal rosters is immediate, and you'll have it constantly updated for the latest injury news and updates from around the league. The best news of all? For new subscribers, you can use the promo code WELCOME and get it 50% off what was already the reduced price. Think of the savings!

Learn More About Premium

The Three Top Pitchers

Shelby Miller - The Rockies' .343 OBP may be tied for the second-best in the majors, but of all the pitchers they could be facing, Miller seems the best primed to take them down. Miller's 25.9 percent strikeout rate and 7.5 percent walk rate are excellent figures that remain in line with his career-average, and a .266 BABIP indicates that the defense is playing about average behind him as well. Is it possible that two tough-luck losses to the Pirates (2 ER in 6.0 IP, 3 ER in 5.2 IP) have lowered his cost to a reasonable level? Sure seems that way.

Tony Cingrani - This one solely depends on cost. On StarStreet or Fantasy Feud, where Cingrani is one of the top pitchers? I'm running for the hills. But on other platforms where he's only a middle-high range guy? I'm taking advantage of the inefficiency in a heartbeat. The Brewers hold the third-least number of walks in the entire majors, which should bolster his already low 5.4 percent walk rate. Now couple that with his "Wait, that's possible?" 35.5 percent strikeout rate in four starts, and I'm riding the young guy until he cools off.

Max Scherzer - If high-cost, high-reward is your game, then Max Scherzer is your man. Depending on the platform, he's either our first or second highest projected pitcher today (alternating that top spot with Shelby Miller). Unlike Miller, though, he has a much more extensive background on which we can base our projections. His current 35.1 percent strikeout rate is high, but not a ludicrous amount over last season's starters-leading 29.4 percent rate. Cleveland's above-average 20.9 percent strikeout rate helps as well.

Top High-Priced Hitters

Chase Headley - Today, it's Headley who wins what seems to be a daily battle for our optimized 3B slot with Adrian Beltre. Rays starter Alex Cobb may look strong this season, but we're a bit skeptical that he can maintain his current 4.7 percent walk rate in the face of his 7.2 percent career rate. And seeing as how Headley has drawn walks on 10.3 percent of his 2013 plate appearances (10.2 percent career) to go along with a high .320 BA, we wouldn't be surprised if he was on base multiple times in tonight's game.

Mark Trumbo - White Sox starter Dylan Axelrod has allowed 9.1 hits per nine innings for his career, has struck out only 4.1 batters per nine innings this season (6.4 SO/9 career), and has a .243 BABIP that is actually due to increase due regression to the mean. Given Trumbo's reasonable cost and his recent power tear, I'm not even worried about potential strikeouts tonight against this guy. I'm swinging for the fences and Trumbo's 0.28 projected homeruns.

Mid-Range Cost-Effective Hitters

Mike Napoli - He's back! And he's actually reasonably priced this time? Believe it. And it's even better since he's facing Ramon Ortiz. Yeah, I had to look it up to make sure it was the right Ramon Ortiz as well, but he is indeed facing the Didn't-Pitch-in-the-Majors-in-2012, Four-Starts-Since-2007, 2-ER-in-3.1-IP-This-Year Ramon Ortiz. Considering Napoli will be in the middle of the order and likely see two at-bats against Ortiz before facing the struggling (other than Janssen) Toronto pen, yeah, I'd consider this one a victory.

Jimmy Rollins - Rollins is on four of our five optimized rosters today, the only batter to accomplish said feat, so I'd be remiss if I didn't mention him for the second-straight day. Yesterday's 0-for-4 day inspired no confidence, but if you're reading this article, you know that a one game sample size says absolutely nothing. What does say something, however, is D'Backs starter Ian Kennedy's 1.338 WHIP, lower-than-average 6.9 strikeouts per nine innings, and insanely high 27 percent line drive rate this season.