 Happy Shohei Otani day everybody Shohei Otani on the slate for tonight in daily fantasy baseball along with some other pretty interesting pictures overall I think it's a pretty fun slate a lot of ways you can play these things you got some decent I would say under the radar picture so I don't think a lot of people will be on so overall a fun slate let's dive on in and get you all set this is the Fanduola live Q&A right here on the Fanduola YouTube Twitch Facebook and Twitter channels my name is Jim Sonnis I am a senior writer and analyst for Numberfire.com here to take your questions live on air for the next half an hour to get you set for a Friday night slate of daily fantasy baseball as always no matter where you are watching you can get your questions in YouTube Twitch Facebook Twitter no matter where it is put those questions in the chat we'll take them live here on air to get you set for tonight's slates next week we've got some NFL stuff coming down the pipe so that's going to be a whole lot of fun we'll still be going live at 4pm each day so the time will not change baseball though once we get an NFL stuff started 430 the NFL first followed by baseball either way we're going to keep this baseball stream going until the end of the regular season so plenty of reason to stick around here on the Numberfire daily fantasy the Numberfire streams and the Fanduola YouTube Twitch Facebook and Twitter pages let's start things off with John over on YouTube John is asking how would you stack Houston tonight John I do think that Houston is a good spot to go facing Jake Arietta Arietta really struggling so far this year especially recent that's why he was releasing the Cubs now coming off the IL for the Padres first start didn't go that well so I think that thing set up pretty well here for Arietta or for the Astros facing Arietta and I do like the the Astros the one problem we have John with regards to filling out a lineup is not really sure what it will look like for tonight because it could be Bradley sitting could be your Don Alvarez sitting my hope is that it's Bradley who sits because I don't want to use him I want to use Alvarez so my hope is that we get a situation where Bradley is the guy sits as they use a DH and I can go to your Don Alvarez and the other really fun guys on this Padres or this Astros team let's pull up the Astros salaries over here I'm probably going to wind up being pretty high on Kyle Tucker for today $3,300 a guy who has a lot of upside because he has both speed and can swipe some bags so Tucker low salary can swipe some bags I'm probably going to be pretty into that let's check out Alex Bregman see what he's been doing here since he came back from the IL it's a situation where I want to you know check out the the numbers he's had recently given he's coming off a pretty extended injury make sure he's hitting the ball well seeing the ball well we can feel good about him because it's not a fragment it's pretty forgiving at $3,600 so if we can justify being into him I'd be pretty jazzed about that okay we got about a six game sample here he's had a couple barrels 50% hard hit rates that's actually looking pretty good so I would say Bregman we can get the green light on him so let's get Bregman in there going to gloss over Yuli because it's a righty I want Altuve in there and I want Alvarez I would say this is probably where I'm looking for a four player stack of the Astros I think that with if you like Nathan Yavaldi for tonight you can make that work it does force you to try to find some value plays but I think that works so this is probably the core four for me John in terms of stacking the Astros if you need to skip over Altuve or Bregman or Alvarez to get there that's fine depending on what value pops in there but that's probably the main four guys I'd want to turn to for tonight let's talk to you Renee on YouTube any interest in the amazing mats yes I think they're actually pretty good for one os for today because they're facing Sean Nolan they just saw Nolan last week and Nolan was pretty good against them did let up a couple of home runs and they've got some righties who can hit lefties pretty well so I would say looking at guys like Kevin Pilar specifically for value if he's in there I've not seen their lineup yet but if Pilar winds up playing he's minimum salary got some power can allow you more flexibility and using the Astros and stuff like that so I'd say Pilar's in play Alonzo's in play and checking out some of the other righties there so I would say yes Renee I think that the Mets more so for one offs than stacks definitely a team want to go to Bayez lindor etc etc but I think that Pilar specifically a guy who I can definitely see myself being on for tonight James says 14 games are a lot and he also likes the express slate over on fangirl James in general I am pro express slate because narrows down your research gives you a lot you know a lot fewer things to look at I think that if you are someone who's you know working all day Friday doesn't have a lot of time to do a lot of research the express slates are a really fun way to get around that personally I feel like I've had more success with smaller slates if you're playing a big slate like this I think that's a good time to go to you know single entry three entry max type tournaments to make it where you can't you're not facing people have like every combination of every stack so yeah James I agree I think the express slates are great I think that single entry three entry max type things those are very good for today would recommend and good luck to you in those let's talk to Julius he did a mid-level picture for tonight I think there are two Julius I would say the primary one to me is Nathan Yavaldi basing off of Cleveland he did just see them as the most recent start so familiarity here is high and I hate high familiarity they just saw him they know what he's doing stuff like that that's very concerning for me always because it does matter we see we tend to see guys fall off in that second start but Yavaldi really good picture he's been using more curveballs over his path seven starts 28% strikeout rate that is the second highest mark on this slate behind Freddy Peralta who is not going to be on a full leash coming out the aisle low walk rate for Yavaldi Cleveland not a bad offense definitely better now than they were earlier in the year but still not one we need to avoid so I'd say Yavaldi's a good mid-range pitcher and the one I wouldn't expect many to be on today is Vladimir Gutierrez for the Reds facing the Tigers the Tigers 89 WRC plus versus Reides and a 26% strikeout rate and now they lose the DH and go into a National League Park so Gutierrez has been leaning more on his changeup recently trying to cancel out what lefties do against him seems to be working in the past six starts the more changeups a 23% strikeout rate still letting up a lot of hard contact so it's not a guarantee to work well because there are some paths to failure for Gutierrez if you let up fly balls and hard contact at great American ballpark bad things can happen so he's risky but I like the upside here so I would say Yavaldi and Gutierrez the two uh mid-range guys I'd want to turn to there Jimmy on Facebook says Altuve crushes Arietta yeah I think that Altuve is someone we should feel pretty good about for today he's good against lefties good against Reides whatever it may be so I think that Altuve definitely a good one there let's talk to James on YouTube how do you feel about an Atlanta Colorado stack I like the Atlanta side of that one James facing off with Antonio since the tail has since the tail is a pretty good pitcher but not gonna lie like he's been pretty solid um he gets ground balls and stuff like that has had really good results but he does live dangerously for a pitcher of course field a lot of balls and play does let up hard contact the Braves got some bangers in there so I'm okay stacking against them I think the Braves are my number three stack for today I'm okay putting you know the uh the the Astros and the Reyes above them but the Braves are number three as far as Colorado I really like Huascar Inoa I think he's a talented pitcher he's looked good since he came off the IL as well so I'm okay avoiding the Rockies pretty weak team versus Reides Inoa a good pitcher so I would say thumbs up on the Braves not as interested in the Rockies for today but I do like the Braves quite a bit Kenneth how do you feel about Otto tonight as a pitching option so this is starting number two for Glenn Otto facing the Angels the Angels not the toughest team to face right now by any means Otto the problem I would say is he went just 73 pitches in his first start so that would be a concern for me we might not see a lot of length out of Otto so I would say probably know for me he's on the road stuff like that not a lot of length so personally an avoid from me I'd rather go to again with Gutierrez or Ivaldi for tonight so Vann best stacks for a single entry for today so I feel like the Braves are probably going to be pretty popular because their apply total is so high so to me I think the Astros and the Reyes may wind up being really good single entry teams just because I wouldn't expect them to be as popular as the Braves for tonight so I would say the Reyes and the Astros great out pretty well maybe get some value there I think for a single entry pitcher I'm probably going to go Ivaldi or Gutierrez over Otani for tonight but so may not need that salary savings but I think we it means we can go with Austin Meadows we can go Brandon Lau there's no wonder Franco for today for the Reyes who's kind of a bummer but I do still think the Reyes great out well Jackie is asking Jean-Carlo Stanton home run today uh facing John Means John Means does let up a lot of fly balls not a big hard contact guy this is eight stars since he came back but a lot of balls in play a lot of fly balls Jackie thumbs up on Jean-Carlo Stanton I think that's a good one for today Maurice is saying CJ Upshaw not sure what that is uh Bastruder is saying um let's see here let's go to um Rich he says he's looking for a 50-50 lineup uh he needs to ice the beer down uh Rich not gonna give out a full lineup for today uh because you know we the goal is to give you the tools to make your own lineup I would say if you're looking to build a cash game lineup I feel like you might just want to go Otani because the safety is pretty high with him I would say though if you're not going to go Otani definitely going to evolve the overall Tani because you know again it's a repeat matchup which is is scary for a a cash game situation he's a good pitcher um Cleveland not the most threatening offense so I'd say you have all the good cash game pitcher for today chill introvert like the name uh Atlanta bats worth the salary or are there lower salary bats in stack I do think Atlanta is worth the salary they did get jacked up in terms of salary between yesterday today which they should have because they were super under salaried I would say they're worth it chill uh but if you have like a single entry stack I think that the Braves are what I would not seem to be a must have I think that they are a team I'd like to get to but they're not a must have for today the one reason I am very accepting of the Braves is that the other teams that I want to stack the Astros and the Rays are not like low salary either so I'm still on board with them for sure let's talk to Kenneth do you like Adloberto Montesey as a one-off today yeah I do like it a lot felt based in Dallas Keichel uh Keichel letting up a lot of hard contact right now no strikeouts uh Montesey look good in his rehab stint hit a dinger stole a base in his first game back I think he's awesome Kenneth uh full thumbs up to Adloberto Montesey and Salvador Perez assuming he plays today as well uh didn't check out their lineup before we started here I assume Perez is in there he is oh Edward Olivares is batting forth that's fun wow okay I might stack the Royals I don't know uh we can go Perez Olivares Montesey and Taylor that's kind of fun for a value stack so yeah let's do it let's let's party let's stack the Royals for today Salvador says reporting lives somewhere in North Philly I also like the Phillies okay so Salvador is on the Phillies and I don't think that's a Homer call saboteur they're facing hey so Lizardo uh Lizardo has obviously struggled since he since he I mean the entire year honestly uh but since he joined Miami this is actually a smaller sample than that this is uh he's been lowering the usage on a sinker in that sample 5.33 skill interactive ERA 20 strikeout rates still a lot of walks not the best contact profile that can be a Philadelphia for today the reason why I am not putting them my top three is Lizardo did look pretty good in his most recent start eight strikeouts against Cincinnati Cincinnati's worst versus lefties in the Phillies are but Lizardo is a guy whose talent I believe in the game is in Miami so that's why they're not higher on the list I am not saying not to use them I think I will get there but that's that's the reason why they're not higher despite the fact Lizardo overall has struggled quite a bit Renee uh picture recommendation on the $555 entry kudos to you Renee uh I would say in that situation I'm not I would play things the same way as I would if it were a $3 entry just depends on the the field size there so to me I would say I'm probably looking at Vladimir Gutierrez like why not live life a little bit dangerously I feel like people probably won't be super on him because he has struggled for the full year but I like the changes he made like the matchup so I think Gutierrez is a guy my turn to there if I'm trying to roll the dice shoot for offside I think that Gutierrez is pretty solid option Salvatore Phillies stack or one-offs so asking if you can stack them or do one-offs I'd probably go for one-offs more so than a full stack because with Reese Hoskins being out it's it's a rougher lineup than it was previously but Freddie Galvis I think is a good one-off Salvatore um I think that I can feel pretty good about that one so Freddie Galvis yeah he's bad lead off there McCutcheon works Harper it's a lefty boo who cares uh he works too so I think more so for one-offs than a full stack uh let's talk to Jackie over on Twitch Otto over four and a half strikeouts is my call for him again I'd worry about pitch count there because he was at 73 last time um I don't have the data right in front of me and where he was in the minors but I'd be a little bit worried pitch count and betting it over for that one uh Salvatore one utility spot uh with $4100 to spare okay let's go to utility probably gonna be Altuve or Alvarez actually let's go Alvarez I love Altuve but like you're done Alvarez if you play see my knocks again they lose a DH for today but if Alvarez is in there he's really good we want to use lefties against Arietta I find it's righty stube like you're preferring lefties so I would say Alvarez followed by Altuve as far as other options probably looking at uh Coors field if we're not going with the Astros um okay if Alvarez plays which he might not sounded like there was some optimism you play yesterday he didn't uh Austin Riley would work there too so I would say from ranking those options Alvarez one Altuve two and then if Alvarez plays three if not Austin Riley number four uh Jackie Jim uh Jim can't give all his secrets we can't handle that much knowledge no there's there's no knowledge for Jackie believe me and it's more so like again my goal is that you don't have to watch this show like if we can like give you the tools do your own research and make this show like obsolete not necessary that'd be awesome like the fewer viewers the better you know we want to make it so uh you can do all this yourself that's the goal at least to to try to give you the tools to beat six all Devon is asking if there are any under the radar stacks for today so let's go over here the way to try to identify under the radar stacks because a lot of people are just going to stack the teams with the highest implied total so what you want to do is look at implied totals try to find some ones that may be a bit more middling that people may gloss over if they're doing a quick land so it won't be the Braves won't be the Yankees won't be the Reds not the Rockies I actually don't not super into Boston Cal Quantra's look pretty good recently so if we're looking for under the radar actually the Rays and the the Astros great are pretty well there uh Rene's Mets look pretty decent there so I think that this middle chunk here in the uh the high fours the implied total actually is pretty good the Rays Mets and Astros all teams I like a lot but also not going to pop in terms of implied total so I think that these are all pretty interesting for me uh Savannah's asking is there any weather to worry about I didn't see any earlier I think we should be good to go there and finally I need help narrowing the slate can you help me decide which pitchers I have to target for today so the pool I would say a pitcher for me at least is Shohei Otani Nathan Diavaldi Vladimir Gutierrez I know Gutierrez is risky so I understand if you don't want to go there I totally get it that's totally fine if there are other options Adam Wainwright's an option I worry because you know the team's not that great uh but he's a good pitcher facing a team that will strike out I think that Wainwright is someone you could talk yourself into I would not push back against that everyone else kind of kind of tough I like the the talent on Manoa but a tougher matchup a lower strikeout matchup so I would say probably those four Wainwright being if he I probably won't get there myself but like I can see it for sure diffuse is asking about the Reds so the Reds aren't very good against lefties that's that's one concern 89 WRC plus a 153 ISO they're a very different team versus lefties and righties Tyler Alexander is a guy I've stacked against a lot this year but he's been making some changes recently been going shorter in games he has been more effective as a result of that so I would bet the Reds are pretty popular I'm okay being a bit underweight on them I will say though that for one-offs they're very interesting because um Tyler Stevenson batting second is a guy with a lot of power versus lefties RAC as Aquino has a lot of power versus lefties Casianos probably gonna make something terrible happen and go deep tonight Jonathan India has been really good so I think for one-offs they work and I'm okay going there for full stacks I'm okay being a bit lower than consensus um just because I do worry a lot about them being very popular the fact they're bad against lefties and that Alexander has been improving recently let's talk to Johnny on Facebook is bumgarner a strong play tonight Seattle goes up and down obviously looking at projected roster tonight Seattle has quite a few left-handed bats in play yeah I like the thought process there for you Johnny the concern that I have is that bumgarner's strikeout numbers have been pretty rough this is in his past seven starts with more change-ups 4.88 skill interactive era 17% strikeout rate letting up a lot of fly balls so the matchup is really really good and if it were strictly matchup based strictly um the roof is also closed tonight at chase field that helps as well I just really worry about the that about what bumgarner is doing right now so I like the matchup totally agree to thoughts there it's harder for me to talk myself into the picture himself given the low strikeout rate recently uh Mike also about bumgarner for tournaments yeah I think again I won't be getting there I just need more strikeouts out of my guy um savannah's asking how would you stack Tampa so again no wonder franco for today he had a headache last night and left the game he said he's feeling better today but not in the lineup so we can look at this one here kevin curemeyer batting sixth is interesting so let's check out the raised numbers versus righties I was hoping Brett Phillips something's healthy was in there but that didn't happen um I'm sad about that but whatever it's okay my feelings are always on the aisle that's why huh okay so cross out these guys here and let's go check out curemeyer see if we can talk ourselves into him batting sixth 140 iso six stolen bases that's that's not bad I think that that's okay given the low salary given that I do have some high salary stacks I want to get to so let's actually be okay let's go meadows first then let's go curemeyer then let's uh go to lawitt second base because I want to feel second then the question is do I go with nelson cruz do I go uh with yondi dias do I go with joy wendell wendell he hasn't been very good recently from a power perspective and I care a lot about power so let's look at the bat of all data because last time I checked which was I think on like monday or so sometime when I was on the raise wanted to talk myself into him couldn't quite do it so it was an effort that was made let's pull up here let's go let's go august 10th for funsies since then three barrels for wendell a 36 hard hit rate not loft in the ball that much it's not ideal not ideal uh check out the iso here see whether the results say 169 iso I guess is not the worst so wendell's fine I guess I know it's the most inspiring endorsement I could have given of him but like you know if you go with this raise stack $3,300 that should get you to the astros could get you to the the braze are kind of tough there but I think that this one works so I think this is a decent stack for the the raise I would probably want to get to Nelson Cruz if I could over wendell but I think this is probably where we're looking to to exploit the fact that Randy Dobnack puts up a lot more fly balls to lefties than to righties so far and smart to snack against their stack against the Phillies pitcher for today and Salvatore also asked about Cal Gibson he said I'm getting to Nathan the Evaldi Cal Gibson at shohio tani so let's talk about Cal Gibson in general he's made some tweaks with the Phillies he's been throwing more cutters I don't know why the cutter is not like a good pitch for him it's the pitch he used a lot in the opener when he led up like 97 runs while getting two outs and for some reason the Phillies pitching staff has said let's use that more hasn't worked he has a 14% strikeout rate with his six starts at Philadelphia he's getting ground balls the matchup is great I just I don't like the strikeout rate so I'm not going to get to Gibson don't want to stack against him because Philip or Miami's offense is pretty bad but I also don't want to use him as my pitcher for today Savon I want to fade the White Sox uh starting pitcher in Stack Kansas City but Kansas City has been putting up a lot of runs recently they're not very good so that's probably why um I think that the good thing is they did get Montesey back he's a pretty big boost that entire offense let's actually build out a royal stack here now that we know Montesey's in there we know our boy our shining boy Edward Olivares is batting cleanup as well I need the one off I'd say Olivares is really good there uh let's put Montesey at shortstop let's put Perez at catcher slash first base let's get our boy here in the outfield Olivares $2,100 oh it's so so sweet I'd love to get to hard hit wit but like I feel like the best utility of the world is giving me sour savings let's go with Michael Taylor Michael A. Taylor should say um sorry to all their Michael Taylor was out there 3450 that's quite a lot of juice to get to the the Astros Braves uh Rays if you want to as well so I think that's a pretty fun stack on the Royals so I do think that although they've been struggling as you said Savon I'm okay getting there uh Savon what teams are you staying away from today um let's see here so I feel like I'm not staying away from the Reds I feel like I'll be underweight on them just because you know I again struggle against lefties Alexander's been getting better recently I don't think that they're a cross-off by any means like they're still you know Stevenson specifically is pretty good Costianus is pretty good uh I'm okay being lower on them though as a uh just because I do think that you know I think that people will probably be pretty high on them so I'm okay being a bit lower on the Reds than Consensus other teams I'm avoiding probably not going to be on the Rockies I know they're implied totals pretty high but I have a lot of respect for Inoa uh the Rockies not very good versus righties so I would say going to be lower on the Rockies probably lower on the Reds than Consensus probably lower on the Blue Jays I know Maniah has been bad but like I have like this fondness in my heart for Sean Maniah so I just like watching Pitch so I would say lower on the Jades and Consensus lower on the Reds and lower than or lower on the Rockies and Consensus it's not to say you shouldn't use them if your process led you there go ahead but I feel like I'll be lower on them than others for today let's talk to Jerry what's different between a pitchers park and a hitters park your definition good question uh it's based on so like based on like data is how I try to form it um so like here you see the park factor um a higher number favors batters whereas a lower number favors pitchers and there are a lot of things that go into that primarily it's temperature which is why you can see here I have the temperatures here like let's say it's April and everywhere else it's 40 degrees but it's 70 degrees in Tampa Bay that time of year Tampa Bay is a hitters park relative to other parks now when it's 70 degrees elsewhere our Tampa Bay is pretty neutral but like in the summer like in July early August Tampa Bay was very much a pitcher friendly park because it was colder than other spots so I would say temperature influences a lot Jerry and we have some places where they can be a pitchers park one time a year hitters park other times in general the rule of thumb is you want to maximize temperature for hitters minimize temperature for pitchers um that's kind of the rule of thumb for defining things but things such as dimension altitude all that do matter as well if you google ESPN park factors or rotor grinders park factors you can find different park factors rotor grinders breaks it down by handedness which I think is pretty helpful so I would check it just google rotor grinders park factors that's a pretty big help to see what handiness helps what gets the benefit at which parks and stuff like that home runs triple stuff like that I would check it out uh Aaron have a good weekend Jim where you at background different I am in Maryland um I'm here for a wedding this weekend so I'm at a hotel I've never done one of these just some hotels so hopefully the neighbors aren't too annoyed sorry uh that I'm talking loud at myself in this hotel room but you know uh hopefully they're not too mad at me we'll see uh Salvatore 3000 left in utility where are we going here okay let's go over here and let's check out the utility slot there are a lot of dudes on this slate it's a lot of scrolling to get down to three thousand dollars okay all right so Akil Badiou I mean he's got a you know he's facing Vladimir Gutierrez so I do like but Badiou's probably under salary I would say at three thousand dollars got a lot of power good hitters park A. O. Henio Suarez could work as they won off there versus Alexander and don't want to use Lopez I can use Wendell I guess but again not super enthusiastic about doing so Ahmed Aguilar only a dumbest facing Wainwrights farmer's not bad I would say ooh Rogers is facing you know what that's kind of tough McCutcheon could work I would say McCutcheon might be one of the better options there $20,000 facing a lefty uh Lazaro has struggled quite a bit so I don't mind Wendell but would really probably not get there just for a one-off for one-off I just want to maximize Dinger potential so Suarez so let's say here Suarez is an option I would say McCutcheon is an option those are probably the two best ones in terms of one-offs around $3,000 Renee any Diamondbacks maybe Marte Renee you changed your profile picture during the stream very impressive I like the the the dual efforts there um any Diamondbacks maybe Marte okay the Diamondbacks are facing looks like Anderson that was not official like they had not officially announced yet whether he would play Marte amazing against lefties so you could definitely get there I would say though that Anderson has done a good job of expressing our contact that's why I'm a bit lower just because Anderson is pretty good at that but Marte is very good against lefties so he's not out of play but the the Diamondbacks to me not as interesting Aaron says at least you brought that fancy camera and Mike I did I had to pack in my suitcase I brought the tripod too which you can't see because the camera is on it tripods here didn't bring the lights which is why I look kind of weird but like you know we made an effort trying to get the people their info on a Friday afternoon final one Sivan finally got a DFS lineup optimizer I hope it was from Number Fire Sivan I hope I hope um by draft dashboard trying to see it out what's up any suggestions or tips and lose using these again make sure you do not use default settings like try to alter stuff um because you don't want the default for anything because like someone else is going to have that default too you want to make sure you have a unique lineup so alter things try to find teams you're higher on uh try to lock into picture and stuff like that tweak stacking settings if you can as well alter things to make sure you're not getting the default that is not the way you want to use an optimizer but again check out numberfire.com uh check out the sharp stack over there Sivan that one might be free I can't recall either way I guess one more from Jerry do you like stacking the Mets in the Washington game mix in the Atlanta bats I don't mind some Washington one-offs against Rich Hill and I don't mind some Nets one-offs so Jerry no objections I think that sounds good and Jerry likes a Bayez home run call I hope so I'll be Bayez I know it's been a weird week for him but I'm always pro I'll be Bayez and I'm always pro all of you because you turned in for today for this fan to a live Q&A we are back once again next week on Tuesday not a Monday because it is Labor Day so I will not be here I suggest you're not here either because that'd be kind of boring uh we'll be back once again on Tuesday though no PGA because no PGA event next week we'll have baseball though at 4 p.m. YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Twitter make sure you are subscribed there if you've got more questions for me I am on Twitter at Jim Sonnis J-I-M-S-A-N-N-E-S big thank you to Joy Affleck our video producer for running the video side of things here today thank you Joy as always and thank you to everyone for tuning in good luck tonight have a great weekend go cats and we'll talk to you once again on Tuesday this has been the fan to a live Q&A