 Tonight Slate for MLB DFS is one that's kind of sneakily trashy. It's a way that I would phrase it because we do have some good pitchers for tonight We got Garrett Cole. We've got Kevin Gosman. We've got Frankie Montas and those guys are good pitchers But they all have red flags. They all have reasons for concern They all read so we can't be like yes Just load up on this guy and don't look back and that's a pretty decent size concerns We're gonna sort through things today take your questions on air and get you said for tonight slate of MLB DFS This is the fan dual live Q&A right here on the fangirl YouTube twitch Facebook and Twitter channels My name is Jim Sonnis I am a senior writer and analyst for number fire comm here to get you set for tonight slate of MLB DFS By taking your questions live on air as always no matter where you are watching You can get your questions in it for today will take them via Facebook YouTube Twitch Twitter does not matter no matter where you're watching get those questions and also make sure you're subscribed on your platform of choice Senior notifications as we go live each and every day especially as we approach NFL season We'll have a jam packed slate here as always make sure you are subscribed Tomorrow PGA is back with Brandon as well talking about the Northern Trust So feel free to fire away at that 3 30 p.m. Tomorrow MLB will be at 4 p.m Let's start things off here by talking to Salvatore Moondi who says money time and also saying welcome back Salvatore I'm not sure what your profession is but if you're not a painter you should have been at that name tremendous painting artist name there Aaron says hey Jim. Let's get it. Hey Aaron. Hello. Welcome back DJ says Griffin Jax or Tuki Tucson Jax is not a big enough a strikeout guy for me. He's been pitching like I would say Underaidedly well recently this is over his past five starts or I guess a five starts as he came back in the rotation full-time 4.79 skill interactive. Yeah, Ray. That's not as bad as perception 20% strikeout rate the reason I'm okay avoiding is because not a lot of strikeouts does let up a lot of fly balls So I'm not there to saw it though does great out. Well facing the Marlins for today Definitely a team we want to target 84 WRC plus versus right ease pretty low walk team They strike out plenty third highest strike area in the slate So to me Tucson is the guy there But also the top the top value pitcher on tonight's slate our next two questions on Facebook from Danny and Brad They kind of go hand in hand Danny is asking for the top two stacks for today and Brad says do you stack the Padres or take a top pitcher? So I'll start with Danny here The stacks are both the teams at Coorsfield However, that's tough to get to when we're talking about Kevin Gosman checking in at $10,300 for tonight, so That's you do have to choose and I think that the way that Brad phrase that is correct You go with the Padres or do you go with the top pitcher? I would say what I want to do Brad is kind of take the the coward's way out and Do a little compromise here go Frankie Montas because he's $94. I do like him a lot for tonight Just because he's been so good recently really tough matchup against the White Sox and I don't want to use pitchers against them very often But I think Montas himself good enough to make an exception here 30% strikeout rate over his past 10 starts with more splitters 3.38 skill interactive era So I think that it's viable to go Montas plus Padres $3,200 left That's gonna mean you're gonna need a second value stack for with that team But I think we can make that work So I would say get Montas in the Padres or you could also go Montas in the Rockies and load up on them because the Rocky salaries Actually are not that bad for tonight Nobody higher than $4,000 only two guys about $3,500 you can stack Montas with the Rockies Very easily just show you here a couple of guys we can lock in at that pretty low salaries should be a good spot In the order we do that 3,260 left that means I can go to either store your Crone depending who prefer there Let's go with story 3075 left that works easily. So Brad, I would say either Montas Padres in a value stack or Montas Rockies and You know a mid-range stack for that second one. I think that should work pretty well So from choosing between the Padres and a high-priced pitcher I might go with the high salary pitcher in this instance because I'm okay jumping down to Montas from Gosman for tonight Savannah's asking how do you feel about Oakland for tonight? I saw you asked me on Twitter so long I'm sorry. I forgot to respond. I got I got caught up answering other stuff my bad I should have responded, but I forgot they're facing Dallas Kikel I think that that's a situation we can feel okay going in it's also the A's on the road as opposed to at home That's always a good thing given how bad their home park is for offense The peripherals for Kikel say we can stack against him But because he has at times been a bad at ball outlier I do put some more value in the results with him than for other people So let's pull up the results here for Kikel see what he's been doing recently And so we can think of him overall I will say that the A's do get downgraded with no Ramon Loreano because he was kind of one of the key guys You would turn to when they were facing a lefty so let's pull up the salaries here for the A's while that page is pulling up and Check out the results against Kikel in this sample This is over his past six starts with fewer change-ups and more sliders Okay, it looks like Kikel's trying to increase his strikeout rates in that time 4.58 ERA Did that up for once the twins 5 to Cleveland 4 to the Royals Hasn't faced the toughest competition this time and is still let up at 4.58 ERA Let's see what the stack cast numbers look like here Decent amount of hard contact the launch angle is okay high barrel rate against so that's not bad I think we can actually justify Stacking the A's here pretty easily Salaries on the A's they're not super low, but they're also not super high Depends on if Gomes or Murphy plays if Murphy does get the start twenty five hundred dollars a really good number for him So I'd be behind that so I think the A's work on there for sure the problem is there a lot of good stacks for today I think that they're not a bad one. So I'm definitely on board savant But I would say there are a lot of good options for today Jackie over on twitch is saying heck for a turn for Tatis. Yeah two homers last night pretty good He seems good at baseball my hot take there Should we stack the potteries tonight? Yes, if you can and I think that he was stacking the potteries It pretty much locks you into using to son as your pitcher two keys you saw it $7,900 that's fine. I think he's okay for sure, but it does mean you're probably not getting gauze Probably not getting Montas. So probably locking you into something which is fine. Again, I think you saw it's good But it is definitely a downgrade. Let's talk to Andrew pregler talked to Andy over on YouTube thoughts on the queue for tonight. He's pretty much I'm sure purely an opener. It sounds like Josh Fleming is going to be the primary pitcher for the race for today I should have Fleming saw my sheets still because I would bet that the queue goes like two or so innings tonight And then gives way to Fleming Neil or was it Mark Topkin reported that Fleming would be the primary pitcher get the bulk innings for tonight for the race So I would jump over McHugh as far as Fleming goes not in a strikeout So I would say both raised pitchers off the mat for me for today. Let's talk to Sivan thoughts about these low salary pitchers Wade Miley Josh Fleming and Griffin Jack. So talking about Fleming here. I don't think anything get enough strikeouts for me Miley's actually been really bad recently. I know the matchup is great versus the Cubs, but he's been rough This is over his past five stars that you were cutters 16% strikeout rate a lot of walks Not touching that not touching jacks not touching Fleming I would say to song kind of the way to go at the value pitcher for today Let's talk to Julius. What's your top two pitchers for tonight? I miss Julius here Let's see here Julius that's for top two pitchers. I think that it's Gosmin one Montas two But if you get in situation where you really want the Padres I think it is okay to jump down to dishonor Tucson I would say that those three in the same tier the reason Cole is not as is not as high for me Is because I'm worried about pitch count coming out the COVID IL He was there due to a positive test and not because of close contact means he had he had a very serious virus You know, that's kind of kind of scary for a guy's been out for about two weeks now So I'm worried a pitch count on Cole still ranking him below those three guys So top top pitchers me are Gosmin and Montas, but to saunt right there as well Eric on Facebook favorite pitcher Hitter or favorite hitter for tonight favorite pitcher. I think I'm leaning Montas I guess because the salary savings and I think it'll be less popular than Gosmin. Which is good favorite hitter Mmm. That's a tough one. I Kind of like Connor Joe relative to salary $2,900 at course feel but to an advantage. So I think that Connor Joe my favorite hitter overall for tonight Jackie's asking about stacking the reds for tonight. They're facing Justin Steele. They're much worse against lefties and against righties So I think they're fine They're not gonna grade out super high for me because there's a lot against actually today But it's it's Cincinnati balls can fly there for sure It's a fine stack, but I'd rank them below other ones. We talked about so far Aaron says I like that call Montas over to son though $1,500 savings. Yeah, I mean like you could definitely talk yourself into to saw the reason that I prefer to go With Montas over to son despite the fact their matchups are a lot tougher or the matchup for Montas a lot tougher and despite the fact that Tucson is lower salaries. I just feel better about the performance from Montas This is a 10-star sample against a lot of tough competition He faced the Astros in Houston and had 10 strikeouts So I feel better about the overall quality of pitching from Montas That's why I prefer to spend up for him, but again, I think they're in the same tier So I would not I would not fault you at all if you decide to go with to son over Montas let's talk to DJ on Facebook Do I keep riding Frank Schwindel and at Patrick wisdom or do you think they're due to slump like the entire teams lost record as a whole? If you're talking season-long, I'm probably not the right guy to ask But they're facing Wade Miley those guys could be interesting but I think overall team contacts lowers the appeal in everyone in that line-up just because like They're gonna get fewer played appearances You need guys around them to produce get on base extend the game. They're probably not gonna do that So I think that they're fine, but not guys. I'm seeking out for today Alvin is asking for a priority In the Rockies lineup, let's see the Rockies lineup is in here. I'm guessing this is just a general question Let's see. Oh, it is actually out. Okay So who all of them all these are good Connor Joe is the the priority for me for today for the Rockies Facing off with the lefty Weathers Rogers Borderline priority like he's probably number two up there really good numbers for Rogers versus lefties Connor Joe's small sample 46 plate appearances, but good power numbers love it low strikeout rate Rogers similar low sample But 338 ISO in that small sample versus lefties and I I saw as a number that stabilized more quickly Than other numbers. So I would say Joe and Rogers are two Priorities for me Diaz has slowed down from his power binge But still a guy who has overall good power numbers 184 ISO versus lefties 46% fly ball rates. So I think that all three of those guys would work if we're talking about raking them I would say Joe won Connor Joe one Rogers to and then I'd probably go with CJ Crone over Trevor story So then Crone three story for Diaz five and then I'm not gonna get super excited about Blackman Not gonna super Jasmine McMahon. So to me. It's the rankings are Joe Rogers Crone story Diaz for the Rockies for today as far as Daza goes Oh 97 ISO no, thanks. So those are the five guys are really want to target for the rocket for today And I think all their salaries are very very reasonable Salvatore is asking over on YouTube I scroll past it again. Is it a must to a four player team stack and GPPs? Recently the lineups over the place. It's not a must However, if you look at like the highest upside lineups are my colleague at number fire Can you out of store in did a piece in this for number fire last year if you look at the the highest scoring combinations They're all four player stacks whether it be a four player stack with a four player stack a four player stack with a two player Stack another another two player stack four players are going to three player stack, etc Etc. It's almost always four players at the top. So You're gonna have nights where the winning tournament lineup doesn't follow that I would say if you're trying to maximize expected value I would do a four player stack in each lineup and I try to get four player stacks You know two of them in one lineup or you know the four three one stuff like that so I would still lean that way SN Brennan eight on YouTube Who are you bigger on tonight the Reds or the Giants? I actually like the Giants a lot partly because I'd expect them to be less popular facing Rich Hill no name, but a guy who struggled recently low strikeout rate a lot of fly balls I think the Giants are a pretty good option for today. So give me the Giants in that scenario John actually asked on YouTube favorite stack. That's likely overlooked. I would say that is a Giants. So Both for SN Brennan and for John give me the Giants the team that should go overlooked, but I do like for tonight Let's talk to Rudney Tatis or Castellanos about the same salary one shock one knot bigger upside worried about the ground ball rate from the Colorado pitcher Yeah, so since the Taylor does get ground balls 28% fly ball rate from sends a Taylor Over his past seven addings with more fastballs and fewer sliders that definitely is a factor So you could make that case for sure I would say though that Justin Steele does project to be a guy who gets some ground balls as well for the Cubs, so I think for me, I'd still go Tatis over Castellanos in part because I just feel a lot better about the Padres than the Reds but you could make that case for sure and I think that the Day to you're talking about makes sense But I would say that that is also in play for Castellanos given Steele's ground ball rate He's had previously Aaron says he likes won't possibly at least six innings greater chance than Tuki. I'd agree with that as well Michael any interest in your twins is a value stack. I still call them my twins. Are they even twins anymore? I mean Byron's not back yet. Once Byron's back, they can my twins again Probably not because Quantrill does a good job of suppressing our contact This is over his past eight starts more four seamers just a 35 hard hit rate 32% fly ball rate I'm okay skipping over the twins for today Rene on YouTube. How about cola 80 to 90 pitches? I think that's a fair question because you can do a lot of work in that I would say though that I feel a lot better about pitch count project for Montas. He's a good pitcher Gosman's a good pitcher with upside so And uh, Cole is also much higher salary than them and I want to spend up today so Rene if it were if it were a slate where There weren't a lot of high salary stacks. I wanted maybe I would go Cole there Maybe, you know, just try to get in on him while people are elsewhere But for today specifically, I'm okay passing up, but I think it's a good question. I think you um Uh asked a good question there Rene Aaron I'm scratching my head on push in Oakland, Chicago game 4.5. I'm applied total football teams Oakland should rough rough up kykel uh Yeah, I mean, I think that's part of the reason I like Montas because people will value the implied total against him and be like Oh, you know 4.5. That was pretty high. Don't want to go there for me I don't care as much about that because I went upside Montas has that given the strikeout rate So I think it's fair to scratch your head. Um, I think that but I think that's part of the reason why I do like Montas for today Savannah's asking thoughts on houston yankees and cleveland stacks yankees facing jose suarez The other guy does a decent job of suppressing hard contact. Uh six starts 34 hard hit rates 30 fly ball rate the yankees much better versus lefties and righties though So I think they're okay Okay is the word I would use there Purposefully astros facing carlos, Hernandez, definitely okay with going there for today. Hernandez not a bad pitcher But they're a very good team. So houston my favorite among those options cleven facing jacks I would say Maybe like we could look to them potentially for some uh value I'm not super big into Targeting jacks has been pretty good recently But I would say the astros among those teams Definitely the one I want to get to then the yankees and then cleveland Let's talk to you. Wow way behind. Sorry you guys. Um Uh salvators asking chances of fan dual weekend shows. Maybe I don't know. We'll see Um won't be me because I work. I work during the weekdays, but maybe you never know. Um Let's see here john. Who is the best value stack for today? Okay I think the ray is actually grayed out pretty well. They're facing matt harvey I don't know if we can even as being a value stack, but they have some value guys. I guess I would say Uh gmon choy specifically is pretty low salary to austin meadows low salary too. So I said, I think the rays grayed out pretty well there Danny is looking for the best cheap value hitter for the utility slots. Uh, depends on how cheap you're looking I think that gmon choy would work if you're okay going with like $2,500 or so otherwise, let's see here if there are any other lineups that are out that we Can squeeze out some value from No, no, no, no, no No, oh my goodness. Uh, actually ryan o' herron could work. I'm guessing he's pretty low salary He is $2,500. Okay, so I prefer choy over him But I think that looking at $2,500 range choy and o' herron could be guys with a dinger upside You could turn to you there savans saying he's gonna stack cleveland since netting probably at lana I want to be different today. Yeah, there's always value being different And I think that on this slate given how many good stacking options there are You can be different without being stupid. So savan, that's that's definitely in play for today Um, matt is asking what for the top, uh, three most popular offenses on fan dual for today. So If we're trying to determine roster rates and stuff like that Just go over here to the uh, the number fire games and lana's page Check out the heat map and sort by implied total that'll almost always tell you which teams I'll have the highest uh roster rates of that day san diego colorado and since natty looked like they'll be pretty popular I would say if you're looking for a team lower on this order the rays great out well for me The giants great out pretty well I would say those are the teams that may go overlooked based on this So I would say rays and giants for me Uh, jackie st You guys should do a man mad and turn amongst the host in the stream Short in the quarter so it doesn't take too long. Uh, we did like simulations last year where I had to do Like play by play. It was bad. I'd sit down on my seat for like two hours straight in my buck. I'm very sweaty So, uh, as long as I'm not involved jackie. I'm in I'm also pretty bad at madden. So There's that as well. Uh, erin says diaz and I sell you on on, uh, fan dual. I'm guessing this is uh, lias diaz. I agree Um, let's see here dj thoughts of bradley zimmer. No, I can't get there. He's just he's not done enough for me So I'm I'm out. Uh, eric thoughts of machado. I like the pod race. I like machado I know the numbers from machado had not been as good recently, but the advanced number is still pretty solid So I think that machado he also does benefit from having tautis back in the order So definitely think that machado is someone to turn to despite the fact he has been in a slump So vaude, how would you rate that rate the giants? Um I think that it's like you're looking for a way to be different without being stupid Which is the thing we were talking about before I do think that they are a good way to do so So I would say Pretty high Uh from if you're trying to be different simon, I think that they're decent I would say they're still below the course teams for me, but they're pretty high on my list for sure Um, simon also asked about the yankees yankees facing suarez again good at contact suppression But a low strike out rates that they're in play They're definitely below the giants for me below the dodgers and below the astros after the rockies team Alvin when picking the padres bats is it best to look for batters with low ground ball rates? I think that's a good rule in general nothing to do with the The pod rays or facing sense of tail. I think it's just a good rule in general because ground balls suck. They're terrible Um, I don't want any ground balls. They're hideous. So we go over here to the pod rays I think that your point is correct alvin and talking about it with relation to sense of tail Because he gets so many ground balls, but I think just as a broader point That's why fly ball rate is something that I have featured pretty prominently here Um, you know frasier is never a big power guy But most of the other guys do put the ball in the air fam is a pretty low fly ball rate, but he steals bases So although his fly ball rates lower. I still like it That's why I'd be lower in hozmer not as big a stolen base guy not a big fly ball guy So alvin in this specific scenario. Yes, but also more broadly. Yes as well Kyle any outfielders around $2,600 or lower the standout as a one-off. Okay, let's go over here and check out, uh, the outfielders Scroll down to $2,600 And I'm scrolling slow. Sorry A little delayed here my bad Austin Hayes facing flaming meh opt-in facing coal meh Um Haven't seen a raise lineup yet Occasionally brett philips plays he has weirdly good numbers against righties this year. So Uh, no raise lineup yet, but keep an eye on him. I could potentially consider him No to zimmer Daza could work. I know it's a pretty low situation. Uh, darin rough. I want to look into Played appearances for him because he's one of the guys who could leave early due to a pinch hitter Once the lefty is no longer in the game Let's look at uh rough and then look at the starts he has made And see how long he stays in the game For the games he does start. Let's go to the game log here once it pulls up Okay so He started there four three four five four three He actually does play pretty long in the game. So rough might work there Uh, still a little bit concerned given that he could leave the game early same thing with slater So keep that in mind for sure Uh, oh chasm acormic Um, I actually they're facing the lefty tomorrow not today But still I think that chasm acormic acormic has power versus righties and lefties. So I'd be fine with him as well I think you have a couple options down here And I think that those would be the main ones I would turn to uh, and you should be able to make that work for sure Uh salvator which mid tier value picture is the highest fly ball rates. I'll let you know Okay, so if we're looking at a mid tier picture, basically we're lopping off Cole and we're lopping off, uh, gosmin and montas highest fly ball rate in each guys most relevant sample griffin jacks and Uh, rich hill have the highest fly ball rates among the mid-range guys odoreezy is definitely up there too So those are the guys you would turn to if you're to maximize the fly balls They would say, uh, they would turn there erica saying he's in cleveland and storming bad right now oopsies Didn't do that. Let's go back over here And Let's check out the rain. Yeah, since natty looks like could have some rain I know that uh, I think dj had mentioned that before that's a rain spot So make sure you check out what kevin roth and roto grinder says about that game And that game that's the weather probably in since natty later on So I would check the weather in since natty if you want to stack that team Eric is asking for the thoughts in the dodgers Yes, I think that they do work facing steven brawl. He's been pretty good in his first two games back But the velocity is down pretty low Letting up a lot of hard contact not getting a ton of strike out. So the dodgers definitely work Didn't touch on them in a team that could overlook But I mean, you know, I think if people turn to the reds rockies and padres, they might So I think the Dodgers definitely work And I could see myself getting to them the problem is they're not going to save me any salary And I kind of want to save some salary If I'm not going with the Padres of the Rockies because I want to stack those teams a j pox under salary. So Definitely take a look at him Will Smith, I would guess won't play today. He's caught three straight games. So he'd probably sit I would think at some point Just not a lot of low salary guys here. That's the one downside with the Dodgers um Savon also asked about them Tim was asking Tim was asking for two teams to the money line I think we're going to lean Towards the a's there as being a team we could like and then Yeah, I think the a's at plus or actually uh, the a's are at Um minus 112. I think that that one works out pretty well a's of minus 112 is intriguing Uh, I don't want that I think I know that the Astra's A lot of matchup or you know pitching her to reese is not ideal But I think that minus 140 in the astros is actually pretty enticing too So let's see astros and the a's are the teams I would turn to there um Savon maybe the pitchers have been my problem I would get negative points to them because too many earned runs I'm gonna focus on those three pitchers that you said. Yeah, I think that at picture in general you do want to be You do want to make sure that you have a tight core because in general There aren't going to be a lot of pitches you actually want to use like look at these The the limited amount of green on this sheet. You've got coal on a pitch count You've got Toussaint in a good matchup. Definitely okay with that. You got Montas Gossman daughter's doing a bullpen game Brault Rough matchup like there aren't a lot of guys who actually want to use so I'm okay So I'm on having the three guys for tonight in my in my pool be Toussaint Uh being gossman and being Montas and excluding everyone else. You want to be tight there. It's more predictable So I'd say focus on a small number of pitchers and then differentiate more so with your stacks DJ is asking are the Dodgers a bullpen game? Yes, they are So don't use the Dodgers pitcher and their bullpen is pretty good pirates pretty bad So I'd say that's a stay away on both sides there Eric if you can get three hitters to hit home runs tonight, who would be your three? Fernando Tautis is one I'm gonna go Conor Joe too is like the fun one on the Rockies and then if we're gonna do a non-cours one A Non-cours hitter To hit a home run tonight. I like Austin Meadows facing Matt Harvey Harvey has been much better recently to his credit But I do think that we can still Use batters facing him, especially lefties lefties get a lot of fly balls a lot of hard contact against him so the official three home run picks for today for now the Tautis Conor Joe and Austin Meadows the three home run calls for today That is all that we have here on the fan duel live q&a for this monday But do not forget we are back once again tomorrow branding a doula has you covered for the northern trust at 330 I'll be on at 4 p.m. To talk mlb dfs Make sure you are subscribed to the fandom youtube twitch facebook or twitter page wherever you're watching hit subscribe And come back once again tomorrow as well If you have additional questions for me, I am on twitter at jim sonnis j i m s a n n e s big Thank you to joy aflech our video producer for running the video side of things here today Thank you joy as always and thank you everyone for tuning in good luck to you tonight. We'll talk to you once again tomorrow This has been the fan duel live q&a