 It's a slate tonight of MLB DFS where I actually kind of don't hate some of the value pitchers Which for me is a very weird spot to be in because if you are a longtime viewer, you know I don't tend to like the value pitchers that much because if they were good they'd have a high salary But I think for today we've got at least three exceptions who I truly don't mind you could be talking into fourth as well So let's dive on in and get you set for tonight's slate This is the FanDuel live Q&A right here on the FanDuel YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Twitter pages 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 As always no matter where you are watching you can get your questions in We'll take them via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Twitch no matter where you're watching you can get them in We'll take them live here on the air to get you set for tonight's slate As always make sure you're subscribed to the platform of choice, too And check out our heat check fantasy podcast and the solo shop which do stream live on YouTube each day Let's start things off on YouTube by talking to John. John says what about an angel's stack? The angels are not on the main slate for today So that is a pretty easy cross-off for them. They were playing earlier and I think Shohei Otani went deep So Otani like Homer number 41 or so If you were asking about the Dodgers meant to ask about them instead facing you Darvish coming up the IL But I still not super inclined there So it is an LA free day for me outside of Max Scherzer as a pitchers talk to DJ and Facebook thoughts on LEAs or Hernandez Miles Miclus and Brad Keller Hernandez hasn't looked as good this year to the last year a lot of strikeouts last year It's a good matchup in his two-stars back 82 and 68 pitches I would expect given all the injuries Hernandez to have a pretty low pitch count So that's a cross-off for him. Miclus has not looked good this coming back. He's gotten some strikeouts, but You know a lot of hard contact a lot of fly balls in that first game back So pretty low on him, but I do like Brad Keller Keller's facing the Mariners That's a bump up for him 26% strikeout rate for the Mariners versus righties this year based on their current active roster And Keller has been doing something fun because he is a pitcher who has a bad pitch that he's a lot That's a sinker, but as you can see here the usage on that sinker is getting lower In fact, it was the second lowest it has been all year in his most recent starts We look here over his past. Let's do his past six starts the sinker use in there 23% compared to 31% of the whole season. It's a bad pitch. He is Increasing his four simmer usage increasing his slider usage and that's a good thing because those are pitches that do get whiffs And in this time we want to expand this look at when he's had his sliders being up We're gonna see an increased strikeout right here 25% for Brad Keller and in these It starts he's had at least eight strikeouts three times. He had seven and one other So he also goes pretty deep in games. I like Brad Keller a pretty decent amount I think that among the value guys among the ones DJ listed he is definitely number one I think he's up there with Alex Wood and Zach Gallin Pushing for the top spot among the value plays and among the non-sherzer pitchers overall for tonight So DJ I do like Brad Keller a pretty decent amount. Savanna is asking about a Yankees stack for today Basin James Caprele in Caprele in Doesn't let up a ton of hard contact It's a revenge game if that matters for you Caprele in a former I believe he's drafted by the Yankees like maybe 15th overall somewhere on there either way a former Yankee at least in their system and He does let it fly balls doesn't get a ton of strikeouts We generally like that, but this game is in Oakland pretty big park factor downgrade for the Yankees So I think it's pretty neutral and Savanna also has been Oakland. I think that's actually a very similar situation Basin James and Tyone Tyone Let's up a lot of fly balls some more to Caprele in some more strikeout rates and we're still interactive VRA They're very similar across the board if I had to stack one of these two teams I'd probably give the edge to Oakland just because they're not getting the park factor downgrade therefore, they're probably not going to be as Oversalaryed as the Yankees are not super anxious to get to either one But I wouldn't at least consider them preferring the Yankee or the athletics over the Yankees Savanna is asking about you say Kikuchi as a pitcher I said that there were three value plays I liked Kikuchi was the one the fourth one you could talk me into facing the Royals They're not a great offense, but they're also not a high strikeout offense And that's why I wasn't super high on Kikuchi initially and that's why I wanted to go with Keller Gallin and wood over him, but again He's a pretty good overall pitcher has had a couple of huge many walks recently The Royals not a big force good park factor for tonight So I think that he's a consideration savon He's not at the top of my list among the value plays, but I do think he is at least worth considering I probably won't get there, but if your process led you there, I think that is okay Let's talk to Andrew over on YouTube. What is your favorite under the radar stack for tournaments for tonight? Okay, I like this question. So The stacks I like overall would be I like the I like Cleveland a lot. I like The Red Sox pretty decent amount. I like the Cardinals pretty decent amount, too I think one that's probably gonna go a bit overlooked is the Giants they're facing Carlos Carrasco and Carrasco's advanced numbers are pretty good, but the results have not been and You know the peripherals although good are not great. We know the Giants are a very good team I was on them last night. It did not work out Maybe there were some other people who may have gotten burned as well So I think if you're looking for it under the radar stack Andrew I would say the Giants are a team to consider there because I wouldn't expect a lot of people to be on them for tonight Good question now. Let's talk to Salvatore. I lost on pitchers today. Not sure where to go that's probably because like Like sure as there's like the one dude you feel good about Chris sale low pitch count We're not gonna feel good about that. I think it might be more of an innings count than a pitch count He's gone five innings both times Probably in part because they had big leads both times, but there's only a five run lead the second time He's at 70 pitches if he weren't on an innings limit I would have expected him to go back out there and he didn't so sale gets downgraded for me quite a bit as a result of Just the concerns around the length there So that's why it's hard for me to consider sale. Sherser is good and I like Sherser But he's facing the Padres and I understand if you don't want to go there because the Padres are a tough matchup They're not the best offense right now, and they definitely struggle, but they don't strike out a whole lot a 21% strikeout rate I'm fine using Sherser, but he's not as like no brainer number one as he usually would be So that's the reason why I would agree with you Salvatore that it's a tough slate of pitcher for sure I think that that Sherser is still one. I put Alex wood to Good overall pitcher facing the Mets whose offense is struggling right now Going deep enough in games right now to feel good about him I do like Gallon against the Phillies a lot of strikeouts recently the Phillies not a big force versus righties Temperature there is a little bit scary. That's why I do like Brad Keller too against the Mariners So I would say the four guys I'm most into our Sherser Gallon wood and Keller, but I understand Salvatore why it's conflicting and it is tough to find something You really feel good about for today Let's talk to Kyle target st. Louis or targets for a st. Louis stack is newt bar usable for value I try not to use Lars because he doesn't tend to have a lot of upside. Let's see if the lineup is out here for st. Louis and It is not yet I would first say Lars is not a lock to play for them because he's kind of in and out there Even against right. He's not always locked But just to kind of a low upside guy who I don't tend to use I think st. Louis is interesting today and I do have them in my top four stacks. The reason I'm not like falling over myself to use them is that Keller did just see them last week. He shut them down. He changed up his pitch mix a bit Trying to lean more in as good pitches and less on his bad ones. So That's why I'm not like slobbering over them, but they do work So if we're looking at targets within a stack here Tyler O'Neill is banged up So not sure if he'll be able to play but if he does O'Neill is the guy I feel good or best about on this team great bad at ball data and swipes and bags does strike out But also who cares so I think that O'Neill would be number one for me followed by Aronato followed by Goldschmidt Dylan Carlson gets bumped up here because we do see Keller let up a lot more a lot More impactful contact to lefties Carlson a switch hitter So he goes there or he gets bumped up there So it would be O'Neill Aronato Goldschmidt Carlson as the rankings there And then you're kind of seeing what breaks elsewhere So hopefully the lineup does come in before we close up for today, but overall at new bar. I'm not really anxious to get there I know that the numbers for him early on are decent against righties with a 220 ISO but the minor league number is pretty bad. So I'm skeptical. He keeps that That that good ISO up so Vaughn any sticks get stacks the operator downgraded not yet Do kind of want to see what the Line-up looks like for st. Louis because that I think they could move They're the team I'm most willing to use I'd probably be moving them down if anything But they're the team I'm most willing to shift around there. So Vaughn is asking about a goldschmidt home run Yeah, I think that that that could work. He's not the most likely guy would send the team probably Aronato over him or O'Neill, but I Think O'Neill actually if we're gonna go with the Cardinals guy Give me O'Neill if he plays who's getting he is banged up Salvatore says I like Seattle They're facing Keller again who I like as a pitcher for today But he's not like infallible by any means reason. I would be down on stacking against him is The the Mariners not the best offense 92 WRC plus pretty rough park factor Keller gets some ground balls So that's that's the reason I wouldn't be going there personally And as part of the reason why I do like Keller as a pitcher as well Let's talk to you blizz on Facebook most lopsided matchup for tonight I would say it's probably if we're talking about like in terms of wins Probably It's a good question. I Mean it's probably the the Red Sox of the Twins if we're talking about lopsided in terms of wins lopsided in terms of like matchup for Daily fantasy, I think wood against the Mets is probably a pretty good one in terms of Favoring the pitcher gallon versus the Phillies Keller against the Mariners not a ton of lopsided ones We're talking about like the win. I would say the Red Sox today are going to be number one on that list Washington or a savannah asking is Washington a secondary stack Facing Hernandez, I know I was saying I wasn't super jazzed to use him But he was pretty good last year and he's looked okay. It is too certain to be back So Washington also pretty bad offense. So not seeking out Washington myself Let's talk to Kenneth. I'm thinking about going to Minnesota stack But then that lineup came out besides the socks. Who do you like? I would not stack Minnesota sales been awesome since he came back 33% strikeout ray 2.43 skill interactive. Yeah, Ray I know the Red Sox bullpen has been struggling recently But that's not quite enough for me to be fully interested there besides the Red Sox I do like Cleveland a lot facing Jordan Liles think that they're in a great spot like the Cardinals And I also like the Giants the Giants are strictly for tournaments only It's a riskier spot to go to because Tarasco can show up at times But they would be number four for me So outside of the Red Sox give me Cleveland give me St. Louis and give me the Giants Savon best picture and stacks for single entry Picture for single entry. I might actually go Brad Keller I feel like no one's gonna use him because people kind of want to stack against him. I don't think people Care that he's gotten better recently, which might be fair I like going on a limbs for single entry. So I think that for me it might be Brad Keller If not probably Scherzer, I think Keller and Scherzer are the top two guys for me in terms of single entry for today As far as stacks go, I probably avoid the Red Sox So Cleveland and the Cardinals probably my favorite options for a single entry for today Just lop off the most popular team, which will be the Red Sox. So for single entry like Keller I like the Cardinals and I like Cleveland Let's talk to Kenneth Scherzer should have a longer leash since the bullpen was taxed last night He tends to have a pretty long leash anyway So yeah, I think that I would agree with that as well when 103 pitches last time out 109 a couple stars before that So I think that that's a Correct intuition by you there Kenneth John. How would you stack Boston tonight? I'm gonna rank the lefties higher here because John Gantt is someone who doesn't get as many ground balls versus lefties as he does versus righties No Red Sox lineup out yet, but Schwerber is number one. Oh, Devers. Let's go Schwerber one Devers, too If I'm considering salary I might put Alex Erdogan up there just because He does save you a lot relative to other guys at $3,100. So to me, let's go with Schwerber one Devers, too And I might I might just go for do go number three just because the salary savings are so nice there So let's go for do go three and then among the other options among the righties I've been using mostly JD Martinez recently. I don't I think I constantly under raid Xander Bogarts I don't give him as being a big power hitter, but like he does say for power a 218 ISO versus righties So maybe I'm too low on him. That's possible, but I'll say Martinez then Bogarts and then Kike Hernandez after that So I think that the lefties are what who you want to bump up for today for the Red Sox Hopefully their lineup does come out before we close up for today Dita says I've had the good luck lately with Ernie Clement Would you put him in your lineup for tonight's game in a Cleveland stack? Is he batting seventh again? No lineup yet for Cleveland. Let's go over here and check out their numbers versus righties The guy I feel best about in Cleveland. He was not like a quote-unquote stud is Daniel Johnson He might not play cuz he's kind of like a part-time dude, but He had a lot of power in triple A said some dingers already in the big league So I like Daniel Johnson a lot Clement 79 played appearances 0 56 ISO. That's not enough for me Not a lot of hard contact so I passed there But I do like Daniel Johnson in terms of a salary saver on Cleveland for tonight Michael says the St. Louis lineup is out and there's no O'Neill once again That is a bummer because again, he is my the guy I am most excited to use in that team New bars batting sixth kind of annoying there too. So I would say ranking the Cardinals Let's go Aronato Goldschmidt Carlson Chuck check out Yadir Molina and Tommy Edmond here. Edmond is a guy I'd prefer versus lefties instead of righties. I know it does take away some of the stolen base upside, but It's from a bad at ball perspective. He's not very good against Righties Edmond. Yeah. Oh 88 ISO pretty underwhelming Molina 095 ISO Let's take a deeper look here at mr. Newt bar to see if we actually want to use him here So I I might just be holding on to this prior where I looked at his his minor league numbers that there wasn't a lot of Power there and kind of refused to change my tune 188 ISO is actually not terrible, but just a 3.7 percent barrel rate so far in the majors 37% our hit rate 34% fly ball rates His x-wobas lower than his actual Woba Yeah, that's that's not I don't know. I'm not super Jazz about using him. So he might wind up being fourth by default, but it's not because I'm actively seeking him out there Edmundo Sosa 101 ISO Bader batting pretty low in the order. So I'm going to move the cardinals down based on this lineup I would say we're gonna go red sox one will go Cleveland two Giants three cardinals four based on that lineup. That is annoying Jerry what players are? Are we thinking will be popular for today? I'm guessing to be all the red sox. Let's pull up the Heat map over here at number fire, which will show the implied totals And it'll show that the red socks have a massive massive implied total So Jerry if you're trying to avoid the chalk for tonight, I would say The red sox are going to be that team 617 implied total whereas things get pretty flat after that. So yeah, I think that If you're looking to avoid the chalk Jerry avoid the red sox for today Kyle a one-off position player at 2.9 a thousand dollars or lower. Okay, let's go over here Let's go to utilities scroll down to 2900 dollars Try to think of teams that I would be Looking towards here with guys around this range Potentially one of the Giants guys No, no, no, no, no No No Let's see here. Who is? Washington starting Patrick Corbin. So that means we get haste is Aguilar against the lefty That's that could be worse. There are Stupider plays I've made before Could talk me into that Lowe is facing a lefty. I'm not super jazzed about that. Herrera is facing Gallin Guided Hernandez facing Hernandez. Ooh, Ellie Acer. Oh, so lefty or uh, Hernandez on Hernandez match up there Victor Robles Yeah, this is not It's pretty grim right in on right around 2900 dollars. So I feel like maybe Alex Dickerson. I know he does occasionally leave pretty early for a pinch hitter. So there is a definite risk in using him, but I don't mind him So I guess if we're looking around here, it might wind up being haste is Aguilar just because He's got some power facing Corbin. Corbin has had a pretty rough year Also, there's some buzz around Corbin on the twitter streets today. So it's possible Corbin winds up being on some roster so um Yeah, let's go haste is Aguilar there Kyle. Let's do that DJ thoughts on a Mets Phillies royal stack with Corbin pitching. Do not like Corbin pitching Maybe that's where I saw the buzz there. Just not enough strikeouts. I know the matchup is great It's tremendous But like he's just been really rough a 20 strikeout rate in the past seven certain since Zavila went back up That's rough. I'd rather go for value elsewhere. Uh, savon. What does ISO mean? What does WRC plus mean ISO is isolated slugging? So it is Your slugging percentage minus your batting average. Basically, it's how how much power do you hit for and we want to maximize that number So we want guys you get for power because Like we don't care about a single singles are bad for daily fantasy even though not actively bad, but they're not helpful either So we want to maximize power Which means we want to maximize ISO like 200 or so is a really good ISO or it's a good ISO That's where you want to live in for DFS and like if you can get a guy like a 300 ISO for DFS pretty sweet WRC plus is weighted runs created plus which is something that Counts their park factor. It accounts for what you expect for the league average. So like a WRC plus of 100 is exactly the average WRC plus of 150 is like 50 percent above average A WRC plus of 50 is like 50 below or 50 percent below league average so You want to maximize WRC plus and ISO I care more about ISO because WRC plus accounts for like walks and stuff like that and walks like singles not the best for DFS I want to maximize power. So for me, it's ISO over WRC plus and ISO does stabilize more quickly as well Let's talk to morgan over on facebook. Do you look at uh, whoopsie I scroll past it Do you look at single entry close to cash play? No, um, I don't personally because I'm still trying to Like for every tournament lineup. I want to win because that's the way the payout structure skews is is You want to put yourself in position? To get that top prize if I if I don't cash a single entry It's fine And I think that people do have more of a cash ask mindset for single entry because like, okay I've got one lineup. I don't want to miss out on player x whereas for me. I don't I don't mind missing out So that's why like brad keller for single entry. He doesn't have a good floor could go very poorly But that's okay. I'm very okay having a bad lineup So for me it very much skews tournament For a single entry and I'm hoping people play things more conservatively when they are playing that format Good question though. We're gonna like that one savon. Uh, best value pick is a batter again. I like daniel johnson I haven't seen the Cleveland lineup yet. Uh, if it is out if he's not in there. Oh, well, I'll be sad later Not out yet. Uh, so Don't know that. Oh, tell me listella's baton second for the giants He does tend to stay in the game for the entire time I'm guessing brandon belz probably going on the bereavement list, which is probably why he's not in there right now I do like listella though when we're flores actually underrated against righties, I would say So I like flores dickerson works, but I'd rank both flores and listella above dickerson So listella flores both pretty good value plays there and then daniel johnson on cleveland The guys I would highlight in terms of that rude name is asking for the best value on cleveland ramos zimmer chong Uh Ramos and chong might not play a chong tends to be more in there versus lefties They're facing a righty tonight. They face like 17 000 lefties in a row So he's been in there a bunch, but Again, I think that daniel johnson's the best value play if he winds up being in there Uh salvator dodgers does the padres bullpen play a factor? Since the game went 16 innings last night, so they're facing darvish and um, let's see here darvish Probably going to be around 75 pitches giving this coming off the il. I know they may ask them to go longer just because You know what you mentioned where the bullpen was pretty taxed last night, but it's still you darvish So not really into the dodgers personally savon. I don't really like st. Louis when I stack them Uh, they don't give me enough points sometimes might use them as a one-off But I think I'm gonna do cleveland plus the giants in a sprinkle of boston or new york Yeah, I mean, I think they do get downgraded to savon with the uh with no o'neill in there So I think that's a fair assessment to make Uh, let's talk to dj jerry winters. I'll look at mariefields on fire. Okay, um savon How would you stack the giants? Okay, and michael did put the giants in there as well Uh, if I'm looking at stacking the giants, I'm gonna go Crawford one wade two brine three I probably want to go don't want to go flores or listella Probably going to go wilmer flores over listella here. Let's pull up the giants lineup Just make sure i'm not crossing off listella too early. I don't think his iso is super high so far so Um, I think I'll be okay putting him behind flores flores a 221 iso versus righties. That's pretty sweet So I will go with flores Yastremsky's kind of high salaried, which is annoying, I guess, um Given that he's been hitting lower in the order, but still his good numbers overall, so Yeah, let's go with crawford wade bryant And then we'll go with Uh wilmer flores. I think I said it was next in terms of that stack. Yeah wilmer flores Dickerson listella yastremsky the ranking for the giants for today savannah asking if we're going to get a Javier Baez homerun Facing alex wood wood gets a lot of ground balls. So I would not be betting on that one there. Mitch hannigar homerun for salvator I get basic brad keller another big, uh ground ball guy. So I would not be super enthused about a Uh hannigar homerun either savannah asking if Philly is under the radar. They They have a high implied total higher than I would think it would be And I like gallant as a pitcher. He's pretty good. So I would say no They're personally let's talk to Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do um Let's talk to twitch. Uh, we got nearly eight ever over on twitch. Um, yeah So it's saying that brand of belt is not in the lineup for the giants tonight again I think it's grandma passed away like two nights ago So likely on the bereavement list, which you know, he should be so uh, hopefully Things going well for Brandon belt and uh, you can get back soon because we do like Brandon belt as always Let's talk to jerry. Why do it? Why is the bottom of the lineup that produces the most points in games? Your players are supposed to produce jerry. I understand your tilt. I've been there before it is so frustrating Like you have a stack where they score 10 runs and you get nothing out of it because the bottom of the order comes through It happens baseball is a high variant sport. It doesn't make it less frustrating though. I feel your pain DJ, how would you rank hobby or bias? We're swinging lv history last night compared to his running play earlier this season in Pittsburgh Uh, are you talking about the one where he had like that amazing play where he Made the the pirates like go Just like absolutely not so, uh, I think that's the one you're probably referring to which was awesome Javi is never boring is the way I would phrase that always exciting. Uh, let's talk to jerry and facebook How do you think wood will do? I think he'll do pretty well jerry I think that uh, I've got pretty high expectations For him here. He is pitch count got back up to 96 last time out The nets as alluded to with the hobby or bias question not swinging the best sticks right now 24 strikeout right. I think wood will do pretty well. I think it's a safe play Decently high upside. I've got him number two behind cherser. So jerry. I do like him for tonight DJ thoughts on jordan liles for tonight. He does go deep in games he's The way I'd view jordan liles is like as a sacrificial lamb They're kind of just having having me to eat innings even when he's bad So he'll get you six innings but he also might have six earn runs and Each earn run is the same amount as as one inning So if you go six innings, that's with six earn runs at zero points there Kind of leaning just on a strikeout So I would avoid despite the fact that he goes deep in games But in general dj does good look good to look at uh, how deep guys go All right, dj's home run call is dylan carlson like that one again. He does get bumped up here because of Uh, because of the platoon splits for mitch keller. So into it. I like it nearly eight ever over on twitch Hunter ren fro his place in the bereavement list. So he is not in the lineup for today for boston Let's see if the lineup is out yet Might be given that we know the ren fro news now And it's not quite yet So yeah, keeping the same rankings for the red sox there because he was not as high for me either way diffuse scherzer for cash It's a good question diffuse I think it depends on what you want to do like I would feel pretty good trying to get to the red sox for cash games In which case I would go wood. I think wood's an option for cash games But probably a situation where I don't want to overthink it and go scherzer. So I would say either scherzer plus cleveland Or wood plus a red sox cleveland stack there Leaning right now towards scherzer because that's the way I tend to play things for cash games But I would not talk you out of wood if you wanted to go there for cash games instead Ah savon interested in any pittsburgh versus arizona bats. Uh pittsburgh is let's see here Facing miles nicholas Nicholas didn't look great in his first game back. So it's not like a terrible idea I just don't like using any of the guys on pittsburgh. So that's the main drawback for me If you like any pittsburgh uh batters, you know, yeah, I could see it but uh for for me not as in there savon also asked to repeat uh the Um order of the value starting pitchers Uh, so again for me that the order is wood one keller two Gallon three Then if you want to talk yourself into kukuchi, I think that's okay. Um, I can definitely get behind that I probably won't get there myself, but I understand it Jerry's homerun calls are schwerber and rays. I think both those are great jerry. Uh, from meal rays was My uh boring homerun call on the solo shot this morning So, uh, I'm on board with that one The fun one was daniel johnson if he's in line up for for cleveland for today Schwerber was the homerun call yesterday finally got his first dinger with the red sock So I like both those for you jerry dj says effins on a pitch count. Yeah, he went like 31 In his first rehab start So I'd probably project efflin around like 50 or so pitches for tonight and that's not enough for dfs. So If you were considering zack efflin, I would avoid that for sure dj says that uh, gregory polanco back with pittsburgh and He is batting six for today still don't really want to go there but uh You know, I see him back. It's been a bummer to see the career trajectory there and hopefully he can turn things around Pretty soon That is all that we have here for today on the fan duo live q&a, but do not fret We are back once again tomorrow to break down a full 15 gain slate if you want to sneak peak at the pitchers for tomorrow actually a lot of situations that are not decided yet so um But there's your sneak peak at tomorrow should be a pretty fun one erin nola against diamond backs Should be a lot of fun salvator says see you in the top five salvator Good luck and your luck to the rest of you as well If you have questions for me. I am on twitter at jim sanis j i m s a n n e s big Thank you to joy athlec for 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 to you tonight We'll talk to you once again tomorrow. This has been the fan duo live q&a