Another Sunday edition of the Dongers Club, as we set lineups while the Brunch game between the Yankees and Reds is going on in Cincinnati, which I am sure will find a way to make it into extra innings as all those Sunday Brunch games seem to do.
DraftKings has kept the Mets and Guardians on the slate. They are playing a double header with the second game being the Sunday Night Baseball night capper. New York suddenly turned on their “lets win the pennant before Memorial Day” fever sparked by the young kids delivering clutch hits and Pete Alonso humping everything in sight. Now they get a double header with Max and Verlander both pitching? Yeah, if you wanna bet the Guardians go right ahead my friends, but the Mets are winning both these games today.
All in all this is a big Sunday slate, with 11 games on the docket and some quality depth among the names taking the mound today. Lots to break down, so lets get this show on the road.
WEATHER
No concerns, great day.
TOP ARM
Framber Valdez (DK: $10.8k, FD: $11.2k) … The only knock I have on Valdez is that he generally is about ~10% worse at home and thus might not get a 40 today. Uhh, okay, so what’s the problem exactly? Valdez gets an Oakland team who is really bad against southpaw sinkers, ranking 28th overall this season and is probably the chalky option who I just can’t imagine won’t come through with a good enough score. The downside is maybe he walks too many guys, the upside is that he flirts with a no-hitter.
SP2 OPTIONS
Josiah Gray (DK: $8000, FD: $9200) … Getting someone with high whiff potential against Detroit sounds too good to be true, and honestly maybe it is but lets dive on in shall we. Gray is following very similarly to the path of Triston McKenzie for the Guardians, a young prospect who came up with some nasty stuff very early but had his fair share of struggles before settling in when the expectations were low. I believe we could see a strong second have surge from Josiah which is based on the fact that he’s getting the ball for 90-100 pitches every time out and limiting damage with favorable CSW% rates and avoiding a blow up inning. Detroit’s got lots of ways for him to get out of trouble today.
Expected SP2 Chalk …
I would expect that the most commonly wrote up SP2 options today will include Andrew Heaney (vs COL) & Lance Lynn (vs KC). Heaney is basically the LH version of Gray today. Facing a bad offense who has 2 to 3 bats with HR upside but at any point going through the lineup could roll out 4 to 5 strikeouts consecutively. Lynn has going the distance potential against a cold KC lineup all of the sudden but the 1-4 part of the lineup should hit him well today.
SUNDAY SLEEPER
George Kirby (DK: $8700, FD: $10k) … There’s a sleeper on this Sunday out there, you got 11 games and lots of good options who will get overlooked. I would suspect we don’t see the Braves doing much offensively against Kirby and his PC will definitely stay low as he continues to pound the zone and Atlanta is going to be free swinging. Riley is cold and so he’s just gotta manage Olson and … no, Eddie Rosario sucks, that’s not a concern. This game and the one in Philly look like “good ballpark, high scoring games” but they’re not. They’re both over in 2 hours and I’ll take Kirby out of the 4 options between those two games for our … Sunday Sleeper.
OTHER PITCHING NOTES
Clayton Kershaw … He dominated the Cardinals a few weeks back, should be able to get through them well today, but Kershaw in St. Louis always gives me the willies and I just can’t see a dominant vintage Kershaw spot.
Taijuan Walker … I like him for similar reasons to Nola yesterday, but we’ve done the Walker experience on a Sunday already this season. We’re good, you already ate the buffet, do not go back for another.
NO. DONT DO IT.
Friends dont let friends stack the White Sox. Cross it off.
If you want to stack a ‘top team’ it would be Houston for sure, but this is a rare pay up for SP Sunday, with plenty of cheap one offs to build around today. I don’t envision this being a major stack Sunday.
CHEAP STACKS
If you are ‘stacking’ today, you are likely forced into a position to find a cheap stack because paying for both SP is expected unless you roll some combination of 7k guys and pray for lots above them to fall. So here the best 3 to 4 man cheap combinations today.
- Nationals (Lane Thomas, Joey Meneses, Keibert Ruiz)
- Mariners (JP Crawford, Ty France, Teoscar Hernandez)
- Royals (Pasquantino, Melendez, Massey)
PAY UP TEAMS
- Blue Jays (Matt Chapman, George Springer, Daulton Varsho, Bo Bichette, Whit Merrifield) … The Orioles have a very strong 8-9 part of their pen, but those guys are overworked right now and if Kremer falls apart this could turn into a spot where Baltimore burns the bad part to get through the game. Matt Chapman is either gonna whiff or hit a HR in his first PA, if the damage comes then we’ll get a Springer dinger too. Toronto has 4 HR upside today
- Dodgers
CATCHER
- Salvador Perez
- Keibert Ruiz
- Will Smith
- Tom Murphy
FIRST BASE
This is a gold mine today, and by gold mine I mean you should not have to spend much to get quality production at 1B today. My lord, if I see (VLAD/FREEMAN) wrote up by some people today then just shoot them unless they’re also telling you to play Joey Wentz and … well , you get the idea. Pay down at 1B.
- Ty France
- Vinnie Pasquantino
- Joey Meneses
- Andrew Vaughn
SECOND BASE
- Jeff McNeil
- Miguel Vargas
- Whit Merrifield
THIRD BASE
- Matt Chapman
- Gunnar Henderson
- Jose Ramirez (DK)
SHORTSTOP
I have major Matt Adams/Chris Owings vibes at this spot today and it’s pissing me off because I almost justified using the son of a ***** I am thinking of.
That would be Tim Anderson for those of you keeping score at home has as many home runs on the season as you and me. That would be zero. In fact, the guy is basically just collecting a paycheck until the White Sox trade him away to somewhere else as he just fucks up in the field defensively, doesn’t really run hard and the last time he had an extra base hit was back on Saturday…. Saturday the 8th…. Saturday the 8th of APRIL! And that shit came against the Pirates for Christ sake. In fact, if you just remove the first 10 days of the season, Tim Anderson has as man strikeouts as he does hits. He sucks my friends. And you know where he is from? He’s from Tuscaloosa, which if you read it slowly sounds like, Fucking Loser. This guy sucks, he shouldn’t be $4600 to roster him. He should save you $4600 for picking him. Have fun using him just because the White Sox have some mythical Team Total horse shit.
Play someone who doesn’t suck please
- Francisco Lindor
- Trea Turner
- Willy Adames
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Luis Robert Jr
- Kyle Tucker
- Corbin Carroll … Great play on FD, 5400 on DK is tough to stomach as an island play from Arizona.
- Adolis Garcia
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Kris Bryant
- George Springer
- Daulton Varsho
OUTFIELD – Value
- Lane Thomas
- Chas McCormick
- Teoscar Hernandez
- MJ Melendez
- Matt Chapman – 3B – Blue Jays – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Vinnie Pasquantino – 1B – Royals
- Adolis Garcia – OF – Rangers
- Corbin Carroll – OF – Diamondbacks
- Chas McCormick – OF – Astros
- Keibert Ruiz – C – Nationals
- Willy Adames – SS – Brewers
- Miguel Vargas – 2B – Dodgers
- BONUS …………………… Trea Turner – SS – Phillies
TODAY’S TOP BET(s)
K Props
- Valdez over 6.5
- Kirby over 4.5
- Gray over 5.5
Batter Props
- Lane Thomas over 1.5 Total Bases (+100)
- Yordan Alvarez over 1.5 Total Bases (+100)
Best Dog ML:
- Royals +150
- Mariners +100
Best Totals:
- Cubs/Phillies under 9
- Orioles/Jays over 8.5