FanDuel: SB Nation One Day Fantasy Leagues
Many of you play in season-long leagues, while more and more of you are playing one day fantasy leagues. If you like the action of the one day leagues, make sure you join the FanDuel/SB Nation one day fantasy baseball leagues. All you need to do is click on the link below and join a league.
FanDuel/SB Nation One Day Fantasy League
- Leagues start at 7pm every evening
- It is only $5 to enter, and the top 4,378 win cash
- Top prize of $10,000
- Click the link above to learn more and get started
- On most days, our own Tim Finnegan (@TimFinn521 on Twitter) offers his picks for your daily FanDuel rosters. His articles post at 6am daily.
Todd Frazier: #1 Fantasy Third Baseman?
Coming into the season, I felt that Reds third baseman Todd Frazier would hit for power but would not duplicate his 20 stolen base season from 2014. After hitting 29 home runs and stealing 20 bases last season, Frazier is on pace to at least exceed his 2014 home run total, and is on pace to steal 19 bases after yesterday's performance vs the Cubs. Frazier went 2-5 with a home run, 3 runs scored, 2 RBI and a stolen base in the Reds 5-4 win, and is now hitting .290-.358-.606 with 18 home runs, 44 runs scored, 39 RBI and 7 stolen bases.
Frazier has season five multi-hit games over his last ten games, raising his batting average from .271 to .290. Frazier is hitting more fly balls this season, 47% vs 37% last season, and more of those fly balls are leaving the ball park. He is making more hard contact, as 43% of his batted balls are of the hard variety vs 34% last season, according to FanGraphs HARD%.
Frazier loves playing at Great American Ball Park, as he is hitting .366-.438-.795 with 12 home runs, 28 runs scored and 26 RBI in just 112 at bats at home this season. Pretty amazing. He is, however, struggling on the road, hitting just .218-.279-.429 with 6 home runs, 16 runs scored and 13 RBI in 119 at bats away from GABP.
According to ESPN, Frazier is on pace to hit 49 home runs, score 119 runs, drive in 105 runs and steal 19 bases this season, and should battle Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson as the number one fantasy third baseman in 2015.
For more on Frazier and the Reds, make sure you check out Red Reporter, SB Nation's Reds fan site.
Roto Roundup
After making 60 starts in 2010 and 2011, Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia has made just 36 starts over the last three seasons due to several shoulder injuries. With that said, expecting him to pitch well this season was a long shot. Well, long shots come in from time to time, and Garcia has stepped up and pitched like an ace in his five starts this season. Last night was no different as he hurled eight shutout innings vs the Royals, giving up just four hits, walking none and striking out six in the Cardinals 4-0 win. Garcia is now 2-3 with a 2.06 ERA, 2.90 FIP, 2.92 xFIP, a 0.89 WHIP and a 24-5 strikeout to walk rate in 35 innings. He has given up two runs or less in four of his five starts thus far. With Adam Wainwright out for the season, and Lance Lynn landing on the disabled list yesterday, the Cardinals will need Garcia to continue to pitch well heading into the heat of the pennant races. Garcia is owned in just 41% of leagues right now and that is just too low for such a quality starter.
Another starter who is under-owned in leagues is Diamondbacks starter Chase Anderson, and last night he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning vs the Giants in San Francisco. He did give up a hit, and left after tossing 7 shut out innings, giving up just the one hit, walking one and striking out 2 in the Diamondbacks 1-0 win. Anderson is now 2-1 with a 2.82 ERA, 3.19 FIP, 4.00 xFIP, a 1.13 WHIP and a 49016 strikeout to walk rate in 73.1 innings. Anderson has given up two runs or less in nine of his twelve starts this season, proving that a pitchers win-loss record is pretty much meaningless.
There were plenty of excellent pitchers on the bump last night, and David Price was one of them and he did not disappoint. Price is a few months from free agency and he doing what he can to maximize the huge offers he is expected to receive come November and December. Last night, Price tossed his second consecutive complete game, shutting out the Indians on 7 hits, no walks and 8 strikeouts in the Tigers 4-0 win. The win moved his record to 6-2 with a 2.44 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 3.62 xFIP, a 1.12 WHIP and a 82-20 strikeout to walk rate in 92.1 innings. Price has dominated over his last four starts, giving up just three earned runs in 32.2 innings, with a 28-7 strikeout to walk rate.
I would love to know what the odds were on the Mariners vs the Astros last night with ace Felix Hernandez on the mound. I am not a betting man, I used to dabble, but one would have to think he was at least a 2-1 or 3-1 favorite to beat the Astros last night. Whoever put money on the Astros last night were big winners as King Felix couldn't make it out of the first inning, giving up 8 runs on 5 hits, two of which were dongs, 2 walks and a strikeout in just a third of an inning in what was probably the worst start of his career. He is now 9-3 with a 3.38 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and a 82-25 strikeout to walk rate in 82.2 innings. He has given up 16 earned runs over his last three starts, covering just 12 innings, raising his ERA from 1.91 to 3.38. I doubt there is anything to be concerned about, but would take note if he puts up another disaster start in his next outing.
After announcing that 2015 will be his last season in baseball, Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez appears like he has already packed his bags and is ready for retirement. But, last night, he offered us a glimpse of the type of hitter he used to be, as he went 3-4 with 3 doubles and 5 RBI in the Brewers 8-5 win over Jordan Zimmermann and the Nationals. The career .284 hitter is hitting just .223-.263-.406 with 7 home runs, 14 runs scored and 24 RBI in 51 games this season. In his 16 major league seasons, he has hit 376 home runs and driven in over 1,300 runs. He is not a Hall of Famer, but he was very productive when healthy, hitting 25 or more home runs in 10 of his 16 seasons.
Fantasy Rundown
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