Investing & Maybe Fantasy Baseball

Blue Jays at Yankees

I didn’t see a problem with Masahiro Tanaka’s stuff. In the first two innings he was throwing all four of pitches for strikes and he threw them any time in the count. Much has been made about the decrease in fastball velocity (he was sitting 90 mph compared to 92-93 this time last year), but his biggest problem was command as he left some fastballs in the middle of the plate. If he’s going to sit 90 then his command will have to improve. If you own him you have to hold onto him.

Tanaka is getting all the headlines, but Drew Hutchison was the story. In the offseason I projected 200 strikeouts because of how dominant he looked last year after he changed the grip of the slider. He was staked to a five run lead after three innings and he pitched appropriately. He threw a ton of strikes (56 of 92 pitches were strikes) and went right after hitters. The slider looked almost as good as last September. Needless to say, if he’s available in your league then go get him.

Other Notes

Both Jim Johnson and Jason Grilli had perfect outings, but Johnson was the far better pitcher. Again, it’s only one outing, but Grilli was leaving fastballs up and in the middle of the zone, which will eventually get punished by hitters. Grilli may have a relatively long leash because he was successful in his first attempt, but if I were a betting man I would say he’s not the closer at the end of April.

It looks like the Mets do not want to use Jeurys Familia in closing situations. Buddy Carlyle got the two out save because Jenrry Mejia was unavailable due to elbow soreness. My best guess is Carlyle gets the next save chance if Mejia is hurt, but you never know what the Mets are going to do. Long term you should own Bobby Parnell because he gets the job once he’s back on the Major League roster.

Mike Moustakas hit in the two hole, which is something to monitor if you’re deep mixed leagues. Moustakas had a good post season and Spring Training so maybe the Royals know something we do not. However, despite his good numbers I’m still not buying in.

I finally gave in and I’m going to give daily fantasy sports (DFS) a shot this year. This is my first year playing so there will be bumps in the road, but if you read my fantasy guide you know I am going to be overly prepared before I do something.

I’m playing at Draft Kings so all of my analysis and picks will be based on their scoring system.

My Strategy

To maximize your scoring potential you need to find pitchers who throw a lot of innings, strikeout a lot of batters and have a good chance for a win. Since you also lose points for hitters reaching base (hits, walks, hits batsmen) you want to avoid high strikeout, high walk pitchers (Francisco Liriano for example). Also, if they’re walking a lot of batters their pitch counts will be high, which means they won’t pitch deep into games.

With hitters you want players who will hit for extra bases because the scoring increases progressively for extra base hit type. Also, there are no penalties for hitters making outs so you can draft a Mike Zunino and not worry so much if he goes 0-4 with three strikeouts. Power is emphasized in the scoring so it’s imperative to find players who are going to hit home runs and make hard contact.

Speed is another way to find easy points at a low cost, but you want to make sure you grab players who have a high stolen base success rate because you lost points for every caught stealing.

Last Note

This is the most obvious thing, but it has to be said. You are responsible for your own lineup. It is your decision to play or not play a specific player or in general. I’m giving the best analysis I can and if you agree then, that’s great. I’m going to be wrong sometimes. In fact I’ll probably be wrong a lot because like I said at the start I am a beginner there’s going to be a learning curve.

My Lineup

• P: Corey Kluber (CLE) vs. D. Keuchel (HOU) — $9,800
• P: Hidden
• C: Yan Gomes (CLE) vs. D. Keuchel (HOU) — $4,100
• 1B: Ike Davis (OAK) vs. Y. Gallardo (TEX) — $3,500
• 2B: Hidden
• 3B: Carlos Santana (CLE) vs. D. Keuchel (HOU) — $9,800
• SS: Everth Cabrera (BAL) vs. C. Archer (TB) — $3,200
• OF: Carlos Gonzalez (COL) vs. K. Lohse (MIL) — $4,500
• OF: Seth Smith (SEA) vs. J. Weaver (LAA) — $3,800
• OF: Hidden

Everyone is probably going to use Corey Kluber today and I honestly almost removed him, but I didn’t want to outthink myself. What’s not to like? He pitches deep into games, strikes out a lot of batters and is facing a team that should strikeout a lot.

Yan Gomes and Carlos Santana have career OPSs of .871 and .857 against left handed pitching.

I was big believer in Everth Cabrera last year and I’m buying in again. He’s the starting shortstop and had 81 stolen bases from 2012-13. He probably will not hit atop the lineup, but if he does I feel good about his chances of stealing a base.

This is the healthiest Carlos Gonzalez is going to be so I should take advantage while I still can. Also, he’s hitting in a great hitter’s ballpark against one of the few average pitchers today.

Since 2012 Ike Davis has a .794 OPS. I’m entirely optimistic about using him, but he’s still going to hit in the middle of the order against a mediocre pitcher.