DraftKings Lineup Advice: August 17th

Jul 30, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher

(26) delivers a pitch during the third inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

With Daily Fantasy Sports taking the industry by storm, it is always helpful for those owners to be given as much lineup advice as possible. Therefore, here is my optimal DraftKings lineup for the action on August 17^th.

Pithcer

Scott Kazmir ($10,000) – Kazmir has been everything as advertised after coming over to Houston. Over his first four starts with the club he has not given up more than 2 ER in any start, while keeping his K mark around 5 SO/9 a game.

He gets a weak Rays lineup in Houston tonight, a team coming off of a sweep from the Rangers where they did not score more than 4 runs in any of those games. Combine the Rays struggles with the fact that the Astros have been dominant at home and all signs point to a quality start from Kazmir.

Pitcher

Colin Rea ($4,800)– Now I will concede that this was a cost saving pick, but I have  tried to always gamble on one “off the radar” kind of player, because those are the type of guys that allow you to succeed in DFS.

Rea had posted video game type of numbers in the minors this season, a 1.95 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 101 innings between AA and AAA. He debuted against a tough offense in the Reds, and performed well enough to get the win, 5 IP/3 ER/4 K.

Tonight he will get the much weaker Braves lineup, while facing them at Petco, leaving him with the chance for his best start in his rookie season. I think he could provide the sneakiest value of all the pitchers tonight.

Catcher

Buster Posey ($4,000)– By saving some money on my pitching, I allowed myself to splurge on a couple of the more premier options at some positions. Posey is an example of this, as I wanted to try to stack my lineup with some of the hottest hitters available.

Over the last fourteen days he has posted a .327/1 HR/ 8 RBI line. He does run into Michael Wacha tonight but they haven’t been matched up against each other before so there is no real advantage either way.

He is the best catcher in the game and is in the midst of one of his usual great statistical years. He has a .338 AVG against righties on the year and has hit for more power/average away from AT & T this season. (.338 AVG with 12 of his 16 homers being hit while on the road)

First Basemen

Chris Davis ($5,000) – Davis has been on an absolute tear since late July, putting on a power show that we do not see too much anymore. For me, he was an easy selection as he and the O’s lineup could not be any hotter now.

He does get a tough draw in Sonny Gray, but with the way he has hit the ball it is almost impossible to leave him off your lineups.

Second Basemen

Neil Walker ($4,000)- This is a matchup play as Walker has been able to handle righties all year posting a .273/12 HR/42 RBI line against them this season.  He faces off against Jeremy Helicon and the D’Backs tonight in Pittsburgh.

Walker has already faced Hellickson once this season, and he went 2 for 3 with a double and 1 RBI against him. He seems to see Hellickson well, and basically most righties all year, so I think the value is clearly there.

Third Basemen

Derek Dietrich ($2,700) – Like Rea, this was another one of my value gambles for tonight’s action. Dietrich does not scream upside, but I though he had a favorable matchup. He has been solid against righties all year, .266 AVG/6 HR, and has been able to produce on the road as well, .267 AVG /5 HR.

He faces off with Matt Garza in Milwaukee tonight, so there should be some chances for Dietrich to produce as Garza can be unpredictable at times and Miller Park provides a nice boost as well.

Shortstop

Asdrubal Cabrera ($3,600)-This was a tough spot for me to decide on as I was between Asdrubal and Xander Boagaerts. I decided to go with the hot hand as Cabrera has been on a roll since returning from the DL.

Over the last week, Cabrera has posted a cool .500/1 HR/1.304 OPS line, and just seems to be locked in at the plate. Against lefties, he has a .298 AVG/6 HR/21 RBI line, so it would seem that his matchup against Kazmir would be interesting to say the least.

For his career Asdrubal is only 1 for 15 off of Kazmir, I know that is alarming, but keep in mind that Cabrera has never faced Kazmir when he has been this hot at the plate, so those career matchups have to be taken into context with current hot streaks playing a part as well.

Outfielders

Nelson Cruz ($5,500)– As you will see with all my OF selections, this is where I splurged and spent the most of my cap space as I wanted to try and anchor my team with the more premier hitters in the game.

Cruz is on another one of his hot streaks as over the last two weeks he has homered 7 times, knocked in 9 RBI and has produced 11 Runs. Everyone knows that Cruz is nearly impossible to stop once he gets hot, so I wanted to make sure I had him in the lineup.

He has always killed lefties in his career and this year has been no different, he gets Cole Hamels tonight and he has homered off of him already in his career. Look for Cruz to continue to mash and hopefully showcase his power.

Mike Trout ($5,000) – This is pretty self-explanatory, rostering the best player in baseball is always a pretty easy decision since he can impact and carry your lineup on any given night.

He is facing Carlos Rodon tonight, Trout has hit .307 off lefties this season, so hopefully he can continue that success. You never know how Rodon will come out, so let’s hope it is the wild and hittable version tonight.

Andrew McCutchen ($5,300)– You can basically copy and paste what I just stated about Trout here. Cutch has the ability to impact the game in so many ways that he always worth adding to your lineup. Like Walker, Cutch has had some limited success against Hellickson in his career.

Having Cruz, Trout, and Cutch, makes for a ridiculous trio that can carry you to success. You need your starts to perform and I think all these guys have a good chance to do that tonight.

All you can do in DFS, is to try to pick players that seem to be in the most opportune matchups to succeed. I think that the players I have offered, plus some of the value gambles, can at least serve as a base for what you want to do.