DFS Amateur Hour - Tuesday Night Lineups

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Published on May 19, 2015

I had more time today but still didn't bother with any 50/50s or Double Ups. Maybe if I hit a cold streak and need some wins, I'll go back to it, but for now I want to invest my time, energy and bankroll into hitting a big score. As such, I placed eight $5 entries into one large-field tournament.

As I wrote Saturday, my strategy is to pick a 2-4 pitchers and build various stacks around them. I picked six pitchers today, spread out over eight lineups, mostly because there weren't any I particularly loved. The only pitchers I used twice were Sonny Gray and Francisco Liriano, and I'm only lukewarm on them. I'm especially wary of Liriano as I have him in so many season-long leagues.

Here are the lineups:

Pos	Player	$	Player	$	Player	$	Player	$
P	Gray	10500	Gray	10500	Liriano	9400	Liriano	9400
C	Swihart	2200	Molina	2300	Vogt	3800	Molina	2300
1B	Ortiz	2900	Encarnacion	4200	Ortiz	2900	Freeman	3400
2B	Pedroia	2700	Field	2400	Pedroia	2700	Peterson	2800
3B	Sandoval	3000	Donaldson	3600	Sandoval	3000	Beltre	3200
SS	Kang	2700	Andrus	2600	Semien	3400	Peralta	3200
OF	McCutchen	3900	Bautista	4500	Reddick	3800	Holliday	3500
OF	Marte	4100	Bourjos	2400	Crisp	2200	Markakis	2600
OF	Polanco	2900	Pillar	2300	Ramirez	3500	Stanton	4600
	Total	34900	Total	34800	Total	34700	Total	35000

Pos	Player	$	Player	$	Player	$	Player	$
P	M.Gonzalez	7800	G.Gonzalez	8700	Shields	8800	Quintana	7600
C	Swihart	2200	Iannetta	2300	Chirinos	2500	Ruiz	3000
1B	Cabrera	5300	Cabrera	5300	Fielder	3400	Howard	3400
2B	Kinsler	3900	Pedroia	2700	Gordon	3800	Utley	3000
3B	Sandoval	3000	Castellanos	2300	Beltre	3200	Arenado	4000
SS	Bogaerts	2200	Aybar	2500	Andrus	2600	Tulowitzki	4500
OF	Martinez	3200	Calhoun	2900	Stanton	4600	Blackmon	4000
OF	Cespedes	2900	Trout	5200	Ozuna	2900	Gonzalez	3000
OF	Bautista	4500	Cespedes	2900	Yelich	2800	Grichuk	2300
	Total	35000	Total	34800	Total	34600	Total	34800

Two pitchers I dislike and of whom I own zero shares in season-long are Gio Gonzalez and Jose Quintana. But Gonzalez gets a lefty-heavy Yankee lineup at home, and Quintana is in the same boat against the Indians. While Cleveland's actually starting five righties today, they're mostly scrubs, i.e., their three best hitters are lefties.

I threw in Miguel Gonzalez at home against the Mariners. That could be a mistake as five of Seattle's top-six hitters are lefties, and the other is Nelson Cruz. But Gonzalez has been above-average for the last couple years, doesn't have big left/right splits and has been better at home. Finally, the James Shields lineup was supposed to be the Quintana one, but I had too much money ($1600) left over. So I upgraded at pitcher even though I irrationally hate Shields too. But as I said, I don't love the pitching options, and I avoided Johnny Cueto against the hard-to-strike-out Royals and big favorite Anibal Sanchez against the Brewers who I think will wake up.

The hitting stacks were easier. Lots of Red Sox at home against Yovani Gallardo, particularly David Ortiz who's only $2,900, Pablo Sandoval, who hits much better from the left side at $3,000 and Dustin Pedroia who's cheap at $2,700. I also went heavy with the Tigers at home against Jimmy Nelson with the wind blowing out. And I used a good deal of Adrian Beltre, sometimes in a stack, sometimes not for $3200 at Fenway against lefty Wade Miley.

Whatever happens, I'll make sure I'm not watching.