Matt Moore – The Fantasy Sports Coach

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 5
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 5

Fantasy Baseball

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 5

With Dee Gordon out for 80 games, you’ll most likely need a replacement if you own shares of him. When it comes to the middle infield, I’ve got the perfect solution for you. In this week’s Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire article, I’ll be breaking down the biggest must adds, players you can cut ties with, two-start pitchers and the latest trends going into Week 5’s Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire!

Must Adds:

Brandon Drury – 3B/MI/OF – Arizona Diamondbacks
17% Owned
OPP: 3 @ MIA, 3 @ ATL

Although he’s not 2B eligible yet (he needs three more starts at 2nd base or seven more appearances at the position – so, he will be soon eligible), Brandon Drury is able to slide in as your middle infielder for now. Drury is one of MLB.com’s 100 top prospects and the Diamondbacks plan to keep sliding him into the lineup as long as he’s producing. His walk rate isn’t the greatest but he makes up for that with his .294 ISO. His hard hit ball percentage is 31.5% while his soft hit percentage is only 18.5%. While he continues to tear the cover off the ball, take advantage and get him on your team.

Hector Neris – RHP (RP) – Philadelphia Phillies
14% Owned
OPP: 4 @ STL, 3 @ MIA

If you’re in a deep league or need desperate help with your ERA, Hector Neris is your guy. He strikes everyone out that he faces with his 14.44 K/9. While Jeanmar Gomez is the closer, Neris is the set up guy and arguably the best reliever in baseball right now. A three pitch reliever, Neris’ split-fingered fastball has looked downright nasty leading him to his 0.63 ERA.

Drops:

Tyler White – 1B/3B – Houston Astros
44% Owned
OPP: 3 vs MIN, 4 vs SEA

I contemplated last week making Tyler White a droppable player. This week, there’s no doubt. After his scorching start, White has cooled down considerably. His high strikeout rate was a concern to begin with (25.6%) but now that he’s not hitting for power – it’s one of the main reasons you should drop him. The Astros also have White on a very short leash as they have top prospect A.J. Reed waiting in the minors.

Kolten Wong – 2B – St. Louis Cardinals
55% Owned
OPP: 4 vs PHI, 3 vs PIT

Kolten Wong is off to a miserable start this season. His .226 AVG to go with just two RBI isn’t going to cut it. With Wong sidelined on and off with the flu, Jedd Gyorko has been stealing his playing time. Aledmys Diaz has been a huge surprise for the Cards and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Kolten Wong was eventually the odd man out of the infield.

Two Start Pitchers:

Bartolo Colon – RHP – New York Mets
22% Owned
OPP: May 2 vs ATL, May 7 @ SD

Atlanta is not good. The Padres are not good. Need any more reason to start Bartolo Colon against them? Big Sexy’s K/9 (7.99) is the highest it’s been since 2001 when he played for the Indians. Bartolo isn’t afraid to pound the strike zone this year either. He’s hitting the strike zone at a 53.8% rate and truly trusting his pitches. Did I mention that Atlanta has five homeruns as a team to go with a .229 average? Go get Big Sexy.

Other Two Start Pitchers: Matt Moore (LAD/LAA), A.J. Griffin (TOR, DET)

Trends:

Dee Gordon – 2B – Miami Marlins
75% Owned

I could rant about how perplexing it is that Dee Gordon has been caught for the use of PED’s. That would most likely be 500+ words so I’ll digress. Dee Gordon shouldn’t be dropped. He’s gone for 80 games, not the whole season. He could still finish the season with 25+ stolen bases when he comes back around the All-Star break. If you have an extra slot on your roster and somebody has dropped Gordon, pick him up. This is a guy who swiped 122 bags in two years. Also a guy who had 205 hits last year. AKA a guy who can help you when fantasy playoffs come around.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions regarding MLB DFS or season long leagues, feel free to reach out to me via Twitter @BESTofMATT

DraftKings MLB DFS Must Plays | Stay Aways | The Bargain Bin | April 22
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DraftKings MLB DFS Must Plays | Stay Aways | The Bargain Bin | April 22

DraftKings Promotions, Fantasy Baseball DFS, MLB DFS

DraftKings MLB DFS Must Plays | Stay Aways | The Bargain Bin | April 22

Packed slate tonight on the diamond with every single team in action. In todays article, I will outline what must plays and stay aways you should be aware of as well as some cheap players that will produce for you in the bargain bin.

Must Plays

Matt Moore – LHP ($7,900) – @ New York Yankees

After one shaky start to kick off the year, Matt Moore seems to have found a groove. After two lost years due to injury, he’s found his 2013 all star form early on in the season. His fastball velocity is actually the highest he’s ever had it in his career (92.6 MPH) and he’s been mixing in an effective knuckle curve. As a team, the Yankees are 25th in total bases (182) so Moore should be able to get to work against a slow-starting New York lineup. (editor’s note be careful of weather)

Carlos Correa – SS ($4,700) – vs Boston Red Sox

With Trevor Story being $400 more, now is a great time to play Carlos Correa in your cash lineups. His isolated power (ISO) is still above .200 and his plate discipline is actually improved (Only swinging at 23.5% of pitches outside the zone compared to last years rate of 32.4%). He just needs one good explosion and against Steven Wright who doesn’t strike many out – Correa should return value tonight.

Stay Aways

Jeff Samardzjia – RHP ($9,300) – vs Miami Marlins

Jeff Samardzjia’s price, combined with his outcome so far this season makes him a trap. While he might get you a win because he plays for San Francisco, he’s not going to strike a ton out and he’s also going to give up his fair share of hits and walks. His velocity is also below 93 MPH for the first time since 2010. All of this equals no value at $9,300.

Tyler White – 1B ($4,400) – vs Boston Red Sox

Tyler White hasn’t had a multi-hit game since April 11th. It seems like if he’s not going yard – he’s not getting value. He has five strikeouts in his last four games to go along with an 0-4 showing on the 21st against Texas. At his price tag, there are tons of safer options out there.

The Bargain Bin

Nick Tropeano – RHP ($6,100) vs Seattle Mariners

Filling in for the injured Andrew Heaney, Nick Tropeano has done an admirable job. He’s only given up one earned run in 10.2 innings of work. In his career against the current Mariners lineup, he’s only given up the long ball once and it was against Nelson Cruz. At $6,100, you save a lot of money and are pretty much guaranteed to hit value.

Russell Martin – C ($3,300) vs Oakland Athletics

Russell Martin has run into a bit of bad luck to start the year. Mechanically, there’s nothing wrong except for the fact that when he hits it hard, it’s always right to an outfielder. Speaking of hitting it hard… He’s hitting the ball hard at a higher percentage this year (34.6%) compared to any year in his career. Don’t forget that he slugged 23 a year ago.

Thanks for reading! If you have any MLB DFS or season long questions, feel free to contact me via Twitter @BESTofMATT

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 2
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 2

Fantasy Baseball

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 2

With the baseball season underway, it’s all about recognizing trends. We’re already seeing players quickly trend upwards and players just not living up to expectations. A player like Trevor Story is producing in ways that many baseball fans have never seen before which is causing owners to have quite the dilemma. I look to help you figure these things out in my Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Week 2.

As the inaugural fantasy baseball article, this is what you can expect from this week forward!
Must Adds: Players who have great match ups who you can definitely pick up and add to your lineup.
Drops: Under performers or players who have little to no fantasy value for you this week
Two Start Pitchers: Pitchers who have to starts in a week that can help you maximize value.
Trends: Who should you be watching right now? Is it time to sell high or buy low?
Also, I will be basing all ownership off of Yahoo!.

Must Adds:

Zack Cozart – SS – Cincinnati Reds
5% Owned
Schedule: 3 @ CHC, 3 @ STL

Zack Cozart won the leadoff position right out of spring training. Billy Hamilton still can’t pull together a respectable batting average. Cozart is an interesting player to have in your lineup. He’s not a traditional leadoff man in terms of speed but he makes up for it with his power. Before going down to injury last year, his isolated slugging rate was .201. To put that into comparison, Troy Tulowitzki’s career ISO is .212. Until Hamilton can work his way up to the leadoff position, Cozart is a great option at generally one of the weakest fantasy positions available.

Wilson Ramos – C – Washington Nationals
34% Owned
Schedule: 4 vs ATL, 3 @ PHI

If you’re looking for a replacement behind the plate as a Kyle Schwarber owner, look no further. Wilson Ramos had a terrible year last year. You and I would also have a terrible season if your vision decreased so badly that you needed off-season Lasik eye surgery in order to fix it. Against two bottom feeding teams, Ramos will have a great opportunity to really show fantasy owners what he can do. It wouldn’t be surprising if he finished the year as a top 10 catcher.

Drops:

Byron Buxton – OF – Minnesota Twins
53% Owned
Schedule: 3 vs CHW, 3 vs LAA

If you’re in a keeper league – ignore this completely. If you’re in a redraft league, you don’t want to miss this. Byron Buxton was likely drafted because of his promise. He certainly wasn’t drafted because of his shoddy spring training performance. Up until April 9th, Buxton has struck out nine times in his first 14 at bats. Until he shows a glimpse of that so-called promise, you’re better off with just about anyone.

Brett Lawrie – 2B/3B – Chicago White Sox
47% Owned
Schedule: 3 @ MIN, 3 @ TB

Brett Lawrie looks like, well, Brett Lawrie – and that’s not a good thing for fantasy owners. Last year he finished with the highest strikeout rate of his career (23.9%) and this year he’s on pace to beat that. He’s also batting in the bottom half of an otherwise weak (outside of Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier) White Sox lineup. There are better streaming options out there.

Two Start Pitchers:

Matt Moore – LHP – Tampa Bay Rays
39% Owned
Schedule: April 12 vs CLE, April 17 vs CHW

It’s easy to forget that Matt Moore was an All-Star in 2013. His first start admittedly wasn’t the greatest, but he ran into a Blue Jays offence that was clicking (more specifically, the reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson’s bat). His velocity in spring training mixed with his first start look promising though. After seeing his velocity regress in 2014-2015 due to injury among other things, his velocity is actually higher now than it was in 2013.

Shane Greene – RHP – Detroit Tigers
7% Owned
Schedule: April 12 vs PIT, April 17 vs HOU

Shane Greene had a great spring, a good enough spring to get the chance to hold the fort down until Daniel Norris returns. Brad Ausmus has also even said that he might keep Greene in the rotation even when Norris comes back. Greene is an odd duck. From 2014 to 2015 his k/9 went down by 4 and his ERA balooned. He tried to rework a lot of his stuff in 2015 and ended up setting himself back even more. It looks like in the spring he figured a lot of his stuff out. He posted a very impressive line of 19.1 IP, 1.86 ERA and 23 SO to close out the spring.

Trends:

Trevor Story – SS – Colorado Rockies
92% Owned
Schedule: 3 vs SF, 3 @ CHC

Trevor Story is off to a start that nobody has seen in a long time. Let’s throw it back. 2004 Barry Bonds, 1.422 OPS. Current day Trevor Story, 1.417 OPS (Thanks to The Ace of MLB Stats on Twitter). Story has also homered in each of his team’s first four games to start a season. Other names on that list? Chris Davis, Nelson Cruz, Mark McGwire and Willie Mays. I think you get the point. Story is off to a start that is completely unsustainable by any means. As soon as Jose Reyes returns, he’ll immediately challenge Story for at bats. With all the hype around him, why wouldn’t you be willing to sell high? Let’s remember that his ADP was around 254, aka Adam Lind territory. I’ve seen deals such as Story + Verlander for Scherzer + Segura. If you can package Story in a deal to land a big fish, you need to pull the trigger. I can promise you, he’s not Carlos Correa 2.0.

Also, check out my appearance on The FNTSY Sports Network with Pat Mayo. We chat the curious case of Trevor Story, two start pitchers and more!

Thanks for reading! If you have any MLB season long or DFS questions, feel free to contact me via Twitter @BESTofMATT

The Challenge of Running Into Hot Fantasy Baseball Players

It appears that my luck (or lack thereof) has followed me from fantasy football into fantasy baseball. I feel I drafted a very solid team, but my early season results have been nothing to write home about. I drafted Ryan Braun with the third overall pick and he has been as good as advertised. Braun is a fantasy stud who can carry a fantasy team throughout the year. My infield is very solid with the likes of Adrian Gonzalez, Ian Kinsler and Evan Longoria. Besides Braun, my outfield consists of some late round gems such as Dexter Fowler and Starling Marte. My top starting pitchers are Adam Wainwright, Max Scherzer, and Jake Peavy. But my closers have been a mixed bag. Sergio Romo has been excellent thus far, but Joel Hanrahan seemingly has lost his closing duties to the reinvigorated Andrew Bailey in Boston.

While trying to figure out why my team was not dominating in the early going, I quickly found some players to blame. I missed the boat towards the end of the draft with selections such as Brandon Belt and Aaron Hicks who were quickly sacrificed to the waiver wire. In hindsight, I really regret picking Brandon Morrow over Jon Lester. I also rue the day of my gamble on Corey Hart’s injured knee and not targeting a solid right fielder earlier in the draft. Hart’s placement on the 60-day DL has forced me to play Adrian Gonzalez in right field and start one of my bench players (Todd Frazier and Matt Carpenter) at first base. I am losing significant power numbers when Carpenter is slotted at First Base as opposed to filling in at other positions periodically.

Before the draft, I targeted Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Moore but missed out on them by a pick or two. I have been scrambling to make up for missing out on both players ever since. That is probably why I reached for Belt and reluctantly took Brandon Morrow during the draft. I blame my poor time management for drafting Morrow, as I was down to the final five seconds on the draft clock.

Despite those shortcomings, I have made some quality early season pick-ups such as Jed Lowrie and Kyle Seager to partially offset those draft day mistakes. I even took a flier on Mark Teixeira who was dropped after the draft. Hopefully he does come back and can fill my all-important first base slot. He and Hart are stashed on my DL waiting to be utilized in June (fingers crossed). I also picked up Jose Valverde to fill the closer slot vacated by Hanrahan, and Shelby Miller to add some strike out power to my pitching staff.

Being honest with myself, I really cannot blame my team for some of my early season losses. Instead, I had the misfortune of playing against some players who produced extraordinary results. Two that come to mind are Carlos Gonzales who battered and abused the Mets, as well as Mike Napoli when he was doing his best Tony Conigliaro impression. I swear, the Green Monster is a magnet for that guy. I watched him rain double after double off that little league fence with the bases seemingly always loaded. Then incredibly, I was up against Anibal Sanchez last week when he decided to set a Tigers’ record of 17 strikeouts in one game.

Weeks like that reminded me of some fantasy football weeks your quarterback throws for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in the early game, only to be outdone by Drew Brees and his videogame-like numbers later in the day. Or if Chris Johnson (that would be CJ2K of the Tennessee Titans and not the pasty third baseman on the Braves) finally breaks out for you with a 100-yard day and a touchdown only to be outscored by Adrian Peterson during one of his record-breaking romps. I guess I didn’t realize that this type of misfortune also applied in fantasy baseball.

However, running into a couple of hot teams and players during the early part of the season is not going to get me off my game. I am going to stick to my strategy of playing match-ups and making some shrewd moves on the waiver wire. I will not hit the panic button and make a bad trade just to just to get a shaky closer or retread first baseman. After all, the fantasy baseball season is long and my luck is bound to even out. Right? Right???