GPP Chin Music Tournament Picks

The purpose of this column is to highlight some players with upside and well-suited for tournaments. While the majority of the hitter picks will likely have power upside, that's not necessarily the case for all the listed options. Other contextual factors such as batting order, ballpark, opposing pitcher, price, speed, etc also come into play, and you'll see these items sprinkled into the write-ups below. Along with that, we'll be gauging the ownership levels, giving you some plausible pivots from the popular choices in a given game slate.

Today's picks will be featured from the "main slate": games starting at 1:05 ET and beyond.

Starting Pitcher


Shane Greene
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opponent FIP K% GB% Vegas
Run Total & ML
$8,400 $6,000 CWS 3.73 23.50% 47.20% 3.5 & 1.84
Gerrit Cole
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opponent FIP K% GB% Vegas
Run Total & ML
$9,000 $8,400 MIL 3.25 24.20% 49.20% 3 & 1.78


-Shane Greene's price on DraftKings puts him in play for all formats because it's simply too cheap, however there are many other much more highly hyped pitchers today, so I think he flies under the radar a bit in ownership percentage, making him an excellent GPP option on all sites. He's yet to give up and earned run on the season and has been producing a lot of ground balls, but the strikeouts haven't come around yet despite his solid career strikeout rate. The White Sox offense finally busted out in a big way yesterday, but Greene should be able to calm them back down.

-Gerrit Cole is getting a lot of cash game love today as well because he's one of the day's big favorites, but he deserves some GPP consideration as well. Cole offers massive strikeout upside as he's currently sporting four plus pitches in his arsenal and if he can keep that up. There will be a ton of righty-righty matchups in this one that Cole can eat up with his slider and the upside is massive here for the price if he can get a bit deeper into the game than he has been.

Infield


Miguel Cabrera
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opp Pitcher & Handedness wOBA
2012-2015
ISO
2012-2015
wRC+
2012-2015
Batting Order Vegas Run Total
$5,100 $5,300 Quintana L 0.418 0.258 168 3 8
Chris Davis
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opp Pitcher & Handedness wOBA
2012-2015
ISO
2012-2015
wRC+
2012-2015
Batting Order Vegas Run Total
$3,500 $4,600 Porcello R 0.365 0.269 131 3 8.5
Brian Dozier
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opp Pitcher & Handedness wOBA
2012-2015
ISO
2012-2015
wRC+
2012-2015
Batting Order Vegas Run Total
$3,100 $4,300 House L 0.317 0.156 100 2 8.5
Pedro Alvarez
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opp Pitcher & Handedness wOBA
2012-2015
ISO
2012-2015
wRC+
2012-2015
Batting Order Vegas Run Total
$3,400 $4,200 Garza R 0.328 0.216 109 6 7
Victor Martinez
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opp Pitcher & Handedness wOBA
2012-2015
ISO
2012-2015
wRC+
2012-2015
Batting Order Vegas Run Total
$4,000 $4,100 Quintana L 0.374 0.178 139 4 8

-Miguel Cabrera is my top infield hitting option for GPPs today, as his price makes him awfully tough to roster if you want to get some of the elite pitching on your squad. He's hitting in as imposing of a lineup and with has much protection as he's ever had, leading to a .442 batting average on the young season. He's just crushed left-handers in his career and Quintana is an average one at best.

-Victor Martinez is in that same scenario, for a bit cheaper. He'll likely go overlooked with a ton of outstanding options on the slate, but he's absolutely crushed left-handed pitching in recent seasons. He racked up a .476 wOBA against lefties in 2014, along with a .322 ISO against them. Martinez may struggle against tough righties at this point his career, but those numbers will continue to make me strongly consider him against lefties each and every time he faces one in 2015.

-Chris Davis is an alternative option here as he faces off with Rick Porcello who has been rock solid over the past few seasons, but continues to have a weak spot against lefties. Porcello is not a strikeout pitcher, which is the type that Davis struggles most with and that combination makes him an excellent upside play

-Brian Dozier is an interesting GPP option in the middle infield, which is sorely lacking upside this season. He has some outstanding splits agaisnt left-handed pitching and while the power isn't outstanding, TJ House is far from imposing for someone who hits lefties so well. House will limit his stolen base upside a bit, but Dozier has seen him quite a few times playing in the same division for a few years now, which should help him get a couple decent jumps if he can get on base.

-Pedro Alvarez continues to be one of the most inconsistent hitters in all of baseball, but his raw power keeps him in the GPP conversation almost nightly. Despite all of his struggles, he's posted a .216 ISO over the past three seasons as well as a .336 wOBA against righties. We're looking for power at a cheap price here and he fits the bill. As a side note, he's seen Garza 18 times in his career already, so he should be familair with the veterans offerings.

Outfield


Mike Trout
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opp Pitcher & Handedness wOBA
2012-2015
ISO
2012-2015
wRC+
2012-2015
Batting Order Vegas Run Total
$6,100 $5,700 Feldman R 0.411 0.249 170 2 8
Michael Brantley
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opp Pitcher & Handedness wOBA
2012-2015
ISO
2012-2015
wRC+
2012-2015
Batting Order Vegas Run Total
$4,000 $4,400 May R 0.345 0.136 122 3 8.5
Brett Gardner
FanDuel Salary DraftKings Salary Opp Pitcher & Handedness wOBA
2012-2015
ISO
2012-2015
wRC+
2012-2015
Batting Order Vegas Run Total
$3,400 $4,600 Andriese R 0.334 0.152 110 2 7.5

-Mike Trout and his incredibly high price on every site make him a tough pill to swallow in cash games, especially after his first hitless night of the season last night. However, he remains an elite play against Feldman, who allowed more stolen bases than any other pitcher in the major leagues last season. Trout has had a hit in every other game other than last night and has upside in every facet you can imagine it. If you can find a value pitcher you like, it makes too much sense to load up on shares of him.

-Michael Brantley will be playing his second game of the season tonight and gets a terrific matchup with Trevor May, who comes into today's game with a 7.94 career ERA. Brantley sported a .401 wOBA against right handed pitching last season and I don't expect much, if any, regression from Brantly this season as long as he can stay healthy. His power/speed combination, along with hitting right in the middle of the Cleveland order give him a ton of upside nightly.

-Brett Gardner seems to love playing on turf. It really allows him to show off his speed and with the little power he has, playing at the spacious Tropicana Field actually is more of a benefit to him. After two hits coupled with two stolen bases last night, he offers a ton of upside, especially on DraftKings where speed is such a commodity. I'm liking a Yankees stack with the way they've been hitting lately, especially since they are facing Matt Andriese making just his second career start.





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