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.