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DFS Amateur Hour - Friday Lineups

Before I get started, I should mention I set a $2 lineup in a winner-take-all Satellite for one seat in a $300 entry tournament next Monday. I didn't bother posting it because it was for the early games, and I set it during the SXM show. In any event, I did not finish first among the 172 people, and the loss reduced my bankroll to $1719.11.

It was actually a dumb contest to enter because when you do the math $344 was taken in for a payout of $300, but that $300 payout isn't cash, it's a $300 entry which also has a rake. So let's say that's worth roughly $250 (assuming a 14-plus percent cut for FanDuel if the contest fills), the field collectively paid $344 for a $250 value.

Moving on to tonight's slate, I set 15 lineups - 13 $5 Rallys, one $25 Grand Slam and one free roll for Tout Wars:

Pos$5 Rally$$5 Rally$$5 Rally$$5 Rally$
PJimenez7600Lamb4600Scherzer11400Scherzer11400
CGattis2800Hundley3400Lucroy2300Lucroy2300
1BAlvarez2700Alvarez2700Alvarez2700Cron2600
2BAltuve3500Gyorko3100Gyorko3100Infante2200
3BLongoria3100Arenado4700Longoria3100Longoria3100
SSCorrea4200Segura2200Segura2200Segura2200
OFGomez3400Gonzalez5000Braun4000Braun4000
OFTrout4900Upton4800Davis3000Trout4900
OFCastillo2800Kemp4300Polanco3200Reddick2300
Total35000Total34800Total35000Total35000
Pos$5 Rally$$5 Rally$$5 Rally$$5 Rally$
PScherzer11400Scherzer11400Wood8000Garcia8200
CLucroy2300Lucroy2300Lucroy2300Lucroy2300
1BMontero2300Davis4900Ortiz4500Paulsen3300
2BGyorko3100Schoop2400Gyorko3100Forsythe3300
3BMoustakas2300Machado3900Longoria3100Longoria3100
SSSegura2200Segura2200Bogaerts3400Cabrera3400
OFKemp4300Jones3200Betts3400Guyer2400
OFUpton4800Guyer2400Castillo2800Gonzalez5000
OFVictorino2200Reddick2300Kemp4300Braun4000
Total34900Total35000Total34900Total35000
Pos$25 GS$$5 Rally$Tout$$5 Rally$
PKluber12000Lamb4600Scherzer11400Kluber12000
CGomes2800Lucroy2300Lucroy2300Lucroy2300
1BAlvarez2700Morrison2300Alvarez2700Montero2300
2BGyorko3100Altuve3500Gyorko3100Cano3700
3BLongoria3100Machado3900Longoria3100Seager3400
SSPeralta2600Correa4200Segura2200Segura2200
OFBraun4000Gonzalez5000Braun4000Jackson2600
OFAsche2500Trout4900Davis3000Braun4000
OFLake2200Kemp4300Polanco3200Cuddyer2500
Total35000Total35000Total35000Total35000
Pos$5 Rally$$5 Rally$$5 Rally
PGarcia8200Garcia8200Kluber12000
CLucroy2300Grandal3100Gomes2800
1BMontero2300Fielder3700Santana3200
2BUtley2400Wong2900Schoop2400
3BMoustakas2300Turner3500Machado3900
SSCorrea4200Peralta2600Hardy2200
OFTrout4900Puig3000Jones3200
OFKemp4300Heyward3500Guyer2400
OFBraun4000Blackmon4500Castillo2800
Total34900Total35000Total34900

These are a bit all over the place. I liked Max Scherzer initially, but when I saw Brian Dozier (the Twins best hitter) was scratched, I added some Corey Kluber. I also liked Jamie Garcia against the Marlins, and I thought it would be fun to have a couple cheap shares of Jake Lamb (decent pedigreed prospect finally getting a shot and facing an NL team in a tolerable park) and stacking big hitters. Finally, I had a Red Sox stack I liked with Garcia, but I was $100 over budget, couldn't bring myself to cut any of the hitters, so I switched to the cheaper Alex Wood. I have a feeling I'll regret that - I probably should have axed a hitter instead - but it's too late to go back now. I also have two shares of Ubaldo Jimenez who's a big favorite and facing a team that hasn't hit at all the last month.

Players in whom I have the biggest investments are: Jonathan Lucroy (9), Scherzer (7), Evan Longoria (7), Jean Segura (7), Ryan Braun (7), Jedd Gyorko (6), Pedro Alvarez (5), Matt Kemp (5), Jesus Montero (3), Garcia (3), Kluber (3), Manny Machado (3), Carlos Correa (3), Mike Trout (3), Rusney Castillo (3), Carlos Gonzalez (3) and Brandon Guyer (3).

I also set a few unstacked lineups as I've starting wondering whether forcing stacks is always worth the payoff in big tournaments. I get the concept of correlating production between your players, but when you use a cheap pitcher, for example, it might be worth loading up on sluggers from a variety of teams.