This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Baseball series.
We're almost through a weekend of baseball without New York, thanks to the Yankees and Mets seeing their series cancelled. There are still 14 MLB games Sunday and most are in the afternoon. However, the 12:35 p.m. EDT start between the Marlins and Nationals is not included in Yahoo's contests. With that in mind, here are my recommendations to try and help you get a leg up on your lineups.
PITCHING
Zack Greinke's ($45) first start went poorly, as he allowed three runs in 3.1 innings to the Mariners. Since then, he's posted a 1.04 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 26 innings. I know he's facing the Padres on Sunday and their offense looks very different than in years past. However, Greinke is pitching at Petco Park and comes in looking great. I'm still willing to put him on a roster, especially with Houston picking up its play with eight wins in their last 10.
If you want a better matchup on paper, Carlos Carrasco ($46) is facing the Tigers. They aren't down in 29th in runs scored like in 2019, but the team enters with a sub-.300 OBP and have lost C.J. Cron for the season. Carrasco, who has encountered serious health concerns in recent years, has produced a 3.71 ERA in five starts. And the last time he enjoyed a full healthy season, he posted a 2.88 FIP.
Corbin Burnes ($35) has been in and out of the rotation. But even when he hasn't started, he's tossed over three innings in every outing. Burnes has managed a 3.00 ERA while striking out 12.43 batters per nine innings. He's getting to face the Pirates, who have only scored more runs than the Cardinals and Marlins and they both lost chunks of their seasons to postponements. Also, the Marlins are terrible. They seem like the offense to target this season.
If I could find a fourth pitcher I genuinely wanted to recommend, I would. However, I can't. I would give Kenta Maeda a shout were he starting Sunday as originally planned, but he's been pushed to Monday perhaps because his last outing went long as as he was chasing a no-hitter. It's not a great day for pitching, which hopefully means the bats on your roster will pay off.
TOP PICKS
You know who it turns out is pretty good at baseball? That Bryce Harper ($26) guy. He gets more criticism than deserved for assorted reasons, but in the end even a "disappointing" 2019 resulted in a .882 OPS with 35 homers and 15 stolen bases. He's come out of the gate on fire in 2020, putting up numbers not seen since a 1.109 OPS when he won the MVP in 2015. The Atlanta rotation has been decimated, leaving Josh Tomlin to step in. He's pitched well so far this year, but in only one start. I'm more concerned about his career 4.65 FIP and the fact he's allowed 1.64 homers per nine innings in his career.
Speaking of one-time NL MVPs, Christian Yelich ($22) is sporting a .229 BABIP but he's still hit seven homers and produced a .489 slugging percentage. When he's making contact, he's doing damage. The lefty is facing Pirates' rookie righty JT Brubaker. He's only pitched 11 innings, but has a 4.91 ERA while not coming into the season with any surrounding hype.
There have been a lot of questionable performances at the plate for the Cubs, and Anthony Rizzo ($16) has been a part of that. However, his issue has mostly been against lefties. Rizzo has been fine against right-handed pitchers with a .933 OPS versus them since 2018. Dylan Cease is a righty with a 3.16 ERA, although his 6.17 FIP tells a different story.
VALUE PICKS
I feel like Austin Nola ($14) may be a catcher I'm recommending quite a bit, at least until his salary goes up. The Mariner has a career .271 batting average and his slugging percentage is up to .500 on the season. I think he'll tee off on Mike Minor, who has struggled with a 6.94 ERA in 2020 and has allowed at least 1.30 homers per nine innings in every season since leaving the Kansas City bullpen to start for the Rangers.
Let's flip this matchup around. After all, Mariners' starter Justin Dunn enters with an 8.70 FIP and is dealing with a rib issue. There's not a lot going right for Texas's offense, but Nick Solak ($18) has contributed a slash line of .281/.381/.452 in 58 major-league games over two seasons.
Marwin Gonzalez ($10) hasn't shown much power yet, but he's hit double-digit homers in each of his last five seasons - including 15 last year. He also holds a career .263 batting average, which is perfectly adequate for modern times. The switch-hitting utilityman will be facing Kris Bubic of the Royals and his 5.44 FIP over four career starts. There are a lot of lefties in Minnesota's lineup, so I figured I'd go with a guy you can get at a low salary who can face a southpaw from the right side of the plate.
STACKS
Red Sox vs. Wade LeBlanc: Xander Bogaerts ($22), J.D. Martinez ($19), Christian Vazquez ($16)
LeBlanc managed a 5.71 ERA with the Mariners last season, and this year he's somehow gotten worse in Baltimore with a 7.89 ERA. And across both seasons, he's allowed 2.08 home runs per nine innings. The lefty has allowed a .272 batting average to righties since 2018, so I have three right-handed batters for you.
Bogaerts slashed .309/.384/.555 with 33 homers last season and looks primed to reach a slugging percentage over .500 for the third straight campaign. While the 27-year-old struggled to hit as a rookie, he's never posted a batting average lower than .273 since. So far, Martinez hasn't hit like normal but also hasn't failed to top .900 in OPS over any of his last four seasons. And since 2018, he's produced a 1.157 OPS versus lefties. I'll give you a second catcher option today in Vazquez. He doesn't take many walks, but last year hit .276 with 23 homers with an .815 OPS versus southpaws since 2018. For a catcher, that's remarkable.
