Author: Todd Zola

Apparently Scott Engel took umbrage with his SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio co-host Adam Ronis having two tickets into the FanDuel Tout Daily Championship as Engel is in the driver’s seat for a second ticket of his own. “The King”, as he’s affectionately known in the industry finished atop the field for the second time in Phase 5 of Tout Daily, the final segment before the one-day championship on August 28. Engel took down the first week of the phase and last night repeated the feat, finishing with 66.83 points, comfortably ahead of Scott Pianowksi’s 61.5 total.

Engel and Pianowski were followed by Rudy Gamble, Derek Van Riper, Rob Leibowitz, Tristan Cockcroft, Ray Murphy, Eno Sarris, Andy Behrens and Steve Moyer. All ten ended the evening with a little more in their FanDuel account.

Engel is a healthy 26 points ahead of Gamble for the lead in Phase 5 with Steve Moyer presently occupying the three-hole. The top three finishers will capture the final three spots in the $2000 FanDuel Tout Daily Championship with a cool $1000 going to the winner.

Already entered are Jeff Boggis, Lenny Melnick, Michael Beller, Jeff Erickson, Ray Murphy, Tom Kessenich, Charlie Wiegert, Lawr Michaels, Pianowski and of course Engel with one and Ronis with two.

You can find the leaderboard here.

Engel’s squad was anchored by Jaime Garcia, the most popular pitching choice among the Touts for the week. Garcia tossed 8 1/3rd innings allowing only an unearned run, fanning six while getting the win to total an impressive 18.33 FanDuel points. The top hitters on the week-leading squad were Derek Norris, Adam Jones and Jedd Gyorko who each hit a home run.

Here’s the rest of Scott’s team:

We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 19 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 3 of Phase 5 of the five phase contest. The top three finishers in each phase get a ticket to the big August 28 final, with big money and the chance to be the first Tout Wars Daily champ. Last week Al Melchior, Patrick Davitt and Paul Sporer finished atop the standings.

Sporer, Steve Gardner and Jeff Boggis lead the Phase 5 standings at the halfway point.

The leaderboard is here.

Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis (has two!), Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels, Tom Kessenich, Michael Beller, Jeff Boggis, Ray Murphy, Scott Engel, and Charlie Wiegert have tickets to the finals already. Everyone but Adam Ronis is eligible to add a ticket in the final phase (two tickets maximum to the finals).

Here are this week’s picks!

DOUG ANDERSON

Dallas Keuchel ($10,700) vs. Detroit Tigers – Keuchel is for real boys and girls. I had my doubts last year, but he’s done nothing but get better this year. His strikeouts are on the way up and he’s posted a 1.26 ERA at home. The Tigers offense still ranks pretty high overall, but they are 28th in runs scored in the month of August. You think trading away David Price and Yoenis Cespedes had an affect on morale?

Evan Longoria ($3,100) vs. Martin Perez (LHP) – Longoria is not the elite hitter we thought he was going to be and his FanDuel price tag shows that. He is however hot (.333 in August) and has hammered left-handers to the tune of a .337 average this year. Perez has the velocity back, but not much else. In his five games since returning from Tommy John he’s posted a 5.81 ERA. The Rays offense is on fire (relative term) and they score well against left-handers. I smell a homer and three ribbies for Longo tonight.

PHIL HERTZ

I like Robbie Ray at $7000 against a depleted Atlanta lineup; I think Pedro Alvarez at $2700 is a bargain, given his past success against Colon and his performance the last week.

JAKE CIELY

Keuchel – He’s at home. Enough said.

– Facing Adam Morgan and his 4.06 ERA, awful 5.8 K-BB% and hitter-loving 1.42 HR/9

JEFF BOGGIS

Jaime Garcia ($8,200)

I am starting Jaime Garcia tonight, more for his consistency as my deciding factor. There are higher priced starting pitcher available tonight, such as Max Scherzer ($11,400) and Corey Kluber ($12,000) but in their past 4 starts, both Scherzer and Kluber have given up 4+ earned runs in at least 2 of these 4 starts. Garcia won’t strike out as any hitters, averaging 4.5 strikeouts per game, but I think he will make this up in win potential and a much lower salary. Plus Garcia is the only one of these three starting pitchers that is pitching at home tonight and has a favorable matchup (vs. Tom Koehler of Miami). Current Marlins hitters are batting just .213 in their last 47 AB’s against Garcia. Garcia has an outstanding 1.77 ERA and 0.91 WHIP going into tonight’s matchup.

Top Hitter

Jose Bautista ($5,200)

Jose Bautista is the highest salaried outfielder in tonight’s contest at $5,200, but I think he is worth it. Over the past week, Bautista is batting 8 for 23 (.348) with 6 runs scored, 3 home runs, 3 runs batted in, and 1 stolen base. He has a favorable matchup tonight at home against Ivan Nova of the New York Yankees. In his last 21 plate appearances facing Nova, he is 5 for 15 (.333) and has a slugging percentage of .533. I am hoping for one of Bautista’s patent pending Friday night bat flips as he admires a home run off of Ivan Nova tonight.

SCOTT SWANAY

Pitcher – Jaime Garcia. He’s not the most talented starting pitcher goingtonight, or the one likely to post the biggest strikeout totals, but he’s pitched very effectively while flying under the radar since his mid-season return from the DL. David Price is tempting, but even though the Yankee bats were ice cold for most of the past week, they showed some signs of life last night. Max Scherzer and Dallas Keuchel were the other two options I considered, but I like Garcia’s chances the best to get the 4 points that come with a Win.

Hitter – Jed Lowrie. He’s only the second best “Shortstop” on his team, but he’s supplanted Luis Valbuena as the ‘Stros starting third baseman, he’s hit well since coming off the DL, and he gets to face Alfredo Simon. For $3,100, I’ll take it.

STEVE MOYER

Jaime Garcia – SP – $8200 – Ranks higher on the Inside Edge board tonight than any of the big boys and that’s a relief, because. . .

Nelson Cruz – OF – $5000 – The highest hitter on the IE board is no bargain, and there aren’t a lot of highly-ranked bargains below him either. It’s gonna be Stars & Scrubs tonight.

ADAM RONIS

Jaime Garcia and Preston Tucker

JEFF ERICKSON

Pitcher: Jaime Garcia ($8,200). On a night when there are a lot of aces going, this is a little risky to use Garcia. But … he’s the third biggest Vegas favorite on the board against a Marlins lineup that’s really shaky, and I have some reservations Scherzer, Price, Keuchel and Kluber. Plus this affords me at least one or two Coors bats that I wouldn’t get otherwise. Keuchel is my second choice.

Batter: Charlie Blackmon ($4,500). Love the matchup against Tyson Ross – Ross’s slider shouldn’t be as effective at altitude, plus he doesn’t hold runners on very well. It’s expensive to use Blackmon, but that’s also why I have Garcia in there.

ENO SARRIS

Jaime Garcia

You have to set the innings pitched requirement really low (60), and that’s because he’s been injured this year (every year), but if you do, no starter has a higher ground ball rate this year than Jaime Garcia. In other words, the floor for his production, especially at home against the Marlins, is very high. Now, excellence in this game means often reaching for the ceiling, but in this case, the ceiling isn’t terrible, either. A string of zeroes and a ‘w’ will score well even if it only comes with four or five strikeouts. And oh yeah, he saves you almost four thousand bucks to spend on your lineup in the process.

Justin Upton

Yohan Flande doesn’t get whiffs and is a lefty pitching in Coors, so he’s itching for a stack. Flande does get ground balls, but as it turns out, fly-ball hitters do well against ground-ball pitchers. Justin Upton is a fly ball hitter. To a certain extent, so are Derek Norris and Jedd Gyorko. It’s time to feast for the famished Padre righties.

RAY MURPHY

Jaime Garcia ($8200): looking to differentiate myself from the field a bit, I’ll be fading tonight’s aces and taking a shot with Garcia. He has a favorable home matchup against the Marlins, so I’m looking for him to go 6-7 innings with 5+ Ks, hopefully just a run or two, and leave the game in line for the win. From there, I’ll look to my offense to carry me.

Logan Forsythe ($3300): Martin Perez has looked a lot better in his last two starts, to the point where he seems like a decent off-the-radar play at home against the Rays tonight. But Forsythe has a .965 OPS against lefties this year, including 8 HR in 111 AB. Facing a still-finding-his-way Perez in the Texas heat, Forsythe will be in my lineup tonight.

BRIAN WALTON

There are a lot of good pitching choices, so I am going to drop down to number six, St. Louis’ Jaime Garcia ($8200), to save money for hitting. When healthy, the lefty is a dependable option even if the strikeouts are low (at 6.3 per nine). Through 10 starts this season, Garcia has a 1.77 ERA and a career mark of 2.85 at Busch Stadium. The 29-year-old draws the Marlins at home Friday night.

For my hitter, I will stay with the Cardinals – third baseman Matt Carpenter ($3800), specifically. The left-handed hitter is having a strong August with four home runs and eight RBI to go with a 1.062 OPS. He favors right-handed pitchers and will face Miami righty Tom Koehler at home Friday evening.

GENE MCCAFFREY

Another difficult Friday night, with risk in all the top-$ pitchers. So I’m going cheap with an improving Danny Duffy at home. I’ll use the salary to pay for Carlos Gonzalez and his never-ending (insert snicker) streak.

TODD ZOLA

I’m waffling between Corey Kluber and J.A. Happ on the hill. It’s a choice between safe and Hail Mary. I know I’m going to need to take a chance either this week or next, I’m just deciding if this is the week to shoot the moon. Ultimately it’ll come down to whether I can find the sticks to support Kluber since I like his strikeout upside versus the Twins. Happ’s attraction is his price and facing a NY Mets squad that whiffs a lot versus southpaws. The issue is he’s J.A. Happ. What I do know is whichever I don’t select for Tout Daily I’ll use in a different tournament to ease the pain if I choose poorly.

For hitters, I’m all over Colby Rasmus facing Alfredo Simon. Simon has allowed 12 of his 15 HR to LHB and for the season has given up 37 xBH to lefties, fanning them only 43 times. The icing on the cake is Rasmus is just 1-for-7 with 5 strikeouts against Simon which will scare off some batter versus pitcher disciples and keep his ownership low.

CHARLIE WIEGERT

top pitcher…Paying the price and taking Corey Kluber ($12,000). He dominated the Twinkees last time out, so the chances of him doping it again are not good, but, he just might have their number! If nothing else, there’s a good chance for double strike outs.

top hitter…Cards 3B Matt Carpenter ($3800) and Dodger 1B Adrian Gonzalez ($3400). Both have been hot lately, and with Klubers price, there’s not much room to take the top guys for tonight.

Is your DFS participation strictly Tout Daily or do you play during the week? Do you expect to keep playing once Tout Daily is over?

Steve Moyer, www.Inside Edge.com: I’m hooked. The only things that prevent me from playing a 50/50 and a tournament every day are extreme busyness or the matchups looking unfavorable. I like TOUT Daily because it’s the potential of money for nothing – a really nice freeroll.

Jeff Boggis, www.FantasyFootballEmpire.com, @JeffBoggis: I plan to play once Tout Daily is over for both fantasy baseball and fantasy football. Tout Daily has been a lot of fun and very challenging, especially with this group of competitive people. I’ve learned a lot for the different techniques and sources of information that the Touts have incorporated into their daily fantasy lineups, and I plan on increasing my knowledge to roster the best team possible in both the 50/50 and tournament style formats.

Brian Walton, www.mastersball.com, @B_Walton: I also play in the Mastersball-sponsored contests at FantasyScore once or twice per week, but that and Tout Daily is it for my daily participation right now. I haven’t yet chose to re-allocate the necessary time to play each day and won’t do it unless I can do it right.

“Andy Behrens, Yahoo! fantasy writer. A man barely alive.”

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic DFS player. Andy Behrens will be that man. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster.”

Either that or Andy had a crush on Farrah Fawcett growing up.

The top point-scoring team in this week’s Tout Challenge was leemajors, the moniker of FSWA President and all around good guy Andy Behrens. Coming in second was a challenger named mistergus with third going to someone with the handle of ToddZ.

In general it was a strong week for the Touts, placing nine Warriors in the top-16.

Andy’s squad was led by Carlos Rodon. In fact. Andy was the only participant to deploy the Chicago White Sox young southpaw. Rodon came through with seven innings of shutout ball, fanning 11 while procuring the win and a whopping 22 FanDuel points. The top hitter on team leemajors was Lorenzo Cain, owned by just two in the entire contest. The Kansas City Royals center-fielder had four hits including a double and homer with two runs and an RBI good for 11 points.

Before we share Andy’s entire lineup, be sure to check back Thursday for our weekly round table and Friday as the Tout Warriors reveal their top hitter and pitcher for this week’s Tout Challenge. We’re getting down to the nitty-gritty, this being the third of four weeks in our final period. The top-three point-scorers over this final phase will earn the last three golden tickets into Tout Championship on  August 28.

How much, if at all, do you rely on the Vegas lines, odds and props when it comes to researching your DFS lineups?

Brian Walton, www.mastersball.com, @B_Walton: Zero, none. I never even look at them.

Tim McCullough, www.rotoexperts.com, @Tim_RotoExperts: Aside from the expected run totals for the games, I don’t pay much attention to the Vegas lines. I prefer to go with handedness splits, park factors and stats in general. If the split stats point to a good matchup, I’m inclined to go with that even if the Vegas lines disagree.

Jeff Boggis, www.FantasyFootballEmpire.com, @JeffBoggis: I think that the Vegas lines are one of the most powerful tools Touts can use in Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS). The first number I analyze is the number line. The further away from 100 the number is, the bigger a favorite that pitcher is projected to be that evening. The closer to -200, the closer to a lock in the eyes of Las Vegas. I use this as a win counts for a great percentage of a pitcher’s fantasy points score. So the higher the likelihood of the win, the higher the likelihood of a good score. I also look at the total runs scored as that has a negative impact on a pitcher’s fantasy points. If I see several poor pitchers and want to go with stacking hitters all on the same team, I will look at the line for total runs scored and make a decision based on this information.

Chris Liss, www.rotowire.com, @Chris_Liss: I look at the run totals and game odds for stacks to target. Sometimes, I’ll stack different combos of players in game with an O/U of 8 or 8.5 and avoid the 9-plus to get more unique lineups in.

Gene McCaffrey,  www.wiseguys.com, @gene2323: I don’t rely on the odds but I pay attention to them and look for differences between my views and theirs. When there is a significant difference I rethink my conclusions, and sometimes change my mind. The oddsmakers are very good, but any team can win a baseball game, any pitcher can throw a gem or get hammered, and any hitter can hit two home runs tonight. I pay no attention at all to daily props, DFS is a superior format for those bets. You don’t have to be right on every long-shot.

Peter Kreutzer, www.askrotoman.com, @kroyte: 

I just started playing the daily game this year, and early in the season I didn’t pay attention to the Vegas odds. But for good and productive reasons I started to look at better information, and the Vegas lines reflect common opinion. This isn’t wisdom, but it does often reflect some sort of information that is hard to glean from tables of stats.

First off, a favor. Our friends at FanDuel have been kind enough to sponsor these Tuesday Night Tout Wars Challenge Double Up contests as a fun addition to our private Friday Tout Daily competition. We fell short of filling this week’s challenge which good for your odds of cashing but isn’t so good for continuing the Tuesday Challenge. With the understanding participation in general wanes this time of season, let’s all spread the word, Touts and friends of Touts and fill this bad boy up next week!

OK, last week the Tout’s took one on the chin but this week we, well, most everyone but me, finished in the money. To show just how unpredictable this endeavor can be, the same person that has finished with the highest score twice in the Challenge was barely above the default line-up this time around. What can I say, I chose poorly. Very poorly.

On the other hand, friend-of-Tout jeterson2 and Yahoo!’s Scott Pianowski chose wisely. Scott, who finished second overall, was joined in the top-ten by Jake Ciely and Scott Swanay. Five more Touts landed in the top-twenty.

Jeterson2’s week-leading squad featured Jon Niese (9.5% ownership) who tossed seven innings, allowing just one earned, fanning six while picking up the win for 16 big FanDuel points. The squad got homers from Josh Donaldson (6.3%), Chris Young (25.4%) and Carlos Gomez (6.3%).

Scott deployed Jimmy Nelson (7.9%) as his hurler, watching the Brewer’s righty twirl 6 2/3rd scoreless frames with four whiffs and the win, recording 14.66 points. Prince Fielder (14.3%), Nelson Cruz (4.8%), Kyle Parker (14.3%) and Young all went deep for Scott’s squad.

Scott’s roster is posted below. Remember, this is Week Two of the final phase of Tout Daily where the last three golden tickets into the Tout Championship will be awarded. Follow along with your favorite Tout and remember to look for next Tuesday’s Tout Challenge!

Is DFS an endeavor that you do primarily by yourself or is it more of a social experience, perhaps discussing lineups with friends and then following along together once the games begin?

Chris Liss, www.rotowire.com, @Chris_Liss

100 percent solo. Input from anyone else is a great way to poison your process!

Phil Hertz, www.baseballhq.com, @prhz50

It’s a solo activity. I mention what’s going on to a couple of close friends and my wife, but I think they listen only to be nice, not because they’re interested (except if I win).

Peter Kreutzer, www.askrotoman.com, @kroyte

I read some of my friends’ writing about DFS when I play, but haven’t found the experience very social. The normal variance for any player makes it difficult to get too invested in any prediction, though there is plenty of room for discussion about cheap plays.

Tim McCullough, www.rotoexperts.com, @Tim_RotoExperts

So far, DFS baseball is mainly a solo game for me. I can’t remember the last time I got together with friends to watch a ball game, aside from the occasional trip to see a game live. DFS Football is much more social. There were several occasions last season when I got together with friends to watch the hometown team and we all had our DFS plays with us. That’s a ton of fun because all the games matter to everyone in some way or another. If MLB could figure out a way to turn their Sunday games into an event like that, it would go a long way towards bringing fans back to the game.

Craig Mish, www.craigmish.com, @CraigMish

I really don’t have much interaction on DFS unless it’s when I am hosting on air. I do see people commenting nightly on twitter about their lineups but normally it’s more of an individual thing for me.

Patrick Davit, www.baseballhq.com, @patrickdavitt

Not only do I do my DFS solo, but I’m usually hiding the activity and doing it furtively when I think nobody is watching.

Scott Engel, www.rotoexperts.com, @scotteRotoEx

It  really depends on the sport. I find baseball to be a smaller circle that I don’t tend to play with the same people,although I do compare results with other colleagues. In football I find myself in more head to head games. In NASCAR, it’s a family affair, as my son and I watch the races and our live scoring together every week.

Nando DiFino, www.rotoexperts.com, @nandodifino

If I didn’t have the morning show with Tony Cincotta, DFS would be a totally antisocial activity for me. The only time I talk DFS lineups with anyone is when I’m showig someone what DFS is and how to set a lineup. The more opinions I have in my head, the lower I tend to finish.

Lawr Michaels, www.mastersball.com, @lawrmichaels

Todd Zola, www.mastersball.com, @ToddZola

In full disclosure, I concede I’m a bit of an odd duck, being self-employed, working at home, living by myself, sometimes not talking with humans for days at a time. That said, for me DFS is absolutely a social experience. Be it bouncing line-up ideas off friends via text, g-chat, IM, Twitter etc., sharing news as it breaks and then following along with the games, hopefully having someone vicariously share my sweat but more often than not, at least lately, vicariously sweating a tournament out with a friend, DFS is one of my favorite social outlets.

There’s absolutely nothing like the electricity of an in-person draft or auction, but once the season begins, interaction in seasonal leagues is limited to trade discussions and privately commiserating with another league member over the goofy offer you just received. DFS is a great vehicle to keep in touch with friends since there’s a minuscule something shared will come back to bite you that evening.

Honestly, it’s this social element of DFS, especially following my Twitter feed as the games are ongoing, that keeps me from going more nuts than I already am. If you’re not extracting some measure of social enjoyment from DFS, honestly, you’re doing it wrong.

Kudos to the readers as the Touts took one on the chin in this week’s Double-Up Tout Challenge. Of the 45 money spots, the participants of Tout Wars placed in just eight, lead by Jeff Erickson with the night’s 16th highest score.

The Touts joining Jeff in the top-20 were….no one. I told you it wasn’t our night.

Reader mikeyc913 took down the top spot behind Noah Syndergaard’s 21 point effort. His top hitters included Chris Young, Carlos Correa and Jose Abreu.

Erickson scored 53 points which would have led many of the Tout Challenge contests but on a night where the Yankees scored 21 runs, eight other teams plated at least seven, it wasn’t even enough to finish in the top-15. Erickson’s top scores was also the man called Thor with Correa and Eric Hosmer leading his hitters.

Friday begins the last phase of FanDuel’s Tout Daily. Twelve golden tickets have been awarded to twelve different Tout Warriors. Three more are left to be decided. The final phase will run four weeks and then the fifteen invitees will compete for the $1000 grand prize.

Be sure to check back on Friday as the Touts will share their favorite pitcher and hitter on Friday’s slate.