The Touts Picks for Week 12 of Tout Daily with FanDuel!

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We asked the Touts to share their picks for best pitcher and best hitter in tonight’s Tout Daily Week 12 contest. For more about Tout Daily visit here.

Tonight’s contest is Week 4 of Phase 3 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. Here are the leaders going into this final week (click to enlarge):

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Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Adam Ronis, Lenny Melnick, Lawr Michaels and Tom Kessenich have tickets to the finals already. The leaderboard is here.

Here are this week’s Tout picks. I’ll be updating this as they come in, so check back later if you get a chance.

Paul Sporer Picks

 

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) The contact-heavy approach has served ATL well this year against righties where they sit around or just below average. Yes, that is being “served well” for ATL standards because they were expected to be a total doormat coming into the season and they have been vs. lefties. They sit 28th in wRC+ at 76 WITH Freddie Freeman… imagine them without and it’s not like he killed lefties in the first place (.769 OPS). Liriano has been mostly excellent this year with a 3.26 ERA and skills to back it (and then some). He’s had a few clunkers as he always does, but the upside is elite once he gets rolling.
Luis Valbuena ($3900–New York Yankees at Houston) Valbuena is a DFSer’s dream with his low costs and HR-dependent production. With 19 HRs the price has jumped up, but he’s still worth targeting in tourney situations because of that power output. He’s incredibly boom or bust with two 14-pt nights within his last eight games and then just 7.25 pts in the other six combined. He’s at home and he’s facing righty, his two prime splits. And he’s facing a righty who gets mauled by lefties in Nathan Eovaldi (.964 OPS v. LHB).

Brian Walton Likes

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh)  Wise money will be on Max Scherzer ($12,500) against the inept Phillies offense, but then again, if the Nats’ ace was ever going to have an unexplainable let-down, wouldn’t this be the time? Instead, I will save almost three grand and select the ace of my National League Tout Wars squad, Pittsburgh’s Francisco Liriano, who takes on the Freddie Freeman-less Braves at home.

Jason Heyward ($3700–Chicago Cubs at St. Louis) On the offensive side, I will highlight Cardinals outfielder Jason Heyward. Early returns had pegged the Braves as the clear winner in the Shelby Miller trade, but Heyward is finally heating up. The 25-year-old has a .913 OPS in June and is coming off a Miami series during which he went deep twice and plated four.

Jeff Boggis Has A Lot on the Line Tonight

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadelphia) Going into tonight’s contest, I am in 3rd place and a close to a “golden ticket” into the Tout Daily Championship, so I can’t afford to get cute and take chances with my roster tonight. Starting pitching is my top priority and I plan on building my team around Max Scherzer. He is the highest salaried pitcher tonight, but that is not stopping me from rostering him in tonight’s contest. Scherzer has averaged 16.95 fantasy points per game this season and over the past 2 weeks, he has averaged 26 fantasy points. He is coming off his no-hitter against Pittsburgh on Saturday and he is facing a team that he has pitched well against this season. In 2 starts against the Philadelphia Phillies this season, he is 2-0 and is averaging 8 innings pitched, 1 earned run, and 7.5 strikeouts. If he repeats this average, that’s 18.5 fantasy points on Friday night. Scherzer faces Aaron Harang who is giving up a lot of home runs lately. Over the last 4 starts, Harang has allowed 20 earned runs in his last 23.2 inning pitched. There is a 50% chance of rain in Philadelphia on Friday, but it decreases to only 20% on Friday night.

Nolan Arenado ($4,500–Colorado at San Francisco) The third baseman for Colorado is the hottest hitter in baseball this week and ranks #1 overall in the past 7 days with 9 runs scored, 4 home runs, 9 RBIs, and a .391 batting average. He faces Tim Hudson tonight to where he is slugging .500 against him in his last 19 plate appearances. Arendado has 20 home runs and 60 RBIs on the season.

Todd Zola Divines

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) Facing a weak-hitting Braves team that whiffs at a 22 percent clip versus southpaws, at home in one of the best pitcher’s parks in the league. It’s not even a bang-for-the-buck thing. I expect more points from Liriano than anyone on the docket, including Scherzer and Kluber.
Derek Norris ($2,800–Arizona at San Diego) You know the expression friends with benefits? I call this a punt play with benefits. Norris faces a weak lefty at a minimum price at a position I’ll either spend a ton for the right situation or go cheap. This is going cheap in a great situation.

Al Melchior Ruminates

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadephia) Everyone knows by now that Scherzer has been nearly perfect in back-to-back starts, and he has been flat-out dominant all season long with great control. Add in a matchup against the worst offense in the majors against righties and that makes Scherzer worth every penny.

Luis Valbuena ($3900–New York Yankees at Houston)
Valbuena doesn’t hit for average against righties or lefties, but he does crush righties for a .288 Iso. Eovaldi has allowed a .380 batting average to lefties. Looks like the perfect night to start Valbuena.

From the Godfather of Fantasy Sports, Charlie Wiegert

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadephia) The closest thing to a sure thing, so you have to pay the price. But Max has been on a roll, has an inferior Phillies team, and wants to extend the Washington pitchers scoreless innings streak.  He’s 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA vs Phillies this year, pay the price and get the best.
Evan Longoria ($2900–Boston at Tampa Bay) I’ll have to go cheap with Scherzer, so looking for bargains.  I’ll take a couple $2200 outfielders, and some right handed hitting Blue Jay hitters at home vs Texas lefty starter Nick Martinez and hope Evan Longoria takes Rick Porcello deep.

Steve Moyer’s Inside Edge

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) Anyone cheaper than Mr. No-Hitter is a bargain tonight and Inside Edge says Lirano is the best choice on the board. When the Phillies are pounding Scherzer later, you’ll be doing the happy dance (OK, I’m getting carried away).
Justin Upton ($3,300–Arizona at San Diego) Clicks on all cylinders according to the new, even more improved this week Inside Edge engine. Say Hey, Robbie Ray!

Ray Murphy’s Thoughts

Taijuan Walker ($7,800–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) Much attention will be focused on Scherzer, but I’ll take a shot with Taijuan Walker tonight for $7800. He’s been on a roll for the last month, and in that time has established that he can thrive on the road. He is at Anaheim tonight, facing a surprisingly-punchless Angels lineup. I’ll roll with him and bet that I can use the $4700 savings between him and Scherzer to build an offense that makes up any points gap between the two hurlers.
Scott Van Slyke ($3,000–Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami) is my favorite platoon specialist tonight: facing rookie southpaw Justin Nicolino, Van Slyke will slot into the middle of the Dodgers lineup. Look for a long ball from him.

Michael Beller Zags

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) You can go in a lot of different directions with your pitcher tonight, but I’m riding with Francisco Liriano. A matchup with the Freddie Freeman-less Braves? Yes, please.Josh Donaldson ($4,100–Texas at Toronto) Rostering Liriano instead of one of the pitchers priced higher than him allows me to stack Blue Jays. Of all those Jays, I think Josh Donaldson is the best bet. He should be able to take advantage of a matchup with Nick Martinez.

Eno Sarris Digs

Jesse Hahn ($7,800–Kansas City at Oakland) Way down there on the list, the 12th-most expensive pitcher, that’s the one I want. Hahn hasn’t been a great source of strikeouts, but he continues to tell me they are coming, and there are reasons to believe — his curve is among the league-leaders in spin rate, and was a top-five pitch by whiffs last year among curveballs thrown by starters. In the meantime, though, he’s just a really high floor pitcher at home. After being on teams with  pitcher’s parks over the last two years, he’s shown a 3.03 ERA at home. Like the price most of all, though.
Victor Martinez ($3,300–Chicago White Sox at Detroit) It’s so nice to be able to play Victor Martinez at catcher. It’s even nicer when he’s facing a lefty that uses a curveball as his out pitch. Martinez has traditionally batted better from the right side, and has mashed yakkers over his career. Given that Jose Quintana doesn’t get many whiffs, and Martinez doesn’t whiff much, this seems like a great matchup for the Tiger. I was tempted to put a cheap Ryan Rua on here — the Texas outfielder is facing a lefty today, in Toronto — but Rua will bat lower in the lineup and is more of a lineup hole-plugger with some upside.

Phil Hertz Hits

Jesse Hahn ($7,800–Kansas City at Oakland) I’m a little nervous about Jesse Hahn’s potential lack of strikeouts, but he’s been pitching well, the A’s are playing well, and the price is right.

Logan Morrison ($2,400–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) has an OPS north of .800 against righthanded pitchers and has hit Matt Shoemaker well before.

Scott Engel’s Kiss

Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) If you are not going to spend up for Max Scherzer tonight, then Francisco Liriano looks like a good option at $9,900. The Braves offense is rather punchless without Freddie Freeman and Liriano should be in line for the win.
Brian Dozier ($3,900–Minnesota at Milwaukee) Kyle Lohse is having a terrible season and I will always attack him when I can. Righties are hittng .323 with 10 HRs against him so I will lock in Brian Dozier at 3,900 and maybe add a Twins teammate or two.

Gene McCaffrey’s Pearls

lex Colome ($6,400–Boston at Tampa Bay) Roll those dice with Alex Colome against the anemic Red Sox in Tampa. You may lose but you should have plenty of hitting points.
Robinson Cano ($2,600–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) is finally heating up, nice spot vs lost righty Shoemaker tonight.

Lenny Melnick’s Voice

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadelphia) If we are true Baseball fans ,we must root for Max Scherzer to tie Johnny Vander Meer’s record of 2 NO hitters in a row  Im rooting and playing him for all the wrong DFS reasons
Evan Gattis ($3,300–New York Yankees at Houston) Eovaldi in Houston? Give me Gattis and a side order of Valbuena please! Ill take it TO GO! (deep)

Jake Ciely Skies One

Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadelphia) Man, it’s tough to stomach a pitcher priced at $12,500, but is there a chance we see back-to-back no-hitters for Max Scherzer? After all, the Phillies are the worst team in baseball against righties for wOBA (.279) and wRC+ (74). There are quite a few hitters in the $2,000 range, where you can build a solid lineup behind Scherzer (I did it), so you have to go with the guy who has 52 points over his last two starts.

Jake took Byron Buxton, early in the day, but switched to Bryce Harper when Buxton went on the DL.

Lawr Micheal’s Disembodied Poetics

John Lackey ($8,800–Chicago Cubs at St. Louis) Since I need points, my “crapshoot” is Lackey facing the Cubbies, who are indeed free swingers.

Andrew McCutchen ($4,200–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) With Josh Harrison ($3,300) A minor stack against Williams Perez, who has pitched well enough, but averted disaster by allowing opposing hitters a .324 OBP to go with his 1.377 WHIP.

Scott Swanay’s Stabs

Trevor May ($6,400–Minnesota at Milwuakee) He’s been pitching better of late, and he gets to face a strikeout-prone team(Milwaukee) that’s starting a struggling pitcher (Kyle Lohse).  Max Scherzer seems like the “obvious” pick for tonight, but the Phillies don’t strike out a lot, so I’ll spend my money elsewhere.
Charles Blackmon ($4,400–Colorado at San Francisco) The price tag seems low for a streaking hitter facing a mediocre starter (Tim Hudson).  The only thing that could make this match-up more appealing were if the game were being played at Coors Field.  Brett Gardner was the other hitter I considered tabbing for this week’s contest.

Doug Anderson’s Dailies

Tyson Ross ($8,800–Arizona at San Diego)  – FanDuel has five pitchers priced above  Ross. Just remember this is Tyson Petco Ross we’re talking about. He’s a much different pitcher than Tyson on-the-road Ross. While this year’s splits don’t agree, I’m going with a career’s worth of splits. He’s also coming off a dominant performance of his own against these same Diamondbacks.
Yoenis Cespedes ($3,700–Chicago White Sox at Detroit) vs. Jose Quintana (LHP) – First of all, I’m not a big believer in Batter vs. Pitcher numbers. BUT, Cespedes is part of maybe the best stack of the night, and he’s 8-for-12 with four home runs off Quintana in his career. It’s a small sample size, but it does tell me Quintana is not going to dominate Cespedes.
Pitcher (Cost–Game) Votes (FanDuel Points)
Francisco Liriano ($9900–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) 7 (8)
Max Scherzer ($12,500–Washington at Philadelphia) 5 (17)
Taijuan Walker ($7,800–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) (12)
Jesse Hahn ($7,800–Kansas City at Oakland) 2 (8)
Alex Colome ($6,400–Boston at Tampa Bay) 2 (5)
John Lackey ($8,800–Chicago Cubs at St. Louis)
Trevor May ($6,400–Minnesota at Milwaukee) (-4.67)
Tyson Ross ($8,800–Arizona at San Diego) 

Hitter (Cost–Game) Votes (FanDuel Points)

Luis Valbuena ($3900–New York Yankees at Houston) 2 (.25)
Jason Heyward ($3700–Chicago Cubs at St. Louis) (-1)

Nolan Arenado ($4,500–Colorado at San Francisco)
Derek Norris ($2,800–Arizona at San Diego) (2.25)

Justin Upton ($3,300–Arizona at San Diego)
Evan Longoria ($2900–Boston at Tampa Bay)
Scott Van Slyke ($3,000–Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami) (8.25)
Josh Donaldson ($4,100–Texas at Toronto) (3.25)
Victor Martinez ($3,300–Chicago White Sox at Detroit) (1.25)
Logan Morrison ($2,400–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) (.25)
Brian Dozier ($3,900–Minnesota at Milwaukee) (7.75)

Kole Calhoun ($2,200–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim)
Robinson Cano ($2,600–Seattle at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) (5.25)
Evan Gattis ($3,300–New York Yankees at Houston)

Bryce Harper ($5,300–Washington at Philadelphia)
Andrew McCutchen ($4,200–Atlanta at Pittsburgh) With Josh Harrison ($3,300)
Charles Blackmon ($4,400–Colorado at San Francisco)
Yoenis Cespedes ($3,700–Chicago White Sox at Detroit)
Ian Kinsler ($2,800–Chicago White Sox at Detroit)

Tout Wars DFS Round Table

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This week’s question requires a little background, specifically the nuances of our FanDuel Tout Daily Tournament. The regular season. so to speak, is 20 weeks long, divided into five periods of four weeks. Each week is a mini-tournament with a modest payout but the big carrot is a ticket into the one-day Tout Daily Championship with a $1000 grand prize. The top-three finishers in each period will get an entry into the finals. Each Tout is allowed to earn two tickets. With that in mind, here’s this week’s question:

IT’S THE LAST WEEK OF PERIOD THREE, WE AWARD THREE MORE TICKETS INTO THE TOUT DAILY CHAMPIONSHIP FRIDAY NIGHT. HOW WILL YOUR PRESENT PLACEMENT IN THE PERIOD THREE STANDINGS INFLUENCE YOUR LINEUP FOR THIS WEEK’S TOUT DAILY?

Peter Kreutzer, www.askrotoman.com, @kroyte: Finding myself 55 points out of the Top 3, with one week to play, with the highest score of any week in this phase 63, I have to admit I’m out of it. But I’m not out of the weekly money contest. So I will submit the lowest-priced pitcher I think is a good chance to win, and then select players from the highest scoring games expected that night.  It is an approach that has failed me so far, landing me bad hitters on the nights I have good pitching and good hitters on the nights I have bad pitching. And some weeks all has gone bad, but I’m pretty sure there will be a week when all goes good. Could be this one.

Charlie Wiegert, www.CDMSports.com, @GFFantasySports: Not a time to play it safe, I need a lot of long shots to hit and the studs to be duds to just reach respectability!

Lawr Michaels, www.mastersball.com, @lawrmichaels: Well, I guess I am “lucky/skillfull” enough to have made the cut in Phase II, so I can experiment a little and not lose too much face. But, that does not mean I don’t want to win. I will obviously try to get in with pitching, though seriously, after the horrible Felix Hernandez meltdown my faith in just about everything DFS has reaffirmed my more instinctive Zen approach generally works better for me than does a “sure thing.”

Michael Beller, www.SI.com, @MBeller: I’m in second place for period three, so I’ve got a lot on the line this week. This may not be a satisfying answer to some, but I’m not changing my strategy at all. I’ve now cashed in Tout Daily five times, including one win and another top-three finish, and I’ve had my most success by building my lineup around a pitcher. That’s what I’ll do again Friday, with no shortage of options at our disposal.

Lenny Melnick, www.rotoexperts.com, @LennyMelnick: Competitive juices flowing! Love this standings format for Daily! I have my ticket for finals locked up but I sit 20+ pts points behind leaders in June I will go contrarian and take chances with the hope of being 20 pts better than the leaders. I have done 5 teams options already and I will sit on it for now until the lineups come out! A few surprises in store…IF THEY are playing.

Steve Moyer, www.inside-edge.com: I’d be happy to grind out $12 every week and that’s how I play. If I happen to stumble into the finals, then so be it.

Brian Walton, www.mastersball.com, @B_Walton: Though I should be more motivated to take risk than most, I will stick with my approach to assemble the best team possible. What is behind my motivation point is that I appear to be the only one among the overall leaders to have not yet qualified for the finals. Perhaps there needs to be a wild card added in the future for a marathoner who finds himself among a group of world-class sprinters!

Jeff Boggis, www.FantasyFootballEmpire.com, @JeffBoggis: I think of all the Touts that have the most pressure on them this week, it would be me. I am currently in 3rd place for phase 3 with only a 3 point lead, so every point counts for me this week. The competition is fierce as there are 3 teams in 4th (Scott Pianowski), 5th (Adam Ronis), and 7th (Lenny Melnick) place that have already qualified from either phase 1 or phase 2, so you know that they will bring their A game this week as they can obtain another ticket with a top 3 finish in this phase. For me, the most important element is not getting cute or taking risks, and it all starts with selecting the right pitcher. I already know who I will start as my starting pitcher this week and it will be revealed in Friday’s top pitcher and hitter recommendations article. I then have to fill the other 8 hitting slots with an average of $3,000 per player. I typically will spend $4-$5K on 3-5 hitters in the 1B, 3B, and OF slots, and fill in the remaining 3-4 slots with $2,200 upside players. I will be paying closer attention to the weather and also to finalized MLB rosters as I can’t afford to have players involved with a rainout or given the night off on Friday. To date, for me there has been no magic formula for success in Daily Fantasy Sports. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity and competition that Tout Daily offers me as I can experiment with different roster strategies. I will be watching both Friday’s competition and the overall phase 3 scores with extra interest on Friday night as I pray for that “golden ticket” into the Tout Daily Championship. Good luck to everyone on Friday!

Rob Leibowitz, www.mastersball.com, @Rob_Leibowitz: Looking at the standings, despite my solid 3rd place showing last week, I won’t be able to overcome my lousy first two weeks of this phase. With that in mind, I will have to go outside the box for most of my picks (and cross my fingers) on some longshots to come within earshot of the top three.

Gene McCaffrey, www.wiseguys.com, @gene2323: I’m trying to find the players with the best chance to get the most points. With a close call I’m inclined to choose the guy I THINK will be less popular, but really that is a guess – more distraction than sound thinking. Speaking of Felix last week, Price was CLEARLY a better choice for performance, what steered me away was the weather issue.

WE INTERRUPT THE ROUND TABLE FOR A SIDE BAR BETWEEN www.RockRemnants.com compadres Lawr and Gene:

Lawr: I dunno Gene. Felix, a strikeout pitcher, going against the team that has the second most whiffs in the majors over the season so far seemed pretty logical at the time. Even if he gave up all those eight runs over say six innings, but struck out ten he would have been worth eight points. that might not have been enough for much, but no one expected that implosion. And, that is why baseball is such mysterious fun, right. you just never know!

Gene: Well, that’s why we play, but one is at home for a .514 team vs. a .465 team, the other on the road for a .452 team vs. a .568 team. I only wish I’d taken my own advice…

WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED ROUND TABLE

Scott Pianowski, www.Yahoo.com, @scott_pianowski: I’m close enough to the ticket area that I can just play it straight, go for the best plays I see without concern to likely pool behavior. If I were down a tier or so, I’d strongly consider pitcher differentiation, since that’s the spot with the most team-to-team variance.

Derek Van Riper, www.rotowire.com, @DerekVanRiper: I won’t be changing anything in my approach even with a small lead for the top spot in Phase 3. If I were on the outside looking in as a qualifier heading into the week, my emphasis would be on players with higher ceiling output, albeit with more variance. Additionally, I would probably think a little more about how much ownership there will be on some of the key players for the teams ahead of me.

Scott Swanay, www.fantasybaseballsherpa.com, @Fantasy_Sherpa: The short answer is “not at all”. Unless the Cards decide to start Miguel Socolovich Friday night, I decide to use him, and he earns a perfect score of 40, I have no chance of finishing in the top three this phase. My personal goal is to score at least 35 points this week so that I’ll beat my Phase 2 score, which was better than my Phase 1 score. At that pace, I might be in contention for a top-three phase finish about the same time the Phillies are in contention for a top-three finish in the NL East again.

Jake Ciely, www.rotoexperts.com, @allinkid: I have to go GPP style and lean contrarian. I missed the Top 3 by 12 points the first period, less than two the second period and now sit about 17 back from third place. I need to make up significant ground and can’t play it safe… but also, I’m trying to convince the powers-that-be to also award anyone in the Top 5 at season’s end a ticket (if they didn’t grab a monthly Top 3 spot). After all, I’ve been so consistent that I’m fourth overall on the year (two points from third overall), yet I’m headed towards missing a ticket for the third straight month! Consistent excellence should be rewarded… who’s with me?!

*crickets*
Nando DiFino, www.rotoexperts.com, @nandodifino: I’m going to play the week like I’ve played every other week — without even considering the overall standings and just going after the best lineup to win the most money. I rarely play 50/50s — and maybe that’s to my detriment — but this is still fun for me, and I see no joy in playing it safe and tip-toeing around logically-selected risks.
Ray Murphy, www.baseballhq.com, @RayHQ: Being 30 points out of the top 3 (thanks, Felix), it opens the doors to some extremely contrarian strategies. I could conceivably do something like build a lineup stack against the night’s most popular ace (Scherzer), hoping that the combination of a Scherzer blowup would put a big hurt on the people who roster him while vaulting my lineup of low-ownership bats to the top.Or, more likely, I’ll play it straight-up and just look to win the week outright before moving on to the next phase.
Todd Zola, www.mastersball.com, @ToddZola: I’m so far out of it I’ll be playing this tournament style and trying for the weekly prize, then I’ll evaluate how I want to approach the next phase over the course of the week.