Day: August 14, 2015

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.