C-
Victor Martinez ($4,782). Slugging over .400 this month, starting to
find his power stroke. Colome may throw gas but his command is rough.
He's going to serve a few meatballs right over the plate. I like
V-Mart to punish at least one of them.
1B- Lance Berkman ($4,882). Owns a 1.027 OPS in 29 career AB against Cueto. Can't argue against history that well established, especially at this price tag.
2B- Rickie Weeks ($4,889). Over the last 7 days Weeks is sporting a line of .444/.524/.944. He's hitting the cover off the ball right now. Ride him while he's hot.
3B- Juan Francisco ($3,622). Like his teammate above, Francisco is dialed in at the plate. He's gone deep in 3 straight games. Facing off against a RHP in Cole tonight, has always displayed great power against righties.
SS- Brandon Crawford ($5,228). Owns a 1.069 OPS in 16 career AB against Chacin. Playing in Coors Field is always nice too.
OF- Carlos Beltran ($8,710). Owns a 1.074 OPS in 41 career AB against Colon. Nobody has a better track record against their opposing pitcher for today’s slate of games.
OF- Jose Bautista ($9,725). Slugging .621 in 35 games at Fenway Park. Facing off against a RHP in Webster tonight, he definitely excels more against righties.
OF- Giancarlo Stanton ($9,761). It's a small sample size but Stanton is batting .400 with a HR in 5 career AB against Volquez. When Volquez leaves PETCO Field he turns into an absolute train wreck and that's good news for Stanton.
U- Gregor Blanco ($5,422). 2-6 in his career against Chacin. Batting .311 against RHP this season and has the luxury of playing in Coors Field.
SP- Matt Harvey ($16,445). The Nationals have the 2nd worst offense in baseball. Harvey has the 2nd lowest ERA in baseball. The math here is easy.
SP- Hisashi Iwakuma ($16,683). Iwakuma loves the spacious confines of SAFECO field. A 1.46 ERA and 0.61 WHIP at home. Pitching in Seattle against the soft hitting Cubbies is a good recipe for success.
RP- Joaquin Benoit ($1,588). The new closer for the Tigers hasn't recorded a save since Leyland gave him the job. With Scherzer on the mound tonight I like his chances. He's only thrown 3.2 innings since 6/16, likely to get some work regardless of a save opportunity.
P- Gerrit Cole ($8,115). I know I have 2 Brewers in my starting lineup, but this is great value and a good matchup. He's shown pinpoint control and fantastic stuff since getting called up. His K rate is criminally low with the pedigree he has. He's due to generate some strikeouts.
