The Rangers are an offense to use, but if you’re looking for sleepers, make sure to check out a few aging power hitters who have favorable matchups.
Value plays:
Jason Bay – The Mets are in the midst of an awful funk that has daily fantasy baseball owners not even considering any of their players, but Jason Bay wants you to look twice before passing on all New Yorkers. He owns a .400 career batting average against Ben Sheets (30 career at bats) and heads a NY attack that is batting .333 against the righty. Bay hasn’t homered since mid July, but he has a decent chance to break that streak tonight on Sunday Night Baseball. This is a low risk high reward option in daily fantasy baseball games tonight.
Texas Rangers – This is an elite offense with an great matchup, and you have all my support if you want to roster this entire lineup and call it a day. Texas is batting .410 against Rick Porcello with a .627 slugging percentage, and all of the usual suspects have had great amounts of success. Adrian Beltre, Michael Young, David Murphy, and Ian Kinsler are all batting at least .455 against the righty. While Josh Hamilton has struggled against Porcello (1 hit in 7 at bats), he has hit 71% of his homers against righties this year and hits more HR’s at home than on the road. There is no such thing as rostering to many Texan Rangers in fantasy baseball today.
Alfonso Soriano – High winds were forecasted at Wrigley Field all weekend, making it a heaven for fantasy baseball owners. Soriano figures to get some help from mother nature, but he has done plenty by himself vs Johnny Cueto. The Cubs outfielder holds a respectable .286 career average against the Reds ace, with 30% of his hits going for home runs. If the wind is blowing out, the power potential of Soriano is as high as any player in the league. Rostering him comes with little downside, as even if Wrigley is playing as a neutral ballpark, Soriano has had success against Cueto.
Players to avoid:
Mark Trumbo – Power hitters will have their days, but rostering them is all about picking your spots effectively. The numbers suggest that tonight is an opportunity to pass on the powerful Angel, as he opposes Jason Vargas. The Mariners lefty has held Trumbo to a .200 career batting average, retiring him via K on 53.3% of his at bats. He has yet to walk or hit an extra base hit against Vargas, making the ceiling for his production a low one. His near .290 average and upper level power make Trumbo a good buy most days, but you need to look at a different power source tonight.
Giancarlo Stanton – You will not find a person that likes Stanton and his power more than me, but a matchup against Chris Capuano is one I’ll be sitting out. Stanton has never homered against the lefty, and with very little help around him, I don’t expect that to change. Carlos Lee is typically counted on for protection, but he is just as bad against Capuano (.176 batting average). Stanton has yet to establish a consistent rhythm since returning from the DL, and while I like his chances to provide fantasy greatness down the road, today is not his day to shine.
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