After about a century of disappointment, the Cubs are on the rise. Through shrewd trades and excellent drafts, Theo Epstein has assembled the deepest collection of brilliant young hitting talent I’ve ever seen — enough future all-stars to trade one to the pitching-wealthy Mets.
Every AL general manager should be making a strong pitch to acquire C/OF Kyle Schwarber $3400, who was touted here yesterday and paid off. His bat is too valuable to risk injury behind the plate as an everyday catcher. With the Cubbies playing six straight in AL parks, he’s in his best role (DH) this weekend only.
The 22-year-old lefty slugger looks shorter and even stronger than his listed 6-0, 235 suggests. He also has a great eye (42 BB/49 K in Double-A) but will go back to the minors on Monday to terrorize Triple-A pitching and work on his defense. Check out the video evidence of his opposite-field bomb last night off hard-throwing Danny Salazar.
15 new weekend MLB series begin tonight. Only the Pirates, Royals and Astros swept all four home-and-home interleague games, while the Rays, Orioles, A’s and surprisingly the Rangers took three of four.
DraftKings features DFS contests on all the games at 7:05 Eastern plus Late pools (4 games) that close at 9:35. In those, I like Sonny Gray $10100 and Lance McCullers $8000 among the limited SP options, with bats from Houston, Oakland and the Dodgers-Giants game. In the sample lineup and Short List below, we’re looking at the entire schedule.
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Chris Sale $11900 needs to be the stopper for the drooping Pale Hose, who have now lost seven straight. Jacob DeGrom $10700 and Gray are the other aces to consider. There’s a low-scoring duel brewing between A.J. Burnett $8700 and Joe Ross $5000; the rookie struck out eight Brewers in as many innings on June 13 and is trying to stay in the Nats’ rotation. McCullers, Tyler Lyons $6800 or Kyle Hendricks $6900 are all potential value plays and although Eduardo Rodriguez $6600 got pasted by the lefty-mashing Jays in his fourth big-league start, the first three were excellent.
Matt Wieters $4100 appears fully recovered from Tommy John surgery but for now plays every other game. He has an OPS of 1.062 through eight starts and three pinch-hit AB. Using him behind the plate and Schwarber in the OF is conceivable.
1B/3B Miguel Cabrera $5700 might have needed yesterday’s rainout to rest a couple of minor injuries. 1B/3B Todd Frazier $5200 also got a night off and should be fresh. 1B/3B Chris Davis $4500 has always enjoyed hitting in Toronto and RH Marco Estrada $5600 is an ideal matchup.
Dee Gordon $4500 is my #1 2B, with 2B/OF Ben Zobrist $4000 worth considering and 2B/3B Matt Duffy $3300 a possible bargain.
At 3B Manny Machado $4900 is on fire — .338/.384/.618 in June with 6 HR and 3 SB — and Estrada might not be the man to cool him off. Pablo Sandoval $3500 was benched for violating team social media policy and will want to atone tonight.
SS is loaded, with Troy Tulowitzki $5600 and Jose Reyes $4600 worth the money. Good old Alcides Escobar $3900 won us some money last night (3-for-4, SB) but should never be used vs. LHP. Super-rookie Carlos Correa $3900 is a must-start despite the venue change from Colorado to Seattle. The Astros are for real and he’s already a catalyst.
We called Giancarlo Stanton $5600 to blast his 25th HR last night. He can go deep off anyone, anywhere and punishes mistakes. I also liked Michael Brantley $4600 and will roll with him against another righty. George Springer $4700 is another key part of the Houston renaissance; he and Correa match up well vs. lefty Roenis Elias $6700. Among bargain OF, in addition to Schwarber and forever-underpriced Chris Colabello $3500, Jason Heyward $3300 is a terrific price and I kind of like Darrell Ceciliani $2000, who should return to the Mets lineup — he got last night off vs. a knuckleballer — facing a 22-year-old making his MLB debut.
| Pos | Premium | Bargain |
| SP1 | Chris Sale $11900 | Eduardo Rodriguez $6600 |
| SP2 | Sonny Gray $10100 | Joe Ross $5000 |
| C | Matt Wieters $4100 | Kyle Schwarber $3400 |
| 1B | Todd Frazier $5200 | Chris Davis $4500 |
| 2B | Dee Gordon $4500 | Matt Duffy $3300 |
| 3B | Manny Machado $4900 | Pablo Sandoval $3500 |
| SS | Troy Tulowitzki $5600 | Carlos Correa $3900 |
| OF1 | Giancarlo Stanton $5500 | Jason Heyward $3300 |
| OF2 | Michael Brantley $4600 | Chris Colabello $3500 |
| OF3 | George Springer $4700 | Darrell Ceciliani $2000 |
The Fantasy Spin features DFS advice every day of the NBA season and we’re turning out attention to baseball for the summer. Follow Kent Williams @SheridanFantasy for updates.