With the MLB season upon us, we’re in a giving mood. It is Easter weekend, after all. Yesterday, we launched a free version of My Playbook (in-season advice tool). Today we’re announcing a $1,000 Freeroll on FanDuel AND giving advice on how to set your lineup. The contest takes just a few minutes to enter. Simply input the players you think will perform best on Opening Day (within a salary cap) and you’re all set. Over 200 people will win a cut of the prize money. Let’s hope you’re in that group after reading this article!
To help with your FanDuel decisions, we’ve asked Nick Raducanu (FantasyTrade411) and Ben Pritchett (FantasySports.org) to share their own lineups. Both experts have extensive experience in the daily games space and they’ve proven their mettle in our accuracy competitions. In short, we recommend taking in the advice that both of these knowledgeable experts have to offer.
Expert FanDuel Lineups: Which one is better?
Enter your own lineup for the Opening Day Freeroll 
(Editor’s note: Jordany Valdespin is not in the Opening Day Starting Lineup for the Mets)
Strategy Tips
Nick Raducanu: “One of the things I like to do with my daily lineups is “stack” my lineup with one team’s hitters and hope I hit it big on that given night. This strategy is a good go-for-broke method for large prize pool league’s like FantasyPros, but I felt like it’s a little too risky given the fact that it’s the first day of the season and there aren’t really any hot/cold lineup trends to base my stacking decisions on. Instead, I used a method that can also pay dividends and tried to target players who have had previous success against the pitcher (or hitters) that they’ll be facing on Opening Day. For instance, Jeff Samardzija has held current Pirates hitters to a .149 average in his career and the only Pirate who has ever hit a home run off of him is Neil Walker (with a whopping one). Adrian Gonzalez is another example in that he has great numbers against Matt Cain in his career with a .311 average to go along with 4 home runs and 13 RBI in 61 at-bats against San Francisco’s ace. You’ll find similar career stats with almost all of the players I selected if you go through my roster and since we don’t have any 2013 stats to go on yet, I felt like this was the best strategy I could possibly use for Opening Day.”
Ben Pritchett: “First of all, with any daily fantasy baseball competition your roster selection process is centered around how you handle the starting pitcher slot. The starter produces the most points and thus is priced 3 to 4 times greater than the positional players. The way I see it there’s three possible starting pitcher selections for Opening Day on FanDuel: Stephen Strasburg (WAS vs. MIA) $9,300, Jon Lester (BOS @ NYY) $7,100, and Jon Niese (NYM vs. SD) $6,600. So you have pricey, risky, and matchup-based cheap. For my lineup, I decided to go risky and use Lester. He’s coming off a huge Spring and from all reports looks as though he’s regained his form. The Yanks have only one legitimately good player in Robinson Cano, and he has struggled against lefties lately. As for the rest of the guys, V-Mart seemed like a steal at $3,300. I like LaRoche and Harper as strong lefties going against Ricky Nolasco. Nobody is a better April player than Utley. I think Josh Hamilton hits a home run off Johnny Cueto in Cincy. Aramis Ramirez is facing a shell of a pitcher in Jhoulys Chacin, and Andrelton Simmons comes in at a great price point in an otherwise talent-thin position.”
Value Picks
Nick Raducanu: “With any daily fantasy lineup, you always need to find good value plays that will allow you to roster the big money players like Mike Trout, Ryan Braun, or in my case, Miguel Cabrera. To do so, you have to find some bargain basement players who you think can produce returns that will exceed their price tag (which I did with Chris Getz, Alex Avila, and Andrelton Simmons). While his price tag wouldn’t be approved at Macklemore’s thrift shop, my favorite value pick on my roster was Andre Ethier at $3,300. I was trying to find some outfielders who would allow me to roster Miguel Cabrera and after choosing Spring Training home run leader, Mike Morse, I really liked what Ethier gave me at a price that was actually cheaper than some guys like Michael Saunders, Brandon Moss, and David DeJesus (none of whom I consider better players than Ethier). Going back to my point from above, Ethier has absolutely owned Matt Cain to the tune of a .456 average in 57 career at-bats (not a small sample size) and has a good chance to improve upon those numbers on Opening Day. It gets to be pretty slim pickings at the outfield spot under the $3,300 price tag, so I felt like Ethier had the best chance to give me a good low-cost, high-value play (and hopefully help me with the FantasyPros.com Opening Day Contest.”
Ben Pritchett: “My value pick of the day is Jordany Valdespin ($2,400). Valdespin should start and lead-off for the Mets on Opening Day (Editor’s note: Valdespin is not in the Opening Day Starting Lineup for the Mets). He’ll draw Edinson Volquez, a right-hander, as his opposing pitcher, who doesn’t like pitching away and has had a rough Spring. Valdespin hits better at home and against righties. In his two plate appearances against Volquez, he has a strikeout and a two-RBI double. I like that the Mets lineup is filled with powerful lefties behind Valdespin. If Jordany can get on base, I think he has a chance to steal (even though he’s going up against Padres rocket-armed catcher Nick Hundley) and score some runs. At the cheapest price possible ($2,400), Valdespin should return his value and could make you some money if he has a big day.”
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Ready to make your own selections? Select your team now and see how you do on Opening Day!
Special thanks to Nick & Ben for sharing their lineup advice. Be sure to visit their sites (FantasyTrade411.com & FantasySports.org) and follow them on Twitter (@FantasyTrade411 & @prichettclan) for additional insight during the season.
