3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 8/7/17
Max Scherzer ($11,100) gave us quite a scare his last time out, pitching just one scoreless inning before leaving with what turned out to be neck spasms. But following a bullpen session over the weekend, Scherzer appears to be good to go, and is a lock as the top pitcher on a tidy seven-game slate. The neck may make you a little uneasy, but you'll undoubtedly feel more uneasy leaving Scherzer's 2.74 SIERA and 35.7% strikeout rate off your DFS roster.
Following Scherzer, there is a steep drop-off in arms. However, there are minor weather concerns in Washington, so should things get dicey, the safest pivot in cash games is Jake Arrieta ($9.800). Arrieta hasn't been the most exciting arm this year, but he gets the light-hitting San Francisco Giants on the road, who have just a 3.48 implied team total.
For tournaments, Carlos Martinez ($8,900) has the most upside of the non-Scherzer bunch, given his 26.0% punchout rate, but he struggled in July with a pedestrian 4.53 SIERA and 17.6% rate. That said, he's posted a 31.3% rate over his last two starts, so don't sleep on Martinez, even against a Kansas City Royals team that suppresses strikeouts.
As always, it's important to narrow down your short list of DFS players to target and avoid the suboptimal plays who are overpriced or in tough spots. Let's check out three guys to consider fading on tonight's FanDuel main slate.
