.jpg)
Get a Season Pass & Play 25 games in 6 Sports for $39.95 with Promo Code: Sirius
It took longer than I would have liked, but I finally got a win in my Head2Head Salary Cap baseball league in Week 4. Mitch Haniger and Didi Gregorius paced my hitters, while my switch from the Cubs to Astros pitching staff paid immediate dividends. I definitely stuck with the Cubs for too long, but
One of the things I love about Head2Head is that even an 0-3 start isn’t enough to derail your season. You can—and probably should—retool your lineup every week. If you make some bad calls, or run into some bad luck, you have every opportunity to turn things around, one week at a time. That is true of not only the H2H Salary Cap Baseball contest but the Playoff Basketball and Golf Salary Cap games as well. After we look at some MLB players who should outperform their salaries going forward, we will offer some brief thoughts for the Playoff Basketball and Golf contests, too.
H2H Baseball Salary Cap players to target:
Ronald Acuna , OF, ATL—Last month I wrote of Acuna “The minute he is called up to the big leagues, he immediately becomes a great value.” Aside from the fact the “immediately” in that sentence was unnecessary, I stand behind that sentiment.
Jeimer Candelario , 3B, DET—He has flown a bit under the radar compared to young third basemen like Christian Villanueva and Miguel Andujar , but Candelario is off to a solid start, picking up where he left of in 38 big league games last season. Candelario has a 9.7 percent walk rate and a 21.5 percent strikeout rate, which has led to a .271/.353/.434 line. Even if his BABIP regresses, which isn’t a foregone conclusion, he should hit enough to outperform his meager price.
Adam Eaton , OF, ARI, and Xander Bogaerts , SS, BOS—Both players were off to great starts before they landed on the disabled list. I believed both were underpriced at the start of the season, and unlike with Acuna, we actually have evidence from this season to support my argument.
Mitch Haniger , OF, SEA—In my preseason article, I mentioned I love Head2Head’s format for good players whose prices are deflated due to injury. Haniger certainly fits the bill. He is currently sixth in MLB in slugging percentage, ahead of Aaron Judge and Charlie Blackmon .
Manny Machado , SS, BAL—I don’t believe it is an overreaction to say if we were redrafting fantasy leagues today, Manny Machado would be a first-round pick. There are plenty of guys to like in his price range, including Rhys Hoskins , Francisco Lindor , Trea Turner and Nelson Cruz , but Machado is clearly the best of that group.
Oakland Athletics—Oakland’s pitchers rank 12th in WAR this season. That’s pretty good considering their Head2Head salary. They might not have an ace, even after Sean Manaea ’s no-hitter, but their rotation and bullpen are solid top to bottom. If you want to spend big on your hitters, Oakland offers a cheap pitching staff that won’t hurt you.
Arizona Diamondbacks—Arizona’s depth took a blow with the injury to Taijuan Walker , but with the emergence of Patrick Corbin , the Diamondbacks might have the best starting rotation in baseball. With Archie Bradley anchoring the bullpen, it is no surprise the Diamondbacks are second in MLB in FIP.
My Playoff Salary Cap team is off to a pretty decent start, ranking 13th out of 28 teams through Wednesday. I feel fortunate to LeBron James, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, (1).jpg)
and I will be rooting for those series to go seven games. Rajon Rondo and Anthony Davis probably count as good picks as well, though I certainly didn’t anticipate that series producing the only sweep of the first round. Moving forward, I will probably try to put more thought into choosing which series will last the longest, in addition to finding players with strong matchups or who appear to be good values. With that in mind, I will probably target the Golden State-New Orleans series. The Pelicans may not be quite as good as they looked in Round 1, but I think they can at least hang with the Warriors for as long as Stephen Curry is out. If Curry misses the entire series or is diminished when he returns, I suspect it will go at least six games.
Speaking of series destined to go at least six games, whoever matches up out of Toronto, Washington, Cleveland and Indiana will certainly be on my radar. None of those teams appear good enough to win in four or five games, but they don’t look bad enough to get swept, either. Philadelphia and Houston have far more sweep potential, and while those series could get to six games as well, I feel less confident it will happen.
I think I put too much emphasis early on choosing players who make the cut when so much of the scoring comes from picking players at the top of the leaderboard. Last week for the Valero Texas Open I had five of my six players make the cut but I still finished with a measley 83,859 points. To put that number in perspective, 17 golfers scored more points just by themselves. As the season goes along, be sure to target players who can win, or at least finish in the top 10. Safe players who are likely to make the cut don’t have nearly the same value as in other golf formats.
Get a Season Pass & Play 25 games in 6 Sports for $39.95 with Promo Code: Sirius