DFS PLAYS OF THE DAY
Here are some of the best plays of the day if you're looking to set your daily lineup, or if you're playing the daily game. Be sure to look out for the DFS MLB Playbook for some other daily plays (see link above).
C: Salvador Perez, Royals
Mr. Perez faces Tommy Milone of the Twins Monday. Perez has won that battle an awful lot with six hits in 14 at-bats (.429). Perez has been winning virtually every battle in the early going batting .380 with a 1.005 OPS this season and for his career he's hit .309 with a .854 OPS against port siders.
1B: Joe Mauer, Twins
Mauer hasn't gone deep against Jason Vargas but he has hit .400 with a .871 OPS over 32 career plate appearances. Maybe the matchup will get Mauer going this year. After all, Mauer has hit .325 with an .883 OPS at Kauffman Stadium over 71 games.
2B: Joe Panik, Giants
Not only does Joe have nine hits in his last 27 at-bats but he also hit .366 last season with a .824 OPS against left-handed pitching. He faces the continually injured Brett Anderson Tuesday.
3B: Aramis Ramirez, Brewers
The old fella will get it going starting today since he's facing another old fella who he takes advantage of all the time. In 27 career at-bats against Jason Marquis the third sacker has hit .370 with two homers and nine RBIs. Let's hope.
SS: Zack Cozart, Reds
Against my better judgment here cause I just don't trust this guy at all. Cozart has three hits in eight at-bats against Mike Fiers. He's also, somehow, produced nine hits in his last 22 at-bats which includes a double and two homers.
OF: Jonny Gomes, Braves
Gomes has hit .600 with a homer in 10 at-bats against Jonathon Niese. The last three seasons, in 495 at-bats against lefties, Gomes has hit .271 with 23 homers, 77 RBIs an a .837 OPS. He's long been a lefty killer.
OF: Delmon Young, Orioles
Young has four hits in his last 10 at-bats this season and he's hit .396 with four homers over 53 at-bats against Mark Buehrle in his career.
OF: Grady Sizemore, Phillies
It was a long time ago, and maybe it doesn't matter, but you cannot look at the numbers posted by Sizemore against Dan Haren and not be impressed. Over 20 at-bats he's produced 11 hits, that's a .550 average, and he's hit three homers as well.
SP: Chris Archer, Rays
Archer faces a Sox team that has a wOBA of .300 against righties, just the 15th best mark in baseball. Archer has also struck out 21 batters while walking just four this season over 19.2 innings with that sparking 0.66 WHIP.
SP: Lance Lynn, Cardinals
Current Nats batters are hitting .227 with 18 strikeouts in 66 at-bats against Lynn. Through two starts he's only lasted 11 innings but his 1.64 ERA, 13 strikeouts and two walks speak to how well he is performing. The Nationals also have a mere .644 OPS against righty handed pitching this season with a high 23.5 percent K-rate.
SP: Dan Haren, Marlins
In two starts Haren has allowed three runs and two walks. He has been taken deep three times, an ongoing issue, but when he's keeping the ball in the park success is following. The Phillies offense is poor, and their wOBA (.243) against righties is the worst in baseball (there are five teams with a mark more than .100 points higher).
LINKS YOU HAVE TO BOOKMARKED
ADDISON RUSSELL CALLED UP
This is a big surprise. Many thought that Addison Russell wouldn't be up until later in the year after the Cubs worked out a trade of either Starlin Castro or Javier Baez. When Baez decided to strike out every other at-bat the decision became a bit easier. Still, not many thought that Russell would be up this soon. He's played second base of late, and that's the position he will play in the bigs as Arismendy Alcantara will be sent to Triple-A Iowa to make room on the roster.
The 11th selection in the 2012 Entry Draft, Russell is a top-10 prospect in baseball. The 21 year old makes loud contact at the dish with a name like Miguel Tejada often being thrown around when talking about his offensive game. He has power, should hit for average as well, and has a pretty advanced game for a player of his age (he will become the youngest NL player, a full year younger than Bryce Harper actually). Pretty safe to say it's not a bad idea to add Russell in any format but with the same caveats as always – young, rookie, unproven etc.
LUIS VALBUENA?
The Astros third baseman is hitting .244 with a .304 OBP and people are going ga-ga over him. Sure his SLG is huge at .634 but you have to know that is an artifact of the small sample size, right? I know he has five homers in 11 games, but that's still just 21 in his last 160. He's also failed to score this season unless he knocked himself in, and he's stolen seven bags in 587 career games. Oh, and he's only hitting .244 (again) even with his success this year and he is a .230 career hitter. Could he pop 20 long balls? Surely. Rest of his game though isn't going to impress at all.
ODRISAMER DESPAIGNE HAS A HARD NAME TO SPELL
Who are that guys parents? Lol
Despaigne has a 1.47 ERA and 0.65 WHIP. In 114.2 career innings the numbers are 3.06 and 1.13. Impressive stuff. Still, his K-rate of 5.81 is thoroughly unimpressive, but even less appealing is the fact that it sure sounds like Ian Kennedy could be back as early as Saturday to reclaim his starting spot in the Padres rotation. Not like Brandon Morrow or Andrew Cashner are bastions of health but you might be wise to sell high on Despaigne.
KYLE GIBSON – STILL JUNK
Through three starts Gibson has a 5.87 ERA and 1.96 WHIP. He's also walked 5.28 batters per nine, and worse than that, have you noticed that he has struck out three batters in 15.1 innings? Monumental bust anyone?
COREY DICKERSON HURT
Sounds like Corey Dickerson has plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Though manager Walt Weiss described the condition as minor, I'm all of a sudden very 
nervous. In most cases the only way to deal with this issue is rest. I'm not talking a day or two either as the situation often requires extended time on the shelf. I'm not suggesting you bail on Dickerson, but know that if someone comes a calling and is willing to pay full price for a guy who it hitting .286 with 10 RBIs and eight runs scored in 13 games that you should do yourself a favor and listen closely. His foot could, no inside information, be a season long concern.
JONATHAN LUCROY DOWN
Ugh.
Lucroy is hitting a mere .156 with a sickly .435 OPS, and those are numbers he's not going to be able to improve on for weeks after breaking a toe Monday (the team gave no official outlook but it sounds like 2-4 weeks is pretty fair, though it's always possible it stretches past the long end as, after all, he's a catcher and they have to make sure he's right before sending him back out there). Juan Centeno will be called up to backup Martin Maldonado. In 537 career at-bats Martin has hit. 222 with 16 homers and 68 RBIs while racking up 147 punchouts and getting on base at a .288 clip. He's not a very refined offensive player.