MLB Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 7/26/13

We know that people play all sorts of fantasy platforms, not just from from our friends at StarStreet but on other platforms such as FanDuel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud as well. So once again, we have four optimized rosters, all for you, the numberFire reader. One is for free here; the others can be found in our Premium section.

As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. Make sure to check it out to see where the best values are for your team.

Our baseball projections are updated throughout the day, so make sure to come back to double-check your optimized rosters for any last-minute lineup changes. Since most action happens later in the day, we will be ignoring the early games (if there are any) and focusing solely on the late contests. That way, you can use and tinker with our optimized rosters throughout the day.

StarStreet Optimized Roster

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud Optimized Rosters

For the optimal rosters for the other main players, be sure to check out our brand new Daily Fantasy Optimized Rosters for our Premium members. We know that you're killing it with our picks; maybe now you'll help us continue to help you win each night, every night.

Access to the optimal rosters is immediate, and you'll have it constantly updated for the latest injury news and updates from around the league. The best news of all? For new subscribers, you can use the promo code WELCOME and get it 50% off what was already the reduced price. Think of the savings!

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The Top Three Pitchers

Felix Hernandez - There's just something about those Twins... mainly a slugging percentage that ranks in the bottom ten of all MLB teams and a 21.4 percent strikeout rate that sits sixth-highest in the majors. Yesterday's Iwakuma projection turned out perfectly, and King Felix is, well, King Felix. I don't see any reason to turn away from the Seattle aces quite yet, especially when Hernandez's 6.27 projected strikeouts is easily tops among starters tonight (yes, even over Matt Harvey).

Corey Kluber - Warning, he's questionable for his start tonight, even though all indications are he should start. But with that said... King Felix is first in projected strikeouts, as I just explained. Unsurprisingly, Matt Harvey is second with 6.10 projected K's, but he's worth a small fortune. Want to take a guess who's third, just under Harvey with 6.06 strikeouts? If you can read the bold text, it's not too tough. Kluber may hold a dead-even 0.38 projected wins and losses, but the value is with his 24.4 percent strikeout rate. Texas may not strike out much as a team themselves, but we project Kluber will get his.

R.A. Dickey - I don't think it would have been too much of a stretch even last year to dismiss Dickey as a one-hit wonder. A 1.292 WHIP and much lower 17.5 percent strikeout rate just seems to be the final nail in the coffin. One thing Dickey hasn't done, though, is allow too many hits on balls in play, with an excellent .261 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) against. Couple that with an Astros team that just can't seem to string together solid at-bats - their OBP and slugging are both in the bottom three of MLB teams - and Dickey's just strong enough to be worth his lowered cost tonight.

Top High-Priced Hitters

Michael Cuddyer - What, David Wright's confidence in him as a HR Derby participant isn't enough? (Good, then you're smart.) Well, how about his absurdly high .368 BABIP going against Milwaukee's Wily Peralta, who has allowed 73 percent of batters against him to hit a ball in play and 26 percent of those balls in play to be hit for line drives? When the MLB averages of those last two numbers are 68% and 22% respectively, you know this is going to be a prime matchup for Cuddyer. Tonight's 1.02 projected RBI and runs scored are no joke.

Albert Pujols - He may have gone away for a while, but you can't keep Albert Pujols down for too long. Bartolo Colon may have found the Fountain of Youth (contained in a Biogenesis lab), but he does have a weakness: striking guys out. Colon has only put 14.1 percent of his opposing batters down on strikes, which along with his low walk and homerun rates, leads to an MLB-leading 81 percent of opposing batters to hit a ball in play against him. All it takes is a high line drive rate guy to take advantage, and despite his down year all around, Pujols' 22 percent line drive rate is actually his best since 2008. Less power and more line drives is actually a good thing for the slugger tonight.

Mid-Range Cost-Effective Hitters

Jonathan Lucroy - Jonathan Lucroy is our top FP-earning catcher across the board tonight, and in many formats, it's not even close. How in the Chorizo's name does that happen? When you've got a catcher with a solid .333 OBP surrounded by other guys like Norichika Aoki, Jean Segura, and Carlos Gomez who get on base with regularity. The top of the Milwaukee order has not been the problem (even with Braun escaping cartoon-villain style), and Lucroy's catchers-leading 0.93 projected runs and 0.82 projected RBIs reflects that fact. Facing Tyler Chatwood's 1.336 WHIP doesn't hurt, either.

Carlos Gomez - When in doubt, why not double up on the Brewers? Because they're terrible? Well, that's generally a good reason, but I'm still not scared of them tonight in Coors Field. Perhaps I should go a bit more into what makes Tyler Chatwood such an advantageous matchup despite his 6-3 record. Simply put, he doesn't miss bats: he holds a below-average 15.1 percent strikeout rate and 74 percent of opposing batters hit a ball in play. He doesn't allow homeruns, with only a 1.0 percent homerun rate, but that's not Milwaukee's strength anyway. Gomez's .364 BABIP matches up beautifully against him tonight.