MLB Picks for Friday

C – Brain McCann: First of all, McCann is cheaper than David Ross…don’t ask us why that’s the case.  McCann has been struggling lately, but we believe the cleanup hitter for one of the hottest teams in baseball will get back on track tonight against Burnett and the Pirates.  McCann and the Braves had the day off on Thursday, so he should be fresh.

1b – Adrian Gonzalez: The Red Sox 1^st baseman is hot, 5 for his last 8, and faces John Danks tomorrow who is 2-2 with a 5.11 ERA.  We understand Danks is a lefty, but Gonzalez is known for going the other way against lefties, and hit .321 vs. lefties last year.

2b – Dustin Pedroia: Pedroia is facing Danks as well tomorrow, and Pedroia hit a scorching .358 last year vs. lefties.  In addition, Pedroia is hitting .391 in his last 5 games.

3b – Pablo Sandoval: Kung Fu Panda has had at least 1 hit in every game this year.  He is a very consistent player who is batting .329 with 3 bombs, 13 RBIs and 13 runs scored.  He is an automatic play at 7.3K.

SS – Troy Tulowitzki: Tulo is batting .320 over his last 4 games, and he faces a AAA call-up in Chris Schwinden who will take Mike Pelfrey’s spot in the rotation. 

OF – Michael Bourn: In Bourn’s last 8 games, he is 14 for 29 with 2 stolen bases.  He faces RHP A.J. Burnett today.

OF – Andrew McCutchen: In his last 7 games, McCutchen is 11 for 33, but he is still homerless.  At under 6.5K, plug him into your lineup because our crystal ball says he hits homerun #1 today vs. Tommy Hanson.

OF – Jay Bruce: Bruce is hot which includes a 3 for 4 performance with a homerun.  The batting average is beginning to soar upwards as he is 10 for his last 24.

U – Mike Moustakas: After a dismal start, Moustakas is now batting .290 for the struggling Royals, and is 9 for his last 18.  5.5K?...yes go ahead and start him today against Carl Pavano.

U – David Freese: The 2011 World Series MVP winner has started this year hot.  He is batting .339 with 4 homeruns and 18 RBIs, and Wednesday he had a homerun with 3 RBIs vs. the Cubs.

SP – Jake Arrieta: As the OSF team is watching Moneyball right now, we do feel bad for picking a pitcher against the A’s today.  But Oakland is awful this year offensively as they are almost dead last in every offensive team category.  Yes, Arrieta has been average with a 4.01 ERA, but the A’s offense is ridiculously bad.

SP – Eric Hacker: Hacker will make his first start of the year for the Giants after being called up.  He is 4-0 with a 2.19 ERA in AAA, and he faces the Padres who are almost as bad as the A’s offense (29^th in batting average, 25^th in runs scored).

SP – Ross Detwiler: In 3 starts this year, Detwiler is 3-0 with a .56 ERA and a sub 1.00 whip.  Yes, the Dodgers have one of the top 10 offenses in the MLB (and Matt Kemp is on fire), but we couldn’t resist playing a pitcher who has a sub 1.00 ERA and under 10K.

RP – Craig Kimbrel: Kimbrel is 7 for 7 in save opportunities so far this season, and the Braves have been one of the hottest teams in the MLB.  The Braves had the day off yesterday giving Kimbrel the night off.  We believe the Braves will continue this run and squeak out a victory today vs. the Pirates with Kimbrel picking up save number 8.