MLB Picks for Thursday

C- AJ Pierzynski CWS- One of the most hated catchers in baseball, Pierzynski is a solid play tonight vs Hammel and the O's. The White Sox bats came to life off of our pitcher last night Hunter. Hammel is essentially the same pitcher in talent. He has been tearing the ball up and we like him even if he is 7K.

Other Catchers: Joe Mauer MIN

1B- Mat Gamel MIL- Gamel is a solid lefty hitter for the Brewers that gets a majority of his at bats against righties. Tonight he faces Harang a lefty for the Dodgers. Before last night's game, he was hitting .282 with 9 runs scored. That's a lot of runs scored in this lineup. Harang is a solid matchup for him with the reasoning that Harang just isn't that great.

Other First Basemen: Carlos Pena TB, Mark Teixeira NYY

2B- Robert Andino BAL- Andino is hitting over .300 for the O's hitting in the bottom part of the order for them. He's not going to get a lot of RBIs or runs scored in this lineup, but if he can run into a single and an RBI then that gets good value for him and his under 5K price tag. Floyd presents a decent matchup for him tonight seeing as that he isn't a top 2 starter material for a good rotation.

Other Second Basemen: Mark Ellis LAD, Howie Kendrick LAA

3B- Hanley Ramirez MIA- Ramirez is hot for the Marlins right now hitting home runs in a couple of games this week, one of them being a towering shot at home. He faces Samardzija at home again and we like this matchup for him. We don't think Samardzija will keep up with his above average pitching performances and this is an offense that is clicking on all cylinders right now.

Other Third Basemen: Miguel Cabrera DET, Mark Trumbo LAA

SS- Jhonny Peralta DET- Peralta is swinging as good as any shorstop these days in terms of average. He also has 6 doubles on the year. He will most likely be hitting in the 7 hole tonight against Yu Darvish and the Rangers, but that doesn't scare us. Darvish has 8 walks so far in two starts, and we think there might be more of the same with the big bats at 3 and 4. There should be a lot of RBI situations for Peralta and Avila tomorrow.

Other Shortstops: Rafael Furcal STL

OF- Yoenis Cespedes OAK- Cespedes is back! He hit a home run last night off of Ervin Santana, and his cold streak in our opinion is over. We aren't expecting a high average with Yoenis, but we do expect .250 with extra base hits every night. The Oakland offense is usually pretty weak, but hitting in the 3 or 4 hole will give him some RBI chances each night.

OF- Alejandro De Aza CWS- What can you say about De Aza other than he's playing out of his shoes right now. He hit his third home run of the year last night off of Hunter and we like him to be successful against Hammel tonight. His production should see a nice increase considering what should be a better offense from top to bottom with the matchups they have coming up.

OF- Luke Scott TB- Scott is a righty killer and he sees one tonight in Alvarez. He's hitting over .300 with plenty of pop. For his price of 6.5K it's too hard to pass up on him. We think he'll take advantage of the young Alvarez tonight. 

SP- Edwin Jackson WAS- Jackson has been very solid this season, and is facing an Astros team that isn't the best of hitting teams. He'll be pitching at home in a familiar park also. The pitching is very thin when it comes to cheap starters tonight, so we only went with 2 today. Jackson is one of our favorites for his 14K price.

SP- Phil Hughes NYY- Hughes was a 15+ game winner two seasons ago, and now he isn't even worth a spot on your season fantasy team. We like him tonight versus an average Twins lineup. He has regained his velocity from that great season two years ago, and if he can stay away from Morneau then we think he'll be a great pick for his 9K price.

RP- Brad Lidge/Brett Myers WAS/HOU- This is one of those nights where we can't pick 3 starters because the cheap ones are terrible plays. We are trying something new and picking the closer for a game we think will be very close. In essence it ensures of one save as long as it is a close ball game which we think this one will be.