Mets daily fantasy baseball advice for 8/24 against Phillies

Amazin’ Fantasy Picks is a new gameday feature by co-editor Kenny DeJohn. On gamedays, these posts will look into the best Mets plays for Daily Fantasy Baseball — specifically on FanDuel. At most, we’ll pick four Mets to target, and we’ll include valid reasons as to why they need to be locked into your lineups. All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.

You probably made some money yesterday if you took my advice.

Sure, Curtis Granderson, Yoenis Cespedes and Daniel Murphy only went 3-for-12 with two walks, two runs scored, an RBI and a double, but it was Logan Verrett who stole the show.

I advised readers to play Verrett with caution given the uncertainty surrounding a pitcher making his first career start at Coors Field. I didn’t discourage, though, instead suggesting playing Verrett in low-money tournaments that wouldn’t hurt your bankroll.

All told, Verrett allowed just one run over eight stellar innings, striking out eight and earning the win. Those 19 points probably went a long way in your league, especially when considering how low his ownership was.

That’s now three consecutive days of offering sound advice. Let’s go for four.

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Jacob deGrom, SP, $11,700

Jacob deGrom will be highly owned tonight, as he is obviously the best pitcher for the slate of games this evening. Don’t let that deter you from using him in 50/50s and double ups, though, as he’s a near guarantee to net significant points against an underwhelming Phillies offense.

The Philles rank 27th in baseball with an OPS of .683 against right-handers. Only Freddy Galvis and Cody Asche have had success against deGrom, going 3-for-6 and 3-for-5, respectively, in their careers.

He’s 1-0 with a 1.32 ERA against the Phils this season in two starts. Roll with him in cash lineups.

Travis D’Arnaud, C, $3,100

Price tags have come back to Earth since the Mets have left Coors Field, making Travis D’Arnaud an even more attractive option than he was this weekend. Citizens Bank Park is still an attractive place to hit based on Park Factors, so Mets sluggers should do well this series.

With left-hander Adam Morgan on the bump for the Phillies, known lefty killer D’Arnaud should continue his mini hot streak that began on Friday. He owns a team-high OPS of .991 against lefties, including a .273 ISO and .422 wOBA. These are borderline elite numbers.

Wilmer Flores, 2B, $2,700

You’ll want some value picks when using deGrom, and the following two suggestions will help balance your salary cap in order to get better hitters at premium positions.

Wilmer Flores has found success against lefties this season with an .881 OPS, .224 ISO and .375 wOBA. He’s hitting .306/.352/.529 with four home runs in 85 at-bats against southpaws in 2015.

Flores had three hits against lefty Chris Rusin on Saturday, one of which was a double.

Juan Lagares, OF, $2,500

Juan Lagares also had three hits against Rusin. One was a double and he plated two runs, making it a very successful day out of the leadoff spot for the outfielder.

Outfield isn’t traditionally a position that daily fantasy baseball players punt given the quality top-notch options, but a price of $2,500 for a guy who hits .309/.363/.457 against lefties is a smart investment.

Round out your deGrom lineup with Lagares and spend bigger elsewhere.