Tonight’s ESPN Sunday Night Baseball matchup features the New York Yankees hosting the New York Mets at Yankee Stadium with a starting time of 8 p.m. ET. The Mets are off to a fantastic start with a 14-4 record to lead the National League East Division and are finally fulfilling the promise of a team that has long been touted as rebuilding. The Yankees are doing better than expected with a 10-8 record after a slow start to emerge as a team that should again contend for the American League pennant despite being derided as fat and past their prime.
We’ll use Draft Kings prices for our Sunday Night feature lineup.
P – Nathan Eovaldi – New York Yankees
Eovaldi opened at $6,500. Eovaldi is off to a promising start with a 3.12 ERA and was stellar in his last start with just one earned run allowed. The Yankees faced a lot of criticism during the offseason but are now in first place in the American League East Division. Players such as Eovaldi are performing better than expected for the pinstripes. Should Eovaldi continue to pitch effectively, the Bronx Bombers will be shutting down a lot of their critics that have written them off as washed up.
C – Brian McCann – New York Yankees
McCann opened at $4,000. McCann is a bargain buy as a player that has significant upside with current numbers that are far below his career averages. McCann is hitting just .232 with on OBP of .286, SLG of .357, and OPS of .643. All of those numbers will be going up. With the Yankees winning without McCann at his best they only figure to be an even better team once their catcher gets into high gear.
1B – Mark Teixeira – New York Yankees
Teixeira opened at $4,500. Teixeira is another player that is below some of his career averages. Teixeira is hitting just .254 but has produced 12 runs and 18 RBI. With Mets ace Jonathon Niese on the hill Yankees such as Teixeira bring potential added value.
2B – Daniel Murphy – New York Mets
Murphy opened at $3,900. Murphy is off to a terrible start with a pathetic .145 batting average. He has a horrific .217 OBP, .242 SLG, and .459 OPS. All of those numbers are considerably below his career averages and we’ll make the buy with the expectation of plenty of upside for the Mets second baseman.
3B – Alex Rodriguez – New York Yankees
Rodriguez opened at $4,300. It’s not surprising that Rodriguez is far below his career numbers as his best days are clearly behind him, That being said, Rodriguez is certainly not the worst player on the field and will bring the capability of power and production as evidenced by his four home runs, 12 runs scored, and 11 RBI so far this season. It would not surprise us to see Rodriguez come up big on the national Sunday Night stage.
SS – Didi Gregorius – New York Yankees
Gregorius opened at $3,700. Gregorius is off to a very slow start hitting just .212 with only two runs and four RBI but has career numbers that indicate he is capable of much more and at bargain basement prices. The Yankees have won eight out of their last ten games and players such as Gregorius are a big part of their future.
OF – Brett Gardner – New York Yankees
Gardner opened at $4,800. Gardner has been one of the best Yankee players so far and a major contributor to their better than expected record. Gardner is hitting .286 with 12 runs scored and five stolen bases. Garner’s .386 on base percentage is another plus for the Yankees. Gardner figures to be a key component to the future success of the Yankees and their post season prospects.
Sleeper – Michael Cuddyer – New York Mets
Cuddyer opened at $5,000. Despite the red hot Mets winning nine out of their last ten games Cuddyer has not been a major part of that success as he has just one hit, two runs, and one RBI in his last five games. Cuddyer brings plenty of potential upside however as a player that has 10 runs and eight RBI on the season.
