The Daily Grind will return in 2020 for a ninth season. Birthed in 2012 as an advice column on The Hardball Times Fantasy Focus for adherents of LIMA (a classic strategy for spending most draft resources on hitters), the advent of daily fantasy proved too stimulating a distraction. Since 2017, this column has focused solely on the DFS scene.
I’ve noticed some trends in my drafts. The good closers are going fast – often over 20 picks earlier than their already aggressive ADP. After a handful of elite guys, the warts become extremely noticeable. It’s hard to justify going Sean Doolittle when Luke Voit is staring you in the face.
The correct answer, probably, is to jump aboard the early portion of a closer run. However, that’s not always a choice. I certainly didn’t have an option of participating in either closer run during my TGFBI draft.
My mistakes in closer design have forced me to wade into the ugliest portion of the reliever pool.
As of this writing, we are on pick 430 in the Tout Wars Draft and Hold league. You can follow along with the rationalization of all of me 29 (to date) picks here. Highlights include:
Eaton… yawn.
And
Chooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
There are 14 other owners in the league, all industry giants who know how to run a deep league draft. So let’s shine the spotlight on some of the players going in the late-300s to early-400s. While I can’t prise open their skulls to raid their mind grapes, I can probably puzzle out why certain guys were targeted. Remember, this is an OBP league with no trading or in-season waiver moves and weekly lineups.
I got a lot of questions about Mike Soroka today. I said I’m not concerned. I like him! And I proved it this very moment by selecting him 96th in TGFBI.
| 3:55 |
: We’ll get started in a few minutes.
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| 3:55 |
: spam me with some Severino questions and we’ll try to knock this out right at the start
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| 3:59 |
: w severino out who would you target in a keeper al only league where not much pitching is available but Sale, Kluber and Morton will be? Pay up for Sale or take a bit of a discount on either of the others?
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| 3:59 |
: What yankee pitcher do you think gains value w the injury to sevy?
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| 4:00 |
: Mmm… Lasagna
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| 4:00 |
: I would target Morton if you’re confident about the discount happening
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Craving something with unexpected players cropping up on the waiver wire? Wish to appease the thirsty baseball gods with fantasy blood? Then check out “Sacrifices,” a brutally difficult highly custom league. Previous entries in the series covered 2×2 Roto, Split Auctions, Roto-to-Head, Rotating Divisions, WAR wars, Category Wars, Public Trade Negotiations, If Only, Elimination, Home Team, Owners & Managers, and Battery.
It’s not quite Bold Prediction season, but we’re starting to close in on it. After all these years of boldly predicting, I’ve picked up a few hacks. I’ll never jam them past you readers – you’re always sharpening the “not bold” knives – but I can usually squeeze through a few open-ended scenarios.
Today, I’ll share 10 which might look bold at first blush but actually are pretty tame. I expect at least a 50% win-rate on these.
These are not my 10 Bold Predictions.
We chatted. Behold, a transcript. (<—I've used that line a lot)
| 3:57 |
: Let’s start this shindig
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| 3:57 |
: Who has something poll worthy?
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| 3:58 |
: How do you interpret slash lines against a pitch? Is it only when the pitch ends the at-bat (hit, walk, strikeout, out)?
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| 3:58 |
: Exactly
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| 3:59 |
:
Would the Dodgers have defeated the 2017 Astros?
Yes (42.2% | 52 votes)
No (21.1% | 26 votes)
Don’t care (36.5% | 45 votes)
Total Votes: 123
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| 3:59 |
: not fantasy but fun for a poll. would the dodgers have won if the astros hadnt stole signs?
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Season Two of Tout Wars: Draft and Hold kicked off earlier this afternoon. It is a 15-team league comprised of various industry bigwigs and heavyweights. This article will present an ongoing narrative of my attempts to improve upon my debut performance of fifth place.
The Draft and Hold format is designed to limit in-season management. We have no trades or waivers. Instead, we select 50 players throughout the course of Spring Training to fill a standard deep roster (2C, 5OF, CI, MI, UTIL). Our only resources are what we pick now. We can make weekly edits to our lineups.
The Highly Custom League series is back with, well, something silly. Previous entries covered 2×2 Roto, Split Auctions, Roto-to-Head, Rotating Divisions, WAR wars, Category Wars, Public Trade Negotiations, If Only, Elimination, Home Team, and Owners & Managers.
Last night, I stumbled upon this hungry Ray Flowers tweet.
This is really a two-pronged question – will he perform and when will the Dodgers allow him to play in the majors? In neither case is the answer entirely clear.