The Daily Grind: 100% Owned Strasburg

Everything is better with bacon. But bacon is best by itself. What a conundrum.

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. First Take
3. Weather Reports
4. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
5. SaberSim Says…
6. Polls

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

Congrats to the cleverly named MMDDYYYY for winning last Friday. Gerrit Cole carried the day with Brandon Crawford and Nick Markakis providing important low ownership assists. Double congrats on finishing fifth with your second entry. I have started a new Leaderboard. For now, I’m just tracking the top five finishers. The actual payouts will vary by contest. If you place multiple lineups in the top five, you get credit for both.

We filled Friday’s 60-entry contest by 4:00pm. The folks at FantasyDraft have committed to bumping up the contest size for the large Tuesday slate. Since today’s contest is relatively small, we’re going to stick with 60 entries on FantasyDraft. Let’s remain engaged.

If you have not signed up for FantasyDraft, please use this referral link for tracking purposes. If I understand properly, by using the referral, you will receive a 10 percent return on any rakes you pay.

2. First Take

Today’s First Take includes some colorful flavor pauses and some confusion about where the Marlins and Cubs are playing. I gullibly decided they’re in Miami even though that’s false.

3. Weather Reports

All clear!

4. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: Stephen Strasburg  ($26,700) is all kinds of yes versus Tyson Ross ($16,900) and the Padres. The narrative says Strasburg’s kryptonite is heat. It’ll be quite pleasant in San Diego. The Padres lineup is also incredibly strikeout prone. He could be 100% owned. If you feel compelled to fade Strasburg (I do), then Ross is a candidate to be the next best pitcher in the slate. He’s continued to rack up strikeouts at an undiminished pace. It feels unlikely that he’ll win, but if anything goes wrong with Strasburg, you’ll be sitting pretty in GPPs.

Kyle Hendricks ($18,400) has a squishy matchup against the Marlins. It’s not supposed to be windy tonight. Michael Fulmer ($15,400) faces a slightly more difficult lineup, but he’s very likely to earn a victory.

Dallas Keuchel ($17,800) will face a tougher opponent. The Athletics actually hammered three home runs against Keuchel the last time they played. That’s not a good enough reason to dodge Keuchel. He’s likely to win opposite Brett Anderson ($12,700). While I consider Anderson perhaps the worst pitcher in a weak slate, he did flash some upside by throwing 40 percent sliders last week.

Fernando Romero ($15,500) should draw plenty of attention due to the “ooh shiny” effect. Just remember, Romero is soft-capped around 90 pitches. He’s unlikely to finish six innings and may not even escape the fifth.

Stack Targets: P.J. Conlon, John Gant, Homer Bailey, Matt Moore, Jarlin Garcia, Anderson, Zach Eflin, Jeff Samardzija

The vets are probably the best targets to stack. Immature scouting reports could allow guys like Conlon and Gant to survive their outings. Samardzija’s sudden decline in velocity and command matches up poorly versus the Phillies.

5. SaberSim Says…

Strasburg, Hendricks, Samardzija, Ross, and Keuchel are the preferred arms. I guess The Sim doesn’t know about Shark’s velocity. Conlon and Gant are the top values if you want a low-yield lotto ticket. Bats include Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Belt, Michael Conforto, Bryce Harper, and Jay Bruce. Stack Mets I guess. Conforto, Gregor Blanco, Bruce, and Belt are values.

6. Polls

First poll, do you watch the First Take videos?

Two polls incoming for my TDG readers. Try to resist the urge to vote if you’re not a reader.

Question 1: Do you watch my DFS First Take videos?

— Brad Johnson (@BaseballATeam) May 7, 2018

Second poll, do you like the First Take videos?

Question 2: Do you like my DFS First Take videos?

— Brad Johnson (@BaseballATeam) May 7, 2018

Feel free to comment with ideas/suggestions.