The Daily Grind: 5-18-14 – Presented by FanDuel

Agenda

1. Avoiding the Unavoidable
2. Daily DFS
3. Meager Monday
4. Table

1. Avoiding the Unavoidable

Is it possible to avoid the unavoidable? Only in a sense.

Yesterday, Scott Kazmir looked like the best choice of a motley bunch. By my numbers, he possessed a better point per dollar projection than Clayton Kershaw. Kazmir then failed to make it through two innings. He was ejected after arguing balls and strikes.

Whether the ejection was merited or not, the only way to avoid this kind of nasty surprise is through diversification. Unfortunately for me, my Kazmir lineups performed the best; they all finished less than two points outside of the money. Even a mediocre 10 point start would have allowed me to make money. There’s always another day…

2. Daily DFS

The Yankees and Pirates have a doubleheader, but only the first game counts for the full day contest.

You can try select left-handed Pirates against Hiroki Kuroda. As I’ve been saying pretty much every day: short porch.

Lefty Mariners should benefit from facing Ricky Nolasco. Just remember the park is less than ideal for stacking.

With John Danks facing Brad Peacock, the Astros game looks like the place for runs aplenty.

In his first outing back from the disabled list, command and control specialist Jaime Garcia might not be on top of his game. Then again, he might. I guess we’ll see.

If Carlos Gomez is back in the Brewers lineup, then I really like the Brewers stack against Travis Wood. If he’s not, then I like the stack less.

The other game in Texas – R.A. Dickey versus Nick Martinez – could yield its share of runs. As the saying goes, “everything is bigger in Texas except the ballparks.”

Jacob Turner and Ryan Vogelsong would be more fun to target if their game wasn’t at AT&T Field. Or if either offense was better than league average.

Donn Roach is a soft-tossing, right-handed, ground ball specialist. He neither strikes out or walks many hitters. It remains to be seen if he’s a major league pitcher, but Coors Field is a hell of a place to start your first big league game.

Last but not least, Vidal Nuno is also exploitable if you’re entering a late contest that includes the second Pirates-Yankees game.

3. Monday Madness

Count ’em, one, two, three, four, five games tomorrow. Oof.

Pitchers to Start: The Indians have struggled against left-handed pitching. More to the point, Progressive Field favors left-handed hitters. They loss the platoon advantage against Drew Smyly.

Then again, if Corey Kluber is available, I much prefer his side of the matchup. The Tigers have a good offense, but Kluber is pretty good in his own right.

Maybe Wily Peralta is still available in your league? Maybe not. In any case, his start against the Braves is passable.

Both Dallas Keuchel and Garrett Richards are startable in a “I kind of don’t want to” sort of way. Keuchel in particular has to deal with some lefty bashers.

Pitchers to Exploit: Mike Minor hasn’t been particularly sharp since his return from the disabled list. He’ll face a Brewers lineup that punished left-handed pitching – at least when it’s full strength.

Aside from Norichika Aoki, I rarely recommend targeting Royals hitters. I suppose tomorrow is an exception, but only because nobody is playing. They face Scott Carroll.

Hitters (power): Mark Reynolds is one of the top platoon advantaged bats for tomorrow. It’s not a deep day.

Dayan Viciedo and Gordon Beckham might be more attractive against Jason Vargas.

C.J. Cron appears most attractive.

Hitters (speed): Um…Marcus Semien? Denard Span (if he’s even available)? I don’t know, you’ll have to scrounge.

4. Table

The table below indicates which stadiums have the best conditions for hitters today. The color coding is a classic stoplight where green equals go for hitters. The weather conditions are from SI Weather’s home run app. A 10/10 means great atmospheric conditions for home runs. A 1/10 means lousy atmospheric conditions.

Looks like we have a clear day for baseball. Let’s enjoy it.

The Link. You can have some red, or you can have some green. Take your pick. Do note the excellent weather conditions in a few hitter friendly parks. Namely Coors Field, Chase Field, and the two Texas locales.

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