The Daily Grind: 5-7-14 – Presented by FanDuel

Agenda

  1. Renovations complete
  2. DFS of the Day
  3. Thin Thursday
  4. Table

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1. Updated Factor Grid

The Factor Grid is officially updated with the un-halved park factors. The concept and process remain the same, but now there’s even more to like (and dislike) about certain parks. Thanks to the commenter who pointed out the discrepancy. Unfortunately, I didn’t write down your name, so you’ll have to take a bow in anonymity.

In other news, yesterday was a bit crazy, my 50 point roster only finished in the top 20 percent.

2. Today’s DFS

FanDuel hates 6:35 games, so the second Mariners-Athletics game isn’t included in either of the day’s contests.

Early: There are six games in the early set and boy is there not much to work with. You can try lefty Pirates against homer prone Tim Lincecum, but I recommended using Lincecum just yesterday for a reason.

Zack Wheeler should have sharper, sweeter movement in humid Miami, but he’s one of the better pitchers to target in this group.

Bronson Arroyo looks like the big target at Milwaukee. The stadium is friendly for long balls and he allows them.

Dan Straily has been a little flaky in the early going, and he’ll face a lefty-heavy Mariners lineup. They beat Jesse Chavez yesterday, and he’s a lot better than Straily.

Late: Progressive Field can allow plenty of home runs to left-handed hitters. Unfortunately, the Twins don’t have many of those to start against Danny Salazar. On the other hand, the Indians can start eight of them against Ricky Nolasco.

Brad Peacock has to work his way through a potent Tigers lineup. The good news (for him) is they’re very right-handed. Unfortunately, Peacock has been worse against righties in this season’s small sample.

Right-handers in Chicago should enjoy feasting on Travis Wood and John Danks. Both pitchers could shutdown the opposing offense, but it’s also a home run friendly stadium.

The Rockies and Rangers relocate to Texas for the third game of their series. Right-handed Rangers and left-handed Rockies should be in high demand.

Find the righties against Vidal Nuno and Hector Santiago. Both pitchers have a tenuous grasp on regular work, despite meager options behind them.

3. Thin Thursday

We have nine games tomorrow, two of which are early.

Pitchers to Start: Justin Masterson is an enigma. His velocity remains down, but he seems to have a grasp on his command. He also still features plenty of movement. As mentioned above, the Twins are very right-handed, so Masterson has the platoon and park advantages in his favor.

Pitchers to Exploit: The Indians lineup will still be very left-handed tomorrow when they face Kevin Correia. And Progressive Field will still favor left-handed power.

The Astros have some right-handed power hitters to trot out against Drew Smyly. As far as fantasy pitchers go, Smyly is fringy. I like him much more in real life.

R.A. Dickey has not returned to form with better health, as some (aka me) prognosticated. The real problem is his walk rate, which has doubled. The Phillies aren’t the most patient lineup in baseball, so you could try starting Dickey too. I worry about home runs off the bat of Chase Utley.

Ubaldo Jimenez is coming off his best outing. I’ll need to see more than one high-strikeout, low-walk start before I believe he’s back.

The ballpark is working against Franklin Morales and Matt Harrison. Also, both teams have some big right-handed hitters.

Speaking of unfavorable stadiums, Jake Arrieta and Scott Carroll have combined for three strong outings this season. I’m predicting pumpkins all around.

At some point, I have to stop pointing out every pitcher is an exploit tomorrow. Let’s conclude with Justin Turner, who’s been quite bad through two outings.

Hitters (power): Domonic Brown will probably swing hard in case he hits it against Dickey.

It’s a Matt Joyce and David DeJesus kind of day.

Yasmani Grandal and Seth Smith seem viable against Turner. If Grandal starts today, he almost certainly won’t tomorrow.

Lefties in either Chicago lineup will make good targets. Luis Valbuena comes to mind.

If he’s still around, it’s time to buy in on Michael Brantley. He’s batting third most days.

Chris Carter, Jesus Guzman, and George Springer may also be worthy of a look.

Hitters (speed): Rajai Davis will see Dallas Keuchel tomorrow.

Alejandro De Aza led off against the last left-handed pitcher.

Brandon Barnes and Drew Stubbs should get another crack at starting with Harrison on the mound. Sometimes only one of them starts with Blackmon leading off.

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.

Aside from a very low chance of showers in Washington D.C. and Cleveland, the league looks clear. Monitor the weather maps, but those games should be safe. We’re still looking at April-like temperatures for the games.

The Link. Three series changed venues, so now we have four green parks. The day-night split really limits the good stadium choices overall.

This post, covering one of the leading sites for daily fantasy, is sponsored and made possible by the generous support of FanDuel. FanGraphs maintains complete editorial control of the postings, and brings you these posts in a continued desire to provide the best analytical information on the latest in baseball.





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amoonguss99
9 years ago

I like the early games… I feel like I do better in them cause I’m a punk and have access to lineups / comps around game time. Which is a sneaky 1235 today as opposed to 105/110