The Daily Grind: 8-26-14 – Presented by FanDuel

Agenda

1. Shelled
2. Daily DFS
3. Wednesday Picks
4. Table

1. Shelled

Which pitchers are getting hit the hardest? Brett Talley answers that. One name that stands out to me is 2014 breakout Phil Hughes. He had the sixth best FIP as of last week, but his ERA was in mediocreland. This is why.

2. Daily DFS

Yesterday’s Grind

They’re all late today.

We discussed Rubby de la Rosa in some detail yesterday. He’s here for inconsistency and a tough Blue Jays lineup. R.A. Dickey is also inconsistent, but he’s facing a mediocre lineup.

Travis Wood will see an unimposing Cincinnati lineup. As a fly ball pitcher at Great American Ball Park, things can happen. Things being primarily defined as home runs or doubles.

The Royals get to pimp their contact oriented approach against Ricky Nolasco. Kansas City has the lowest strikeout rate in baseball. For Nolasco, that’s a poor interaction with his strikeout numbers.

Rapid Fire: Jason Hammel hates Oakland, so you could consider taking a stab at an Astros stack. Rangers start Nick Martinez is always a target – even against the Mariners.

3. Wednesday Picks

Pitchers to Start: Marcus Stroman is coming off two straight poor starts. He’s a very risky pick, even against the Red Sox. He’s shown a lot of inconsistency at the major league level with four starts under five innings in length. If you’re looking at a third-and-20 situation, Stroman might have the upside to pick up the first down.

Pitchers to Exploit: Colby Lewis starts tomorrow in what has become the Automatic Rangers Pitcher Recommendation (TM).

Drew Smyly said an emphatic “Pah!” to my premonitions of doom last week with a complete game, two hitter against the Blue Jays. The Orioles are considerably better at lefty bashing. I’m still worried about Smyly’s platoon splits, hence his placement here.

Kyle Kendrick has become synonymous with early game runs – particularly in the first inning. He’ll face the Nationals.

I’m interested to see how Jacob Turner does in Chicago. I think this was an excellent pick up by the Cubs. However, a start at Great American Ball Park isn’t helping anyone.

Here’s Hector Noesi in his regular spot. I think Noesi could be a league average pitcher in say PNC Park. His fly ball profile doesn’t mix well with U.S. Cellular Field.

In case you don’t have enough exploits, Brad Peacock will face the Athletics and Franklin Morales draws the Giants.

Hitters (power): Maybe Marcell Ozuna will like Hector Santiago.

John Jaso Jingleheimerschmidt, his name is my name too. Too bad he’s concussed.

Remember when I could recommend Michael Brantley? Now I only have Lonnie Chisenhall and Zach Walters.

Adam Lind will face Joe Kelly.

Hitters (speed): Sam Fuld might swipe a bag.

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.

Detroit appears very likely to receive thunderstorms. You might want to avoid that one.

The Link. You know the drill by now.

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