The Daily Grind: 8-5-14 – Presented by FanDuel

Agenda

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

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1. Alert

I will be out the next four days as I drive straight across the country and establish a new base of operations (i.e. I’m moving east). It’s all good though, your fantasy needs will still be met. Landon Jones and Brett Talley will cover my absence – you may remember them from the daily DraftStreet column before said entities ceased to exist. The content should be fairly similar, but I’ve given both of them license to approach the column as they please.

See you again on Sunday.

2. Daily DFS

Yesterday’s Grind

I like Josh Tomlin a lot. In fact, I’m using him all over the place. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a fly ball pitcher with a high HR/FB ratio. Long balls are a DFSer’s friend.

Brad Hand showed promise this spring, but he’s been nothing more than a swing starter this season. A low strikeout and highish walk rate are not the ways to succeed in the majors. The Pirates have a few right-handed bats who should enjoy facing Hand.

Colby Lewis versus John Danks at U.S. Cellular field is a recipe for runs (I ought to look back through all my Grinds at the different recipes for runs). Lewis has proven to be hittable and fly ball friendly while Danks is also far from dominant.

Much like a dueling piano bar, Travis Wood will duel Brett Anderson. Alright, I’ll admit that doesn’t make a lick of sense. What does make sense is stacking Rockies and Cubs hitters. The Cubbies hit well against lefties and Wood’s just been plain bad at easier altitudes.

Rapid Fire: Kyle Kendrick is shaky, but so are the Astros, so it’s hard to handicap how this one will turn out. Tim Lincecum and his homerball will visit the Miller’s Hitter Haven. Hector Santiago has the difficult job of silencing the Dodgers.

3. Wednesday Picks

Pitchers to Start: I’m leery of Odrisamer Despaigne due to some really weird peripherals. My read on him is that he should possess a usable strikeout rate and a high walk rate. What we’ve actually seen is a non-existent strikeout rate and a slightly better than expected walk rate. He’ll face the Twins at Target Field, so the matchup is pleasant, even if the decision to use him is a headache.

Jeff Locke’s new stinginess with walks and his good swinging strike rate has me mildly excited about his upside. He just needs to keep his HR/FB ratio under control, since he leans to ground balls. The skill set is similar to Tim Hudson, without a LOT of polish and veteran spunk.

The numbers say Toronto struggles against left-handed pitchers. On that alone, you may want to consider Wei-Yin Chen. However, I don’t fully buy the split, I think the Jays offense should be slightly above average against southpaws. Do with that as you will.

Danny Salazar is showing more upside than downside since returning to the majors, so I’m happy to jump back on the bandwagon. Expect strikeouts, fear the meltdown, three walk inning.

Pitchers to Exploit: The Padres don’t have a lot of potent hitters, but they should put balls in play against Kevin Correia.

Does anyone think Chris Sale won’t earn the win against Nick Tepesch. Watch Tepesch spin a gem. His lousy peripherals and fly ball tendencies make that unlikely.

Jeremy Hellickson has yet to finish five frames this season. A matchup against the A’s is not going to help him get there.

The next lefty to be eaten by the Tigers is Chris Capuano. Justin Verlander is also at risk with the Yankees short right field porch in play.

Brad Peacock versus David Buchanan reminds me of the Twins-White Sox matchup last week. These pitchers are exploitable, but the lineups in question might let them off the hook.

The Rockies are throwing their first right-handed starter in what feels like a hundred years – Jordan Lyles. He was pitching well before injury, but he’s struggled in the majors in past seasons. He could be rusty or simply not as good as before tomorrow.

Hitters (power): Chris Coghlan, Arismendy Alcantara, Javier Baez, and Luis Valbuena are just some of the Cubs worth a look. There are some steals in that group too.

Danny Valencia will have the platoon advantage against Chen.

Ryan Howard could bring his power stroke against Peacock. As could Jon Singleton against Buchanan.

Chase Headley and Stephen Drew will be swinging for right field.

John Jaso, Jed Lowrie, and Josh Reddick see Hellickson.

Hitters (speed): Rajai Davis is the most available Tiger of consequence.

Adam Eaton is lacing line drives and Tepesch isn’t likely to slow him down.

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.

The league looks like it should play all its games today, but there’s enough unstable air that another look closer to game time is warranted.

The Link. It’s a green and red day.

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.





You can follow me on twitter @BaseballATeam

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Compton
9 years ago

Jason Hammel bounce back day!