The Daily Grind: A Chance, a Smoak, and an Ohtani Walk Into A Pun

Go get it Chance Sisco!

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. No Smoak Puns

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

AsylumErmine – perhaps the most interesting name to partake of the Invitational – took the top spot last Friday. Kris Bryant, Ryan Braun, A.J. Pollock, and Sean Manaea provided the juice for the squeeze. They accounted for over 100 of his 132.1 points. As you can see, it was a low scoring contest. Oh look! There’s me in fourth place. It’s well-established that I only win money in low scoring contests. Leaderboard.

Let’s stick with our $2, 25-user contest on DraftKings. FanDuel caps user-created contests as 20 entries so we’ll sample their platform later in the season.

PS – New users who deposit with my referral link get $20 bonus cash. I also get $20. It’s a win-win.

2. Weather Reports

The Yankees and Rays won’t be playing today. Snow. Remember, cold weather generally favors pitchers and minimizes power. However, some pitchers really can’t pitch when it’s cold. I can’t help you there – it’s too rare to measure. The Royals-Tigers game this afternoon and the Phillies-Mets game tonight will be especially frigid. Pittsburgh’s chilly too.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Early Slate: With the postponement, the most interesting game of the slate is out. We’re left with four contests headlined by Jameson Taillon. By price, he’s actually the third most expensive pitcher ($8,800). Between PNC Park and the cold weather, he’s a must-play.

Francisco Liriano is a sneaky option at frigid Comerica Park. He’s opposed by Jason Hammel. These wily veteran types can sometimes perform surprisingly well in April before fading away.

Others to use include Zach Davies, Miles Mikolas, and Tyler Mahle. Have I listed everybody?

I ain’t touching Tyler Chatwood for $10,100, even if I’m not stacking against him either. And let’s be serious, we can totally stack against Chatwood. Or anybody in this slate.

Stack Targets: Chatwood, Lance Lynn, Hammel, Liriano, Mikolas (who knows), Mahle

I’ve always been a Lynn doubter. I just don’t understand why he isn’t crushed every time…

Main Slate: Charlie Morton ($11,100) and his statistical doppelganger Mike Clevinger ($10,400) are the priciest arms. I like their matchups, but I’m not keen on the five-figure price tag. We have plenty of cheaper options who should match their point output. The challenging part is correctly identifying which will do so. It’s purely a matter of luck.

Sean Newcomb has the strikeout ability to carry a lineup, but his matchup against the Nationals is terrifying. The weather is beautiful in Atlanta today, supplying a little extra thrust to home run potential. High risk, high reward for $7,600.

Taijuan Walker ($9,400) feels way too obvious. Sometimes, the most obvious pick is also the top performing pick. He’s opposite the Dodgers at The Humidor. The L.A. bats awoke yesterday. Hyun-Jin Ryu ($8,900) would be more enticing if the Diamondbacks had fewer lefty mashers. He’s been homer prone in recent years.

Reynaldo Lopez will be the most popular bargain. He’ll visit a weaker-than-they-appear Blue Jays lineup. I’m not on board the Lopez hype train, but I’ll consider a flier for $6,200. Personally, I’m more intrigued by command guy Trevor Richards ($4,900) in his MLB debut against the Red Sox.

Andrew Triggs, Tanner Roark, and Jaime Garcia are also try-able. Hell, even Chad Bettis is worth a twirl on the road at Petco Park.

Stack Targets: Bartolo Colon, Chris Tillman, Ben Lively, Matt Harvey, Bryan Mitchell, Richards, Lopez, Brian Johnson, JC Ramirez, Bettis, Garcia, Ryu

Yes, there is a lot of overlap between the guys to try and the guys to stack. Such is the nature of baseball. I’d be all over Lively and Harvey stacks if this was a normal summer game. Part of me wants to use Lively… That part of me is crazy. Gabe the Man will sub him after 35 pitches (not really). Bartolo looks Bardun-o. *cough*

4. SaberSim Says…

Looking purely at the main slate, the Sim says Morton, Garcia, Triggs, Harvey, and Walker are the guys to beat. Mitchell, Lively, Richards, Triggs, and Harvey are the values. Interesting to see Triggs and Harvey on both lists…

Top bats include Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, George Springer, Anthony Rendon, and Cody Bellinger. The guys you’d expect. Plus Bellinger. Justin Smoak is a top 10 value, although he may be popular after yesterday’s outburst.

5. Not Another Smoak Pun

Speaking of Smoak, here’s Shohei Ohtani throwing pitches. (gotcha)

And here’s Smoak hitting a terrible pitch far-far.