The Daily Grind: A Feast For Fridays

Avast ye mateys. It’s Friday.

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. Defense First

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

The key to victory, apparently, was Max Fried. In this era of carefully managed pitch counts, the Braves threw caution to the wind and set Fried loose for a six inning outing – this despite being stretched out for only a 50 or 60 pitch appearance. KSU_Tom used him along with Nick Markakis as his difference maker. Mike Trout was 88 percent owned, but he earned it with a 19-point performance. Congrats and Leaderboard.

We have an eight-game contest available for tonight’s Invitational. All the usual parameter. See ya tonight.

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2. Weather Reports

It’s going to be cold and rainy in Philadelphia. As of now, delays are more likely than an outright postponement. Minnesota is in town, adding extra pressure to play the game. It’s easy to reschedule a spring contest opposite an NL East club. It’s not so simple when involving a Midwestern AL opponent. The Giants game might start slightly late due to passing rain.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Collin McHugh ($18,700) is the top arm on display. At least according to the price list. He looked sharp last week. We’ll see if he can tame a deep Athletics lineup tonight. Can you believe the Astros shoved him headfirst into the bullpen last season? A short outing of five (or fewer) innings is a risk. A matchup against Frankie Montas ($15,300) figures to be interesting. The post-post-post hype prospect has added a splitter. If he tames Houston, he’s going to become very popular. I’ll wait to see what he does tonight before investing.

Shane Bieber ($17,700) is hosting Trent Thornton ($11,700). Bieber is a command and control who seemingly possesses the qualities of a premium DFS asset. To date, he’s failed to put together the run prevention component. Thornton greatly impressed me in his debut. He’s a spin-rate darling. I’ve added a dozen shares in season-long fantasy, and I’ll strongly consider rostering him tonight. He’s the cheapest available arm. Both offenses are shuddersome.

Nick Pivetta ($15,500), if he can avoid most of the rain, looks like a must-play target. He’s a little like Bieber except with a tougher matchup and piles of run support. Pivetta threw fewer fastballs and more curve balls in his first start. His velocity was on par with past norms. Between the rain and a 4.2 inning debut, a short outing is possible.

Joe Musgrove ($14,800) is in a good position tonight – both because he’ll face Sonny Gray ($13,000) and PNC Park is pitcher friendly. Speaking of things I can’t believe, not only did the Reds pay prospects for Gray, they then immediately turned around and paid him extra cash. Perhaps I’m sounding the alarm far too early. His first start was disgusting in a bad way. His velocity was down, and he walked four batters in 2.2 innings.

I’m not sure why Brandon Woodruff costs only $13,700. He’s an obvious top target tonight after carrying his 2018 relief velocity threw a five inning start last week. He might only be a two-times through the order guy, but we’ve been using Lance McCullers effectively in DFS for years. For now, treat Woodruff like McCullers 2.0. The Cubs are a challenging opponent, especially at Miller Park. Jose Quintana ($15,900) has a tougher matchup, and he’s pricier. I’d still consider using him.

Favorite Plays: Pivetta, Woodruff, Thornton, McHugh

Stack Targets: Gray, Zack Godley, Jake Odorizzi, Lance Lynn, Felix Pena

I could see Odorizzi making his fly ball game work tonight, but only because it’s going to be cold and rainy. Usually, Odorono would be a disaster in the making at Citizen’s Bank Park. Pena was missing velocity last week.

4. SaberSim Says…

McHugh, Pivetta, Kevin Gausman, Bieber, and Pena are the preferred arms tonight. I’m 100 percent out on Pena while Gausman is at least mildly interesting. A long history of bad first halves has me wary. The best values are Thornton (nods), Pivetta (uh huh), Woodruff (excellent), Pena, and Gausman.

On the hitting side of the ledger, Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuna, Mike Trout, J.D. Martinez, and Freddie Freeman are the studs du jour. Adam Frazier, David Peralta, Starling Marte, Matt Chapman, and Josh Bell represent values. One word of caution about Marte, he’s a ground ball hitter set to face a ground ball pitcher. It’s not an ideal matchup.

5. Defense First

Last year, I was surprised by the positive defensive marks earned by Kyle Schwarber. Let’s see him do some defending.

If you trawl the internet for baseball like I do, you’ve already seen the latest Ramon Laureano highlight

While we’re at it, whatever this is…