The Daily Grind: A New Era

Last Friday, I announced our new no rake GPP with FantasyDraft. To help set the appropriately sized contest, we’re doing freerolls this week Monday through Thursday. Signing up for the free roll can help us to get bigger guarantees in the future.

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. DFS First Take
3. Weather Reports
4. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
5. SaberSim Says…
6. Fluky Catch

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

Congratulations to rivrsurvivor. He used Jacob deGrom and shocking two-homer games from Jose Peraza and Odubel Herrera. The former was more shocking than the latter. Leaderboard.

Today is our first freeroll with FantasyDraft. It’s a 60 entry contest. You’ll notice it allows for two entries. This is because the GPP will be structured this way. For today, I ask that you submit only one lineup – at least up until after 4:00pm.

If you have not signed up for FantasyDraft, please use this referral link for tracking purposes. If I understand properly, by using the referral, you will receive a 10 percent return on any rakes you pay.

2. DFS First Take

Today’s DFS First Take focuses on a few valuable stacks.

3. Weather Reports

Boston has some rain in the forecast, but it looks like they’ll play. The rest of the league should be free and clear. Wind is blowing out at Wrigley.

4. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

A reminder, prices and player picks are now for FantasyDraft. They use a $100,000 salary cap. So, if you want to view these prices in context with those referenced in past columns, consider these to be multiplied by two.

Main Slate: We have a 10-game main slate tonight. Jake Arrieta ($21,600) tops the list thanks to a soft matchup against the Marlins. Seems like a fair price. It’ll take me some time to fully assimilate the subtle differences in lineup building on our new site. Arrieta is opposed by Dan Straily ($12,800) in his 2018 debut. The fly ball pitcher is a risky bargain alternative. He makes sense as a contrarian choice.

The second priciest pitcher, Charlie Morton ($20,600) is beyond risky versus the potent Yankees lineup. As I wrote over the weekend, Didi Gregorius has become a legitimate power threat. He joins Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge on my projected end of season top 10 homer leaderboard. That’s three big power bats on top of Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks. They’re too dangerous an opponent. The only reason to use Morton in this matchup is because you expect his ownership to be microscopic. That doesn’t mean you should use Sonny Gray ($14,000). The Astros are monsters too.

Zack Greinke ($19,300) is fine. His nibble-y approach is still working. They’re playing at now-pitcher friendly Chase Field. Ross Stripling, despite an unimpressive projection, looks like a massive bargain at only $8,000. The only issue is that he isn’t stretched out. He may not reach the fifth or sixth inning.

Eduardo Rodriguez ($14,500) is a must-use pitcher in small formats. He’s hosting the Royals. They offer me continuous opportunities to use “feckless” in a sentence. For this, I like them. I also like that I can use a cheap left-handed core performer who regularly records a strikeout per inning.

Jeff Samardzija ($19,300), Jameson Taillon ($15,900), and Tanner Roark ($15,400) are also playable. Shark hosts the Padres. The other two are opposite one another at Nationals Stadium. If you want to get reachy, Aaron Sanchez ($12,900) and Jake Faria ($14,700) could be surprisingly decent.

Stack Targets: Jordan Zimmermann, Jhoulys Chacin, Jason Hammel, Eric Lauer, Brandon Finnegan, Lance Lynn, Kyle Freeland, Jon Lester

Yep, Lester is totally a stack target when the wind is blowing the wrong way.

5. SaberSim Says…

FantasyDraft isn’t tracked by SaberSim. Until I scrounge up a solution, I’ll continue referencing the projections for the other site (I agreed not to say their name). Samardzija, Greinke, ERod, Arrieta, and Straily are the top ranked pitchers. The Sim agrees with me about Morton versus the Yankees. Stripling, Straily, and ERod are the values. Bats include Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado, Javier Baez, Ian Happ, and Curtis Granderson. I think SaberSim knows about the wind at Wrigley. Bargain bats like Jesus Aguilar, Happ, and Chris Iannetta look especially tasty today.

6. Fluky Catch

“That’s as good a catch as you will ever see.” I’m not so sure I agree. It’s an interesting catch though.

Nick Kingham was good.

These other young players were also good yesterday.