The Daily Grind: A Return To Labor

Welcome back to your labors. Enjoy the fruits by getting ahead of the competition with Streaming Wars.

AGENDA

  1. TDG Invitational
  2. Weather Reports
  3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
  4. SaberSim Says…
  5. NL Fantasy MVP

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

Congrats to Biznaq for forming the winning combination of Zack Wheeler, Corey Kluber, and Hunter Dozier last Friday. They supplied over half of ‘Naq’s point total. Leaderboard.

You know the drill. Let’s hang out on FantasyDraft. After today, we’re going to drop the size of the contest to reduce the overlay. If you guys rally, I might be able to convince the powers that be to keep it at the larger, multi-entry size.

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. Weather Reports

There could be some early storms in Texas today. They should eventually clear. Coors Field isn’t 100 percent safe either. It’ll probably work out just fine.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: Justin Verlander ($24,100) is the king of the day. Unlike some occasions when the top pitcher is overpriced, this looks like an extremely valuable matchup against a beatable Twins offense. He should receive oodles of run support too.

Mike Clevinger ($21,100) is also quite attractive tonight. He hosts the hot mess Royals. This might be about $500 overpriced, but I’m happy to cough up the premium for what is likely to be a strong performance.

Next up is J.A. Happ ($20,300). He’s coming off a disaster outing which is often a great time to buy quality pitchers in GPPs. Casual DFSers have short memories. While Happ’s in a good situation at the O’Coliseum, the Athletics aren’t exactly an easy opponent. On the other hand, they’re kicking off a bullpen game with Liam Hendriks. Seems like a Yankees win to me. I’m not calling it automatic because of what happened the last time I said Happ was an auto-win. And other reasons too such as those I already listed.

Ahem, moving on… Rich Hill has the candy match against a heavily left-handed Mets lineup. He should be worth every penny of the 19,800 quid. Jason Vargas is starting for New York.

After crushing opponents for weeks and weeks and weeks, German Marquez still only costs $17,700 – mostly because today’s game is at Coors Field. Still, the Giants offense is rather pitiful/piteous/pitiable. Any of those. A strikeout per inning over six or more frames is well within reach. Dereck Rodriguez ($14,600) allows a ton of hard contact despite strong results. Perhaps the regression kicks in tonight. Or maybe he’s usable too. The Rockies use a four-man lineup.

Good Robbie Ray ($17,200) showed up last week against the Dodgers. Perhaps he’ll return for a nice cheesy tango with the Padres. I’m not keen to use Joey Lucchesi ($15,300).

Andrew Heaney ($17,000) costs $1,500 more than Mike Minor ($15,500). I’m calling this an even matchup. They’re both solid mid-tier pitchers at a rough ballpark for pitchers. Use them if/when they fit into your lineup.

A visit to the National League smells like a good time to try Rick Porcello ($16,800). One fewer hitter to face can’t hurt his typically long outings. His strikeout rate is way up this season. Sean Newcomb ($13,800) is on the other side of this one. You might consider trying him if J.D. Martinez is on the bench.

Miles Mikolas ($16,000) is one of those guys who’s better in reality (and traditional fantasy) than DFS. He’s a great, consistent cash game play who tends to fall short of providing GPP juice. He’ll visit the Nationals.

Jake Arrieta may be the most try-hard pitcher in the league right now. For $14,800, you get a pretty decent shot at 20 points versus a bad Marlins offense. The Phillies can be strikeout prone at times which could help Trevor Richards ($14,700) supply some value.

I’m not really sure why Joe Musgrove is only $13,500 at home against the Reds. He should be $15,000. It’s not a big deal.

I boldly predicted a second half turn around for Lucas Giolito ($12,700). He’s doing it, albeit with some shady peripherals. Look for him to continue his recent hot streak versus the Toledo Tigers.

Stack Targets: Hendriks, Trevor May, Francisco Liriano, Cody Reed, Erick Fedde, Vargas, Ryan Borucki, Alex Cobb

4. SaberSim Says…

Verlander, Hill, Ray, Clevinger, and Arrieta are favorites of The Sim. Playable values include Giolito, Ray, Verlander, Hill, Richards, and Arrieta. Top bats consist of Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez, Charlie Blackmon, Mookie Betts, and Francisco Lindor. Surprised? Valueland is populated by Greg Garcia, Brandon Guyer, Joe Panik, Billy McKinney, and Brandon Belt.

5.NL Fantasy MVP

Jacob deGrom decided to do everything himself. Good idea.

NL MVP. Fantasy NL MVP at the very least. He stole a base too.

That’s some veterany goodness.





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