The Daily Grind: After the Colon 3: Back To Little League

Between the lack of offense at Coors Field and the injuries to Yankees players, I’m starting to think we’re seeing some glitches in the matrix.

AGENDA

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

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

Another low-scoring contest! I guess the league is limping through September. MJA2112 ran away with it by composing the only roster with more than 135 points. Besides Yu Darvish, nobody stood out. Instead, it was a full team effort. Congrats and Leaderboard.

Here we go, a 10-game slate on FantasyDraft.

2. Weather Reports

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3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Gerrit Cole costs a mint. I’m pretty sure $24,900 is the max price. And frankly, he should run closer to $26,500. The Rangers are fairly strikeout prone, leading me to expect double-digit strikeouts with upside for something truly ridiculous. Of course, it’s challenging to build a roster when one player absorbs a quarter of your resources. I don’t mind Kolby Allard ($13,600) as a very contrarian play. While I have a healthy skepticism about his long term prospects in the majors, he’s got that sexy mix of ground balls and strikeouts.

Next on the list is Jake Odorizzi ($20,800). While I’ve frequently targeted the White Sox offense this season, I’m not overly keen about Odorizzi at this price. I’m going to say he should cost about $17,500 or so. Piss off Ivan Nova. He’s trying to tempt me with a tiny $9,900 price tag, but I won’t bite.

There was a nice healthy argument in the comments of yesterday’s TDG regarding the actual potency of the Brewers offense. I’m still calling them modestly below average although there was one good point – their pitchers typically only come to the plate one time. However, it’s not like they have DHs taking all those pinch hitting opportunities. In any case, Dinelson Lamet ($17,900) looks like one of the best non-Coles in the slate.

The other non-Cole option is Aaron Civale who has consistently delivered mid-teens point totals with upside for low-20s. Even against the lowly Tigers, I expect this to be a safe but unexceptional play. He’s the layup of the slate. On the other side is a low-costed Spencer Turnbull ($9,100). He’s very likely to outperform this price.

I’m skipping Tony Gonsolin ($17,200) and Brendan McKay ($14,900). They’re way too overpriced to even consider.

Jon Lester ($16,100), Julio Teheran ($15,900), and Tyler Mahle ($13,800) represent various types of plain vanilla mid-tier choices. The wind is blowing right-to-left at Wrigley Field. Mildly. Teheran is hosting the Phillies.

Tommy Milone ($14,900) could reward a certain kind of masochist. The Pirates have to be completely dispirited. It’s not a play I plan to make.

Favorite Plays: Cole, Lamet, Civale, Turnbull

Stack Targets: Jhoulys Chacin, Zach Eflin, Clay Buchholz, Nova, Dario Agrazal, Turnbull

Just because I like Turnbull at this price doesn’t mean he isn’t also stackable.

4. SaberSim Says…

Cole, Lamet, Odorizzi, Lester, and Bundy are the top-rated pitchers. Notably, The Sim thinks Odorizzi is par value. Adrian Houser, Turnbull, Lamet, Cole, and Lester lead the value squad. As we’ve agreed in the comments of past episodes, the Brewers seemingly have no plans to use their starters more than around four innings.

Big Nellie Style, Austin Meadows, Ronny Acuna, Alex Bregman, and Aristides Aquino headline the hitting choices. Users of Cole may prefer to look at bargains like Jake Rogers, Joey Wendle, Zack Collins, Jake Cave, and Jose Iglesias.

5. Big Sexy

This guy is going to be something.

Sevvy looked good in his debut, but he’ll undoubtedly sustain a season-ending injury before long. Virtually every Yankee who has returned from the injured list has returned to the injured list.

He’s in postseason form guys! I especially like the third pitch which appears to be roughly shoulder high on the tiny child. Bartolo says, “you’re out.”





You can follow me on twitter @BaseballATeam

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Mario MendozaMember since 2017
5 years ago

Nova pitched on the 15th… is he really pitching today? He’s also slated to go on Saturday? So confused.

Anon
5 years ago
Reply to  Mario Mendoza

As noted by gcarter, he’s expected to go 1-2 IP at most as they scratched Dylan Covey with a bum shoulder. I’m sure it’s one of those things where he was going to throw a bullpen today anyway and they’re running out of starters so it’s a bullpen game.

With Covey likely done and Giolito done and Cease already 13 IP ahead of last year’s total (which isn’t bad, but still) , probably going to be a lot of BP games the rest of the way. Their remaining schedule is @DET, CLE, DET, so Cleveland will like that.

(As an aside, think any of those Sox/Tigers games will take even 3 hours to play? I’m thinking average game time for those will be 2:30 or less)