The Daily Grind: An Unusual Start Time

Here is one Vidal Brujan running like a cartoon character.

Vidal Brujan @RaysBaseball who was a late addition rips a double to right. Shows the wheels and the bat to ball. #ProspectOne pic.twitter.com/lOiYa4qRh4

— The Welsh (@IsItTheWelsh) September 19, 2019

AGENDA

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

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

Sadly, an internet outage prevented me from participating in yesterday’s Invitational. Roc-pile earned the victory with my intended combination of Spencer Turnbull and Gerrit Cole. He backed them with a full Blue Jays stack. Congrats and Leaderboard.

We have five games on FantasyDraft. These Thin Thursday slates tend to be very under-subscribed. Beware, the contest starts at 6:35pm ET!

2. Weather Reports

I can’t remember a season with so few weather concerns…

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Mike Clevinger ($22,000) headlines the tiny slate with a must-use matchup against the Tigers. This price tag is $2,900 below that of Cole last night despite looking every bit as desirable. Again, I’m expecting a double-digit strikeout total. If you’re feeling contrarian, you still can’t justify using any part of the Daniel Norris-Drew VerHagen pairing. If you’re the type who runs 20 lineups, maybe consider one Tigers lineup. Just in case.

Jack Flaherty ($21,500) has been in full ace mode for quite some time. He’s visiting a diminished Cubs offense. The wind is blowing out to left field, but it’s only at six mph. I wouldn’t fret too much about it. In a normal sized slate, Flaherty would be overshadowed by Clevinger. In this one, he’ll still be plenty popular. The next best option is Kyle Hendricks ($18,400). He’s a little overpriced as a typical mid-tier guy.

For the bold, Andrew Heaney ($17,300) at Masahiro Tanaka ($14,600) promises plenty of strikeouts and home run risk. While the Angels have a reputation as strikeout proof from earlier in the season, several of their call ups run an over-30 percent strikeout rate.

Kyle Gibson ($15,900) appears to be the “safe” mid-tier target. He’ll host the tepid Royals lineup. He’s struggled with high hit rates in recent weeks coupled with occasional spasms of walks. Ever since his breakout last season, I’ve found Gibson to be frustrating in his steadfast refusal to supply predictable outcomes. I’m anticipating between 10 and 20 points this evening so he’ll probably pop in a zero or 30 point outing. (That’s how it works, right?)

Favorite Plays: Clevinger, Flaherty

Stack Targets: Gabriel Ynoa, Anthony Kay, Mike Montgomery, Norris et al, Tanaka, Heaney

4. SaberSim Says…

Clevinger, Flaherty, Gibson, Tanaka, and Hendricks receive top billing. Clevinger, Tanaka, Flaherty, Gibson, and Hendricks are the best values. Hmm. Maybe we should use some combination of this quintet. It’s telling – in a bad way – that none of the ultra-cheap arms made it into the bargain bin.

Big Nellie Style, Mitch “The Carver” Garver, Gleybs Torres, Cavan Bigs, and The Judge sit atop the hitter pile. Bargains include pitcher/hitter Jared Walsh, Ryan McBroom, Rowdy Tellez, Meibrys Viloria, and Franny Reyes.

5. Records

This wasn’t an easy accomplishment considering he’s barely reached the 200 inning threshold.

Elsewhere in big numbers, Pete Alonso tied a rookie home run record (with Mark McGwire).

Eugenio Suarez set a record too…for a Venezuelan-born player…with his 48th home run. Ok, that’s a dumb stat.