The Daily Grind: Automatic Wins

The Sanchezi Federation rises in today’s Streaming Wars. Also, a slew of hitters.

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. The DH is Evil

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

I missed the deadline by 15 minutes or so last night. If somebody would be so kind as to supply the top five performers (in order), I will update the Leaderboard.

We’re cooking with eight games tonight on FantasyDraft. These Thin Thursdays are usually accompanied by crazy overlays.

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

I wouldn’t say it’s all clear, but the risk of rain is below 20 percent at every venue.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: Justin Verlander is king of the jungle tonight. He’s opposed by a solid Angels lineup. The presence of a certain man-fish makes this slightly risky. A $23,300 price tag seems reasonable if not valuable. Andrew Heaney is also appropriately priced at $14,400. For the Angels’ southpaw, this is a tricky matchup with a low chance for the win bonus.

I’m not buying Mike Foltynewicz at $20,200 – not unless I decide his ownership is going to be nonexistent. Folty is a fine pitcher, but I see him as having only a modest victory advantage over Mike Montgomery ($12,700). That’s not to say I recommend Monty either. He makes bland, short starts. Foltynewicz at least has serious strikeout potential. The Cubs offense is dangerous.

Now we’re getting to some interesting price/value ratios. J.A. Happ ($19,600) should supply a nearly automatic win against Francisco Liriano and the Tigers. Just eyeballing the inputs, I think he’s my top projected performer. I expect 25 points.

Alternatively, Rick Porcello ($19,000) should be just as automatic in the win column. He’s visiting Lucas Giolito. Porcello has even racked up strikeouts lately, and the White Sox are one of the most strikeout prone offenses.

That German Marquez price tho… For $15,900, you can use G-Money in a visit to San Diego. The Padres are… drum roll please… strikeout prone. And Marquez is especially talented when it comes to inducing strikeouts. He’s on a long hot streak.

It’s too bad Rich Hill ($17,700) is cancelled out by Robbie Ray ($15,000). Hill has pitched well since returning from an injury a while back. The Diamondbacks have some serious lefty mashers though. Ray is really struggling to work the strike zone. His ownership may be nonexistent for this tough matchup. Consider a share in ultra-deep GPPs.

For an eight game slate, we have a lot of usable pitchers available. Joe Musgrove ($14,100) is vising John Gant ($13,700). I prefer the Gant side of the matchup by a very modest margin. Wade LeBlanc ($14,700) is also playable against the Athletics.

Stack Targets: Liriano, Giolito, Frankie Montas, Eric Lauer

4. SaberSim Says…

Verlander, Marquez, Happ, Hill, and Porcello are the top rated arms tonight per the Sim. Lauer, Marquez, Musgrove, Verlander, and Hill are the best values. On the hitting side, our daily Giancarlo Stanton recommendation is joined by Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, Aaron Hicks, and Ronald Acuna.

5. The DH is Evil

According to Statcast, hits like this are home runs zero percent of the time.

It’s my dream to steal home. Hard to do with an injured hamstring though. Referring to my hammy, not Puig’s.

This is why the DH is evil. I’ll take 1,000 automatic outs for one plate appearance like this one.