The Daily Grind: Coors Field Mystery Theater

What is going on at Coors Field? Two straight 2-1 games? Yeesh.

AGENDA

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

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

2locksports jaunted to an easy victory yesterday behind Stephen Strasburg, Sonny Gray, and a deep Mets stack. Jeff McNeil and Todd Frazier were the actually productive parts of the stack. Congrats and Leaderboard.

We’ve got a seven-gamer on FantasyDraft.

2. Weather Reports

Philadelphia and Minnesota could get some rain this evening, although it doesn’t seem as though there’s much risk of postponement. As always, keep an eye on it.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Early: I’m running behind so I’ll just leave you with some quick notes about this early slate. It’s a shame the Coors game is in this early slate. I’d love to triple-down on this matchup while other snakebit owners look elsewhere. FDraft doesn’t include three of the afternoon games so go use DraftKings for this one.

Lucas Giolito is the king of the slate and sure looks enticing opposite the Royals. Yu Darvish is the other premium priced pitcher (not included in FDraft’s lame four-game slate). J.A. Happ has the advantage of facing the Tigers while Gio Gonzalez draws the Marlins. I also like both sides of Joe Musgrove at Jeff Samardzija.

Favorite Plays: Giolito, Gio, Shark

Stack Targets: Jorge Lopez, Tim Melville, Miles Mikolas, Alex Young

Late: Our slate is headlined by by Justin Verlander. At $24,900, this is possibly the largest price tag I’ve seen all season. And he’s still viable. Despite a rough matchup against a powerful Athletics offense. The Astros are on a vicious tear, although Homer Bailey ($12,100) is more than good enough to be used at this price. I’d have him around $13,500.

Rich Hill is back, but you shouldn’t pay $20,400 for a shortened outing. While Dylan Bundy ($10,100) is likely to get shelled, there are scenarios where he supplies 20 points out as the cheapest pitcher in the slate. If you’re a many-lineups kind of DFSer, you shouldn’t overlook Bundy.

Patrick Corbin ($20,200) has a challenging but reasonably priced pairing with Kyle Gibson ($15,900) and the Twins. Gibby’s coming off an injury or else I would like this price too.

Whoever is the follower among Justin Dunn ($13,000) or Tom Milone ($14,600) is moderately interesting opposite Tyle Mahle ($11,900). This is a good game to turn to for bargains.

Since it’s a small slate, I’ll just point out that Julio Teheran ($16,100) and Brendan McKay ($15,100) slip through the cracks for me as neither usable nor abusable.

Favorite Plays: Verlander, Corbin, Mahle

Stack Targets: Jhoulys Chacin et al, Bundy, Clay Buchholz, Mahle, Bailey, Drew Smyly, Dunn et all, Kolby Allard

4. SaberSim Says…

Verlander, Corbin, Hill, Dunn, and Teheran are the top-projected pitchers, although SS has a haplessly bullish 5.8 inning projection on Dunn. Switch that to 2.5 innings, and he’s no longer viable. Dunn, Mahle, Smyly, Verlander, and Bundy are the best values.

Who wants bats? Tommy Pham, Ronald Acuna, Yordan Alvarez, J.D. Martinez, and Austin Meadows are the big names. Jesus Aguilar, Matt Duffy, Jonathan Davis, Gavin Lux, and Seth Brown are the small names.

5.Baited

Villar sets a record.

The lizard video we all crave. That wiffle ball movement…

Baited.