The Daily Grind: DFS, Streamers, and More for April 23

Agenda

1. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard
2. Daily DFS
3. SaberSim Observations
4. Tomorrow’s Targets
5. Factor Grid

1. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Congrats to 8mileallstars. Not only did he finish first, he’s the first user to win two contests. Took just four days. Meanwhile, I’m undoubtedly the first to finish last twice. There were intentional flaws with my first bombed roster, but yesterday’s crew looks pretty good on paper. So much for being the expert…

After one week, 8mileallstars leads in cash received ($28.60). Fronski33 leads in wins (3). Here’s the big board(s).

We’re doing an early game on FanDuel today. Sign up by 1:00pm ET. I’m typically unavailable for DFS on the weekends, but I’m willing to toss you $2 on a blind roster. If the contest doesn’t fill, it will run as a freebie. As before, ping me in the comments or on Twitter if you need a referral. Fronski33 and I got a free $20 ticket on DraftKings yesterday.

2. Daily DFS

Yesterday’s Grind

Early: Six games are early. The hittable version of Corey Kluber and Masahiro Tanaka are the “aces” of the time slot. Pretty much every pitcher – even Colby Lewis – has a use case in this format. Personally, I like J.A. Happ and Chris Bassitt as cheaper plays.

Stack Targets: Phil Hughes, Anibal Sanchez, Michael Fiers, Clay Buchholz, Carlos Rodon, Tanner Roark, Lewis

Late: The late pitching options are better in this nine game contest. The rich blooded will turn to Jose Fernandez at AT&T Park or Felix Hernandez at Angels Stadium. Both games feature studs at pitcher friendly venues. I’ve been talking about King Felix’s flaws often so I obviously prefer JoFery.

Want affordable guys? Start with John Lackey’s easy win against Dan Straily. The game is at Great American Ballpark; the homer happiest place outside of Colorado. Michael Wacha has the easy Padres matchup and Steven Matz draws the crappy Braves. Who can argue with any of these?

In the bargain bin, I like the matchup between Charlie Morton and Chase Anderson. Either or both pitchers could be sneaky good tonight. Morton is using his curve to actually strike out hitters while Anderson has the easier opponent. Beware, the game is at Miller Park.

Stack Targets: Tyler Chatwood, Straily, Tyler Wilson, Rubby de la Rosa, Jhoulys Chacin, Jake Peavy, Juan Nicasio

3. SaberSim Observations

Well the projections start on the same page as me. Fernandez, Wacha, Matz, and Tanaka rank first, second, third, and fifth respectively. Who’s second? The ever and always inconsistent Rodon. The Rangers make for a tough matchup at home. I don’t buy him as a top play today.

SaberSim also likes Hector Santiago a lot more than Hernandez. Maybe. Straily 10 spots better than Lackey? Impossible. The projections hate my suggestion of buying low on Bassitt – he’s the fourth lowest rated pitcher.

Stacks you ask? Go to Coors for the top plays. Try Blue Jays or Cubs for plan B. No other stack jumps to the forefront per the numbers.

4. Tomorrow’s Targets – Blair, Hutchison, Hicks, Rollins

Pitchers to Start: I’ve always thought Aaron is an odd name for a human (not that Brad is particular fantastic). If I had a pet aardvark, it might be named Aaron. I’d name my pet human something unctuous like Unctuous Johnson. It doesn’t get more unctuous than Unctuous.

But I digress, top prospect Aaron Blair is getting the call tomorrow for Atlanta. Part of the haul for Shelby Miller, Blair has the potential to outperform Miller starting immediately. He’s rolled over Triple-A competition with 10.42 K/9, 2.37 BB/9, and a 1.42 ERA through his first three starts. Tomorrow’s start against Jacob deGrom could be a one-off or the first of many.

Also consider: Ervin Santana, Adam Conley, Robbie Ray

Pitchers to Exploit: Drew Hutchison is getting the call tomorrow for what’s being described as a spot start. Hutchison has posted nice peripherals in Triple-A (11.74 K/9, 3.52 BB/9) to go with a 4.11 ERA. I’m not highlighting him here because he’s guaranteed to toss a disaster. Rather, I want to ensure you understand he didn’t dominate the minors to get this call. There’s still a chance for six good innings and a bushel of strikeouts.

Also consider: Eric Surkamp, Shane Greene, Alfredo Simon, Wily Peralta, Mike Wright, Matt Shoemaker, Alex Wood, Jordan Lyles, Mike Leake, Colin Rea, Henry Owens, Scott Feldman

Hitters (power): Aaron Hicks (another A.A. Ron?) is opposed by a good lefty at Yankee Stadium. Hicks hasn’t done much of anything this year, but he does possess five category potential.

Also consider: Jed Lowrie, Javier Baez, Avisail Garcia, Ryan Howard, C.J. Cron, Yunel Escobar, Seth Smith, Mark Reynolds, Ryan Raburn, Chase Utley

Hitters (speed): Jimmy Rollins has real ultimate power against left-handed pitching. He also runs fastly. A matchup against Derek Holland at U.S. Cellular Field could produce any number of positive outcomes.

Also consider: Coco Crisp, Rajai Davis, Odubel Herrera, Jarrod Dyson, Craig Gentry, Ketel Marte, Nori Aoki

5. The Factor Grid

The table below indicates which stadiums have the best conditions for hitters today. The color coding is a classic stoplight where green equals go for hitters. The weather conditions are from SI Weather’s home run app. A 10/10 means great atmospheric conditions for home runs. A 1/10 means lousy atmospheric conditions.

The Link.

This post is not brought to you by any DFS platform. The current author is quite pleased to present a DFS ad free environment.