The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and More for April 22

Agenda

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

1. Price Discrepancies

I’m always fascinated by the interplay between FanDuel and DraftKings prices. I generally consider DK to be vastly superior at producing taut pricing. FD is much more likely to underprice or ridiculously overprice players. When one site is high on a player while the other is tepid, I usually view that as a buying opportunity. Especially at the top end of the scale. For example, if FanDuel thinks Bryce Harper is a $6,000 player while DraftKings is charging $4,400, it could be a good day to use Harper on DK.

I aim to investigate this more closely in the near future.

2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Let’s try DraftKings again tonight. I’ve made a $2, 30-user league for the 15-game rumble. If you need a DK referral, let me know. Unlike with FanDuel, we both get something if I refer you (a contest entry).

Congrats to Fronski33. Not only did he win last night with some thump from Kris Bryant and Colby Rasmus, he’s also our first multi-contest winner. Check him out atop the leaderboard! For sorting purposes, I moved the DraftKings leaderboard to a separate tab.

Most importantly, Rich Hill helped carry me to a fourth place finish. I’m on the board.

3. Daily DFS – Waino, Gio, Shark

Yesterday’s Grind

The good news? We have a 15-game contest tonight. The bad news? We have a 15-game contest tonight. While the range of choices makes it easier to create unique rosters in GPPs, the multitude of possibilities demand that chaos shall reign. Or the Coors Game. I feel as though I have small measure of control over my fate in smaller contests. This is a pure lottery.

I’m steering clear of the big names tonight – Felix Hernandez, Jon Lester, Sonny Gray, and Matt Harvey. With the possible exception of Lester, they all have some serious downside given their lofty price tags. I don’t know who it will be, but somebody will replicate their value at a much cheaper price.

Let’s take some guesses. Adam Wainwright hasn’t been on his game. A matchup against the Padres could be the cure. I’ve watched bits and pieces of Waino’s starts. The command looked fine in his last outing, as did the curve. It’s a high risk play considering he still costs $8,400 on FanDuel.

Gio Gonzalez might be having one of his good years. He costs a lot too – $9,000 – and he’s up against a warming Twins offense. Minnesota still strikes out at a high rate, making Gonzalez yet another high risk, high reward selection.

Jeff Samardzija was excellent at Coors Field then stunk at Dodgers Stadium. On his good days, he’ll go eight strong and pick up a win. The bad days will torpedo your lineup. Sounds like a solid GPP pick to me.

If I’m looking for lightning in a barrel (you know, to kill all those pesky fishes), I’d try one of Patrick Corbin, Aaron Nola, or Aaron Sanchez. Corbin may be the most talented of the trio, but he also has the hardest matchup opposite the Pirates. Per weather reports, the ball is going to fly in the desert tonight too.

The A.A. Ron’s have safer matchups. Nola will challenge a decent but beatable Brewers lineup at homer happy Miller Park. Sanchez also has to survive a homer friendly venue at home against the A’s.

Stack Targets: Jon Gray, Chris Young, Jon Moscot, Bud Norris, Jarred Cosart, Zach Davies, Kyle Gibson, Martin Perez, Andrew Cashner, CC Sabathia, Yovani Gallardo, Josh Tomlin, Collin McHugh

4. SaberSim Observations

Alas and avast ye mateys. The projections are not live yet. Lucky for me, I’m running behind too!

5. Tomorrow’s Targets – Santiago, Nicasio, Howard, Dyson

Pitchers to Start: Hector Santiago is still available in 55 percent of Yahoo leagues. And while I don’t believe you must roster him, it’s encouraging to see his velocity up 2.5 mph. His fastball effectiveness is up as a result. His changeup, cutter, and slider should benefit too. Now if only he’d scrap that crappy curve. Santiago has a neutral matchup versus the Mariners.

Also consider: J.A. Happ, Chase Anderson, Charlie Morton

Pitchers to Exploit: Juan Nicasio’s newly interesting fastball isn’t enough to get him through every matchup. His command is still questionable too. The Diamondbacks have plenty of fastball mashers. Chase Field is one of the best early-season hitting environments.

Also consider: Phil Hughes, Colby Lewis, Clay Buchholz, Mike Fiers, Jhoulys Chacin, Dan Straily, Vance Refrigeration, Rubby de la Rosa, Jake Peavy

Hitters (power): It’s easy to forget about Ryan Howard. He’s been a stream quality bat since 2012. I’ll take him against a hittable pitcher at Miller Park. His power against righties is still very real.

Also consider: Franklin Gutierrez, C.J. Cron, Jeremy Hazelbaker, Brandon Moss, Jake Lamb, Chase Utley, Javier Baez, Scooter Gennett, Mark Canha, Khris Davis, Jed Lowrie

Hitters (speed): Jarrod Dyson has been back in action for a few days. Given the excitement about him during the spring, it doesn’t look like fantasy owners have noticed him. He’s just 22 percent owned on Yahoo. Use him against almost any righty including (and especially) Vance Worley

Also consider: Joey Rickard, Odubel Herrera, Jonathan Villar, Billy Burns, Michael Taylor

6. 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.

Watch out for capricious storms tonight.

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.