The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and More for August 1

Agenda

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

1. The Neverending Deadline

It’s August and the trade deadline continues for one more day. Already, we’ve seen a deal nixed by Jonathan Lucroy, Matt Kemp to the Braves, Andrew Miller to the Indians, Tyler Clippard to the Yankees, and Mark Melancon to the Nationals. There were other, less fantasy relevant deals too.

The ramifications of the Kemp trade are simple. Assuming the club sticks with the plan to leave Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot in the minors until September, that means Alex Dickerson and Travis Jankowski will continue to be everyday guys when Jon Jay returns in a few days. Good news for fantasy owners. I assume Kemp is an everyday guy in Atlanta.

The Miller trade has two important outcomes. The early chatter in Cleveland is that he’ll share the closer role with Cody Allen. Often, job shares quickly turn into not-job shares. One of either Miller or Allen will probably receive very few save opportunities through the end of the season – and into next year if you’re in a keeper/dynasty.

Dellin Betances finally gets to close for the Yankees. Just days ago, it seemed like he was hopelessly blocked for the foreseeable future. Now he’s the guy, and he’s backed up by Clippard – a weird fit for a division full of small ballparks. In Arizona, Jake Barrett is my best guess for save opportunities. Daniel Hudson has been hopeless in recent weeks.

Finally, the Pirates dealt Melancon in a strange swap. The Pirates received Felipe Rivero, a future left-handed closer who could potentially start too. The Nationals bumped a struggling Jonathan Papelbon out of the closer job, but they didn’t improve their bullpen depth much. Rivero has a higher ERA, but he’s not actually that much worse than Melancon. Meanwhile, they still have grumpy Papelbon on the roster causing untold clubhouse mayhem.

In other news, Wade Davis‘ forearm strain is back. Expect him to opt for TJS any day now. I’m only a quarter kidding. Kelvin Herrera is back in business as a result, and the Davis trade rumors are officially dead. Here’s a potentially ominous reminder for Indians fans – Andrew Miller has also twice dealt with a forearm strain since the start of 2015.

2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Jfud81 won on Friday with the help of Manny Machado and a Rays stack. The leaderboard is updated. We’ll return to FanDuel and their redesigned site for tonight’s contest.

3. Daily DFS 

As has been common in recent contests, the bargain options are rather undesirable. Jose Berrios, Archie Bradley, James Paxton, and Eduardo Rodriguez all have tough matchups. They could post a solid outing. It’s much more likely they’ll flop.

That leaves us fighting over a few viable pitchers. Obvious Stephen Strasburg is of interest at Chase Field. I’d like him more if he wasn’t visiting the desert (or if he cost a little less).

Danny Salazar is a solid, less consistent alternative. To me, it feels like he’s wearing down. I wonder if a couple starts off in August would help restore him for the stretch run. Normally, I’d be all over him for a Twins matchup, but I suspect he’ll be the most popular pitcher tonight.

Either side of the Danny Duffy–Chris Archer matchup has the potential to post the top score of the night. The red flag for Duffy is the Rays lefty mashing lineup. Archer’s worst enemy is himself. He’s looked better in recent weeks.

Kyle Hendricks is always a favorite of mine, although his contact management skills don’t translate well to DFS production. He’s opposed by Adam Conley and a top-heavy Marlins offense.

Jimmy Nelson is of some interest against an even thinner Padres lineup. I assume the club will force a sale of Derek Norris to go with the losses of Melvin Upton and Kemp. Nelson could rack up eight strikeouts in six innings. Of course, San Diego has been running a hot offense lately.

Stack Targets: Jarred Cosart, Logan Verrett, Berrios, CC Sabathia, Rodriguez, Doug Fister, Marcus Stroman

4. SaberSim Observations

There’s one surprise in SaberSim’s picks. Strasburg, Salazar, and Archer top the charts, followed by Sabathia? No grazi. Duffy, Paxton, and Joe Musgrove are also mentioned. I suppose now is a good time to point out that Fister is at risk of missing his start for paternity leave. Musgrove would take his place.

Stacks include the Nationals, Cubs, Brewers, Astros, Blue Jays, Yankees, and Indians.

5. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: I’ve listed two Coors pitchers as startable which might be a new record. Let’s talk about Dylan Bundy instead. The Orioles prospect

Also consider: Dylan Bundy, James Shields, Mike Foltynewicz, Brandon McCarthy, Jon Gray, Sean Manaea, Zach Davies

Pitchers to Exploit: We have surprisingly few exploits on the board tomorrow. I like Zach Eflin in a real world sense – I’d rather have him making starts on my team for league minimum than say Mike Pelfrey. For fantasy purposes, he’s a new pitcher prone to blowups. Madison Bumgarner is on the other side of this one so Eflin even has to battle the pitcher.

Also consider: Kyle Gibson, Anibal Sanchez, Robbie Ray, Wade LeBlanc, Luis Perdomo

Hitters (power): Bad teams tend to offer the best streamers. This is true of the Padres who have at least four interesting streamers for tomorrow. They’re all owned in most competitive leagues despite an overall low ownership rate. All three of Alex Dickerson, Ryan Schimpf, and Yangervis Solarte mashed throughout July.

Also consider: Aaron Hill, Franklin Gutierrez, Chase Utley, Preston Tucker, Derek Dietrich, Brad Miller, Melky Cabrera, Justin Morneau

Hitters (speed): Denard Span has been dealing with a minor quad injury. He’s expected to be back in time to face Eflin tomorrow. One thing to note about old speed guys – they probably won’t try to steal a bases immediately after an injury. Then again, if the Phillies fall asleep out there…

Also consider: Travis Jankowski, Tim Anderson, Angel Pagan

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.

Chase Field has a roof so it would take a pretty freaky storm to force a delay. I’ve lived near Phoenix, they get damned freaky desert storms this time of year.

The Link.

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