The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and More for August 16

Agenda

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

1. Deadline Days

Fantasy trade deadlines are sneaking past as we head deeper into August. This is your last chance to take an honest accounting on your roster. Do you have more saves than you could ever need? A healthy lead in home runs? Seven collectible points in stolen bases? Figure out what can be accomplished with trade targets then go swing some deals. The waiver wire is almost always going to be less effective.

Now isn’t the time to worry about perceived value either. If trading Corey Seager for Jonathan Villar can net you five points in steals without exposing you to risk in other categories, then take the deal even though Seager should probably net you more than Villar.

Additionally, make sure a trade won’t help your rival beat you. Perhaps you’re sitting in first with a five point lead and a 20 steal lead on second place. You receive an offer of Seager for your Villar. Seager probably improves the floor of your offense. If your rival is in position to gain five points in steals though, you might be doing yourself a disservice.

2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Congrats are in order for rotostorm whose combination of Adrian Beltre, Jayson Werth, and Jean Segura earned him the top spot in yesterday’s contest. The leaderboard is updated. We’ll head to our usual Tuesday destination today – DraftKings – for a typical $2, 20 user contest.

3. Daily DFS 

Yesterday’s Grind

Early: The first half of the Cubs-Brewers doubleheader is available early. Moving along…

Late: Since it’s a scheduled doubleheader, we still have a full 15 game contest at night. The action is headlined by a fading Noah Syndergaard, Corey Kluber, and a matchup between Justin Verlander and Danny Duffy. Now that the latter pair are no longer cheap, they interest me a whole lot less. Kluber is my choice among top arms, but even he has to outduel Jose Quintana.

Kenta Maeda versus Vincent Velasquez and the Phillies will be a popular pick tonight. Maeda just faced the Phillies last week, and they actually touched him up for a couple home runs. Maeda tends to throw around six innings with unimpressive strikeout totals. He’s a solid second pitcher on DraftKings, but doesn’t have that hard carry potential.

Pirates starter Jameson Taillon has basically matched Maeda’s numbers. He has a better venue to pitch in tonight – AT&T Park. Unfortunately, he’ll also face a much better Giants offense. Context neutral stats like the Giants offense. If you strip away context (i.e. playing half your games at hitter hell), the Giants offense falls to league average. As it turns out, DFS is scored absent of context. All of which is a long way of saying the Giants offense isn’t that scary.

Ervin Santana sometimes throws complete games. Sometimes he’s just really bad. He’s probably more likely to be good than bad against a pitiful Braves squad. Joel de la Cruz should allow plenty of run support for Erv.

There’s no longer any reason to run away from lefties against the Padres. If I have a concern about Blake Snell, it’s the duration of his starts. We’re probably looking at a maximum of six innings. Edwin Jackson should be an easy opponent to defeat, but the Rays offense leaves much to be desired.

Stack Targets: Ariel Miranda, Andrew Triggs, de la Cruz, Yovani Gallardo, Chad Bettis, Jose Urena, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jackson, Gio Gonzalez, Lucas Harrell, Chase Anderson

4. SaberSim Observations

Syndergaard, Michael Pineda, Snell, Maeda, and Kluber top the charts today. With regards to Pineda, he’s a high risk, high reward play who fits as a GPP target. I probably won’t be using him against the homertastic Blue Jays.

Bats include the Coors game, Red Sox, Cubs, Trout, Reds, Orioles, and Mets.

5. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: It’s not a good day for pitching targets. You can try Homer Bailey at Homer Heaven 2 (GABP) or Tyler Skaggs against a homer-heavy Mariners lineup. Either guy is liable to be walloped. They also both have the ability to produce six strong innings with as many as 10 strikeouts.

Also consider: Checking the two TBAs

Pitchers to Exploit: There is no shortage of exploits. I’m interested to see how Anibal Sanchez interacts with a power-lite Royals offense. Sanchez’s strength is a still decent 8.15 K/9. His weakness is a 1.84 HR/9. The Royals once again have a low strikeout rate, and they’re tied for the second lowest home run total.

Also consider: CC Sabathia, Christian Friedrich, Ivan Nova, Matt Cain, Jake Thompson, Anibal Sanchez, Yordano Ventura, Kyle Gibson, Andrew Cashner, Jonathon Niese, Zach Godley

Hitters (power): Until further notice, Mike Zunino should be owned in nearly every league. He’s opposed by Skaggs tomorrow. Few catchers can produce a 20 to 30 home run pace let alone Zunino’s 40 homer pace.

Also consider: Franklin Gutierrez, Dae-ho Lee, Brandon Drury, Ryan Rua, Joe Mauer, Robbie Grossman, Kendrys Morales, Tommy Joseph, Cameron Rupp, Aaron Altherr

Hitters (speed): I don’t know if Adam Frazier is going to start tomorrow – he can go a week or more without a shot in the lineup. I’d sure like to see the Pirates cut him loose. The lefty hitter is batting .348/.375/.507 (.397 BABIP) with a strong contact rate. He has a line drive oriented approach and an opposite field stroke reminiscent of DJ LeMahieu. Frazier is a bit limited by his arm which restricts him to second base or the outfield. The Bucs could easily bump Josh Harrison to third while sitting Jordy Mercer or a slumping Jung-ho Kang.

Also consider: Delino Deshields, Angel Pagan, Denard Span, Ben Revere, B.J. Upton

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.

Lotza storms

The Link.

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