The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and More for August 2

Agenda

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

1. Deadline Dash

It was a hectic non-waiver trade deadline with more deals than I can accurately count. There’s too much to write about here in one go, but I did pen a column for another site briefly covering all the most notable prospects to be traded.

In the non-trade department, the most interesting fallout of the deadline is the demotion of Yasiel Puig. Perhaps the fantasy industry will finally catch up in their evaluation of his skill set. Puig lacks power, speed, and contact skills. Generally, you need one or more of those traits to play in the majors. To live up to the Puig-hype, you probably need at least some of all three. It’s time for him to tweak his swing mechanics in an attempt to jump start his withering career.

2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Have a day Danny Duffy and Max Kepler. Duffy notched 16 strikeouts in an eight inning win. Kepler slugged three home runs with six RBI. Three of us made the Duffy play. Congrats to inwhiterooms who came out on top. Nobody picked Kepler. I was sooooo close to taking him over Marcell Ozuna. If Mike Zunino had started, I wouldn’t have switched to Jacob Realmuto and chained in Ozuna. Funny how this stuff works out.

The leaderboard is updated. We’ll head to DraftKings today.

3. Daily DFS 

Yesterday’s Grind

The last few days have been light on aces. Well, here ya go. Madison Bumgarner, Jose Fernandez, Carlos Carrasco, Jacob deGrom, David Price, Gerrit Cole, and Yu Darvish headline the list. And let’s not gloss over Lance McCullers, Masahiro Tanaka, Adam Wainwright, or Matt Shoemaker. That’s a preposterous quantity of good, expensive choices.

Bumgarner is the cream of the crop versus the Phillies. Unsurprisingly, he comes equipped with a nearly unrosterable price. Cole’s lucky enough to face the Braves offense – the only lineup competing with the Phillies for worst in the league. Aside from Carrasco (Twins), the rest of the aces have challenging matchups.

Digging deeper, Jon Gray is hosting Brandon McCarthy at Coors Field. As much as I like McCarthy, I prefer Gray due to his brief but successful track record at home. Or better yet, just avoid Coors like you always do.

With two complete games in nine starts, Zach Eflin has proven he can supply plenty of value on the right night. He’s one of the cheapest pitchers available on both sites. While he’ll need a hell of a night to outpitch Bumgarner, you’re already playing the long odds by choosing Eflin.

Stack Targets: Anibal Sanchez, Eflin, Wade LeBlanc, Luis Perdomo, Kyle Gibson, McCarthy

4. SaberSim Observations

SaberSim orders the aces thusly: Fernandez, Price, Carrasco, deGrom, Bumgarner. Fine. Eflin, who I hesitantly suggested above, is the lowest ranked pitcher. As for stacks, Trout, a Coors Game, Marlins, Astros, Giants, and Pirates clog the top of the list.

5. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: It’s not often I look to use Edinson Volquez. A freshly powered down Rays lineup is a solid opportunity to get ratios and a chance for a win. Volquez isn’t likely to post high strikeout totals.

Also consider: Junior Guerra

Pitchers to Exploit: Perhaps Drew Hutchison is worth considering as a “to start” versus the Braves. He produces good strikeout and walk rates. It’s the home runs that kill him. The Braves don’t hit too many of those, and the game is at PNC Park. I’m still hesitant to suggest you actually use Hutch.

Proponents of fan signs should find a cozy corner in PNC Park to name The McCutch Hutch.

Also consider: Tom Koehler, Edwin Jackson, Zack Godley, Tyler Duffey, Rob Whalen, Cody Reed, Collin McHugh, Jered Weaver

Hitters (power): I’m rebuilding a keeper roster in my home league. I’ve named the team Benintedo 64 (also considered were Super Benintendo and Benintendo GameBoy). Care to hazard a guess as to why? The Red Sox have promoted Benintendi straight from Double-A. He took several weeks to adjust to Double-A so I kind of expect this to be a disaster. If he does hit the ground running, he’s another Mookie Betts in the making. Just remember, the current version of Betts has exceeded all but the most ludicrous expectations. Don’t expect a repeat of that.

Also consider: Seth Smith, Jake Smolinski, Howie Kendrick, Austin Barnes, Ezequiel Carrera, Brad Miller, Jedd Gyorko,

Hitters (speed): While I expect Hernan Perez to regress back into obscurity, there’s no reason to avoid him versus Jackson. Perez is batting .287/.314/.456 with the aid of a .340 BABIP and .169 ISO. The power numbers don’t look impressive as it is, but they also represent his best pro performance since a brief rookie-ball stop way back in 2009. On the other hand, he does have 18 steals in 210 plate appearances.

Also consider: Ben Revere, Trea Turner

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.

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.