The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and More for August 9

Agenda

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

1. Fantasy Chat Today

This is a friendly reminder that I’ll be having a RotoGraphs chat at 1:45 pm ET this afternoon. Topics to be decided by you, the chatee. Or are you the chatter? I think I’m probably the chatter, but maybe you’re also the chatter?

Some tips and tricks to have your comment selected include:

• Ask something that actually requires a second opinion and/or my expertise. I’ll ignore requests for handholding.
• Do not ask me to rank a list of players. I will ignore you.
• I appreciate non-baseball or real baseball questions as a change of pace.
• Ask your question right at 1:45.
• Don’t bother asking a question between 1:50 and 2:10. I won’t see it.
• If you miss the early window, wait for me to say something like “I’m way behind, I’m going to skip forward,” before posting your question.

On those final three points, I usually spend the first 20+ minutes answering everything that comes in. Then I notice the questions are from 1:50 and it’s already after 2:10. So I skip forward to the present. There’s usually one more skip later, but I can’t warn you ahead of time as to how to dodge it.

2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Congratulations to jourgensen who pulled off a closely contended contest. Yasmani Grandal and Edwin Encarnacion provided just enough thump for the victory. The leaderboard is updated.

Today is Tuesday and Tuesday is a DraftKings day. See ya there.

3. Daily DFS 

Yesterday’s Grind

Early: This is the part where I make the joke about the cheese because the Rangers and Rockies stand alone today. Too bad we all miss out on a Coors game.

Late: The other 14 games are in the evening. Max Scherzer is the king of his slate versus @BauerOutage. Trevor Bauer is capable of reeling off fantastic outings. It’s not out of the question that he’ll rise to the occasion. Most probably, he’ll hand Scherzer and the Nationals a relatively easy win.

Chris Sale and the return of Zack Greinke round out the available aces. Sale is a good play at Kansas City while I might hold off on Greinke. He only made one rehab start, and it wasn’t all that good. The D’Backs are opposed by inconsistent Steven Matz and the Mets.

It’s a solid day for Rick Porcello against the ghost of the Yankees lineup. They’re finally escaping the dregs of their roster from the 1990s, but the intermediary product is almost Phillies bad. (That’s hyperbole). Porcello is opposed by high risk, high reward youngster Luis Severino.

John Lackey is hosting Jered Weaver. I smell a blow out. My team recently faced the Jered Weaver of our mens league. He threw a complete game with the help of about 20 line outs and just missed home runs. The Cubs could conceivably do the same.

Either side of Tom Koehler versus Matt Moore could be a core performer – perfect for DraftKings, not so much for FanDuel. They’ll be squaring off in Miami. Wade Miley should have an easy win in Oakland against Zach Neal.

Stack Targets: Neal, Wily Peralta, Tyrell Jenkins, Luis Perdomo, Weaver, Wade LeBlanc, Daniel Norris, Brandon Finnegan, Chad Kuhl, Drew Smyly

4. SaberSim Observations

Scherzer, Kenta Maeda, Sale, Matz, and Greinke comprise the top five today. As you know, I’m passing on Matz and Greinke. I’m also having a little trouble jumping on the Maeda hype train despite a matchup against the Phillies.

Per SimmerSabe, stacks include the Nationals, Astros, Cubs, Brewers, Braves!, Trout, Red Sox, and Blue Jays.

5. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: I (and others) have been saying for a long time that Robbie Ray could be a future monster. He hasn’t reached his breakthrough moment yet, but he’s getting closer. His strikeout rate is up to 11.31 K/9 (27.9 K%). Unfortunately, he’s dodging his spotty command by throwing fatballs (yes, fatballs). As a result, he has an elevated BABIP and HR/FB rate. Now that he has the whiffs, his next task is to sharpen his command and learn to induce weak contact. His strikeout rate will probably decline as he develops these skills.

He’s opposite a banged up Mets lineup tomorrow.

Also consider: Bartolo Colon, Ervin Santana

Pitchers to Exploit: Ross Detwiler has surfaced from the Cleveland bullpen. He’s scheduled to start for the A’s tomorrow. I recall when I was convinced Detwiler would be a useful back of the rotation pitcher. The Nationals bumped him when they built their super bullpen. Injuries and lousy performances did the rest. Now 30, Detwiler is two years removed from respectable numbers.

Also consider: David Phelps, Edwin Jackson, Ryan Vogelsong, Jorge de la Rosa, Martin Perez, Ricky Nolasco, Joel de la Cruz, Chase Anderon, Yovani Gallardo

Hitters (power): Ryan Rua mashes left-handed pitchers. I’d share the exact numbers, but the site is hiccuping. Sir Rua is also playing at Coors Field. End analysis.

Also consider: Derek Dietrich, Stephen Vogt, Tommy La Stella, Ryan Raburn, Mark Reynolds, Matt Joyce, Tommy Joseph, Aaron Altherr, Cameron Rupp

Hitters (speed): Keep leaning on Brewers versus the Braves. If Perez isn’t available, try Gennett or Arcia.

Also consider: Tim Anderson, Hernan Perez, Scooter Gennett, Orlando Arcia, Rajai Davis, Denard Span, 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.

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.