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

Agenda

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

1. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Yancyeaton is winning the efficiency game. He earned his second Invitational victory yesterday. He’s scored top prize the two times he’s placed. Scherzer, Mookie, and a deep lineup carried him to gold. The leaderboard is updated.

We’ll play on FanDuel today for the eight game evening contest. Trust me, we don’t want to pick two pitchers from this bunch. See you there.

2. Daily DFS 

Yesterday’s Grind

Early: Three of the 11 games are early. Unfortunately, most of the interesting pitchers can be found in this tiny bin. Madison Bumgarner has an easy win against the Braves. Zack Greinke versus Dallas Keuchel would have been a fantastic rubber match last year. It seemingly favors Greinke today. Kyle Hendricks is also quietly useful, and he’s opposed by everyone’s favorite prospect.

Stack Targets: Aaron Blair, Julio Urias

Late: With the exception of Carlos Carrasco, every pitcher is $8,500 or less on FanDuel. It’s a day to pick your lineup then use whatever pitcher fits. There are only a couple train wrecks like Alfredo Simon. Most of the pitchers have some chance to perform well. For example, Chase Anderson could benefit from facing the Phillies. Jerad Eickhoff is against a not-so-left-handed lineup. Matt Moore draws the Twins. Remember, they struck out 15 times to Tanner Roark.

Why not just use Carrasco then? He’s on an 80 to 90 pitch count limit. You have to figure there’s some rust too. If he wasn’t $10,200, I’d say go for it anyway. You’d be really killing your spending power for a truncated start.

In addition to those I mentioned, I’m open to trying Rick Porcello, Wade Miley, and Matt Boyd. I’m interested to see what SaberSim thinks…(I really do write this section before opening their projections)

Stack Targets: Simon, Eddie Butler, Boyd, Colin Rea, Kyle Gibson, Anderson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Eickhoff, Moore, Michael Pineda, Yordano Ventura, Wei-Yin Chen, Juan Nicasio

3. SaberSim Observations

Oh, I should have known. All the early game pitchers have the top projections. SaberSim also misfires on Carrasco (seven inning projection). If you have access to the more advanced version of SaberSim, set a conditional on him for 6 or fewer innings. Eickhoff, Miley, Moore, and Anderson are the other recommended picks in the late slate.

Coors Field is the place to be. Unless you aim to fade. Red Sox are also an obvious stack as are Cubs, Mariners, and Pirates.

4. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: Jimmy Nelson is the latest mediocre pitcher to get the bump for facing the Phillies. Nelson’s having a solid season with a 2.88 ERA, but don’t get too excited. His 4.28 xFIP is right in line with his RoS projections. He’s the beneficiary of a .247 BABIP. Remember though, the Phillies are defeatable by most pitchers.

Also consider: Julio Teheran

Pitchers to Exploit: Part of me is open to the idea of using Chris Rusin at sea level against a bad lineup like the Padres. Except they aren’t truly bad versus left-handed pitching. There are plenty of right-handed Friars to call upon in a pinch tomorrow. Rusin hasn’t exhibited big splits since the start of 2015.

Also consider: Archie Bradley, Jered Weaver, R.A. Dickey, Brandon Finnegan, Tom Koehler, Ricky Nolasco, Jesse Hahn, Doug Fister, Adam Wainwright

Hitters (power): John Jaso is a favorite streamer of mine, and I have to think he’ll produce at least a hit versus Weaver. Jaso’s hitting a stout .299/.366/.433 as a strict platoonman. He has only 11 plate appearances against left-handed pitching.

Also consider: Yangervis Solarte, Derek Norris, Mark Reynolds, Ryan Raburn, Brad Miller, James Loney, Jayson Werth

Hitters (speed): With Finnegan on the bump for the Reds, it should be a Michael Taylor day for the Nationals. Taylor is a true multi-threat tomorrow. Great American Ballpark buffs his already considerable power, as does the Reds bullpen. He’s more likely to steal a base once a right-handed reliever enters the game. There’s another threat with Taylor – strikeouts.

Also consider: Melvin Upton, Cameron Maybin

5. 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.

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