The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and More for May 23

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

I didn’t schedule the column correctly on Saturday so only four users joined the daily contest. cjs5555 won with a Mookie Betts-led lineup. There’s a good chance he would have won a full contest too.

We’re back on DraftKings today with our usual 30 user affair. I’m thinking of bumping it up to 35 users again tomorrow.

2. Daily DFS 

Early: The Rockies-Pirates game will take place a little after noon ET. It’s a rousing gambit between Jordan Lyles and Ryan Vogelsong. The first game of the Indians-White Sox doubleheader is also prior to DFS action today. It’s a true doubleheader rather than this day/night nonsense teams do to make more money.

Late: That leaves us with nine night games. Watch out for rain in Minnesota and D.C. You’ll be able to make educated guesses about the Indians and White Sox lineups, but they won’t be submitted until well after contests start. Even DraftKings users may not get a chance to react. It’s too bad since Cody Anderson at Erik Johnson promises to be an offensive barrage.

It’s a Clayton Kershaw night which means we’ll need lots of cheap hitters. Kershaw’s price wanders between crazy and unrosterable. He’s at the top end of that scale tonight. Brandon Finnegan and the Reds offense draw the short straw.

Johnny Cueto gets another crack at the Padres. He’s faced San Diego twice this season with the following numbers – 18 IP, two wins, 11 hits, three walks, 19 strikeouts, one run allowed. I think it’s safe to say he has the Padres figured out. He’s $1,400 cheaper than Kershaw on both sites.

If you prefer an offense first approach, set $8,400 aside on FanDuel for Ian Kennedy. He has a solid matchup against the Twins; a team that struck out 14 times against Tanner Roark (yea, that comment is never going away). DraftKings doesn’t have a tolerable cheap pitcher (unless you’re not concerned that Bartolo Bartola is completely flustered).

Stack Targets: Finnegan, Mike Pelfrey, Johnson, Anderson, Ricky Nolasco, Nick Tropeano

3. SaberSim Observations

SaberSim is appropriately drooley over Kershaw. He’s projected for 11 more FanDuel points than the next best guy – Rich Hill. I was going to mention Hill, but I don’t care for a matchup versus the Mariners. They have quite a few bombers lined up in a row. Cueto, Taijuan Walker, and Gio Gonzalez round out the top five. Sure, why not.

Angels, Cubs, White Sox, Indians, Twins, Rays, and Nationals are among the top stacks of the day.

4. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: Jimmy Nelson has appeared frequently among the pitchers to exploit – mostly due to bad matchups at Miller Park. I actually like Nelson so it’s pleasing to recommend him at the Triple-A Gwinett Braves. Turner Field is much better for slightly homer prone pitchers than Milwaukee.

Also consider: Ervin Santana, Nate Karns

Pitchers to Exploit: What we have here is a list containing Harvey, a bunch of guys you already know as shaky and/or risky, and Daniel Wright. Without further context, you might not be sure for which team Wright plays. Presumably not the Mets because Harvey. Or the Angels because Sha~SHEEN.

It’s the Reds. Deep in your heart, you knew it must be the Reds. Wright is actually fairly interesting as a right-handed command and control guy. I have exactly zero scouting reports to reference. I know he posts decent strikeout rates in the minors, walks few hitters, and has received excellent results in 34 innings this season. I’m pretty sure the Dodgers will pound him anyway.

Also consider: Tom Koehler, Matt Harvey, Shelby Miller, Chris Rusin, Jhoulys Chacin, Josh Tomlin, Doug Fister, Andrew Cashner, Kendall Graveman

Hitters (power): Chase Utley still has a prominent role in the Dodgers lineup to go with a high OBP. Wright probably won’t walk many Dodgers, but that shouldn’t be a problem for Utley.

Also consider: Seth Smith, Adam Lind, C.J. Cron, Mitch Moreland, Chris Young, John Jaso, Jimmy Paredes

Hitters (speed): Angel Pagan has a good running matchup against the Padres – especially if Derek Norris is starting. Norris has actually been fine catching runners this season: 8-for-20. Over his career, he’s just 88-for-313 (28 percent).

Also consider: Joey Rickard, Jimmy Rollins, Jonathan Villar, Aaron Hicks

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.

This post is not brought to you by any DFS platform. The current author is quite pleased to present a DFS ad free environment.