The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and More for September 21

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

With the help of Jose Fernandez, Miguel Cabrera, Randal Grichuck, Jedd Gyorko, and Roman Quinn, KingTrout put together a huge night. Sometimes it pays to fade Coors. Other times, the straight play is the way to go. The leaderboard is updated.

We’ll stick with 15 today. See ya there.

2. Daily DFS 

Yesterday’s Grind

Early: The early slate runs three games deep starting at 3:10pm ET. You have a strikingly wide range of options with a Coors game and two others in pitcher venues. Aaron Sanchez is easily the best pitcher in the contest, but he’s opposed by the second best arm – Felix Hernandez. I’m tempted to bet on Luke Weaver surviving the altitude or Collin McHugh silencing the inconsistent Oakland bats.

Stack Targets: German Marquez, Daniel Mengden

Late: The main contest runs 12 games deep featuring great matchups for Chris Sale (@PHI), Max Scherzer (@MIA), and Core Kluber (vs. KC). Use ’em if you can afford ’em.

The rest of the slate is quite deep with plenty of high ceiling picks. Matt Moore is perhaps my favorite non-ace today opposite the Dodgers. Their lineup is just so woefully left-handed. Moore doesn’t actually have platoon splits. Maybe the Dodgers can outperform their league-worst wRC+ against southpaws. Yes, they’re worse than the Phillies AND the Braves.

In the midst of a bad season, it’s easy to forget that Zack Greinke really knows his business. Against a lesser opponent like the Padres, he’s still fully capable of posting a surprise complete game with a good strikeout total.

Chad Kuhl is a high risk, high reward option versus the Brewers. Here’s me on the topic:

Kuhl has emerged as a solid back of the rotation pitcher. The risk and reward is on the uptick tomorrow at Miller Park versus the Brewers. On the one hand, the Brewers strike out all over the place. On the other hand, they’re also occasionally explosive. In an entirely separate third hand is the ballpark, a venue that’s played as hot as Coors and GABP this season.

Other options include Masahiro Tanaka, Kenta Maeda, John Lackey, Jerad Eickhoff, and Bartolo Colon

Stack Targets: Buck Farmer, Ryan Weber, Jose Berrios, Jered Weaver, Clay Buchholz, Ubaldo Jimenez, Luis Perdomo, Robert Stephenson

3. SaberSim Observations

SaberSim stats aren’t posted yet, but fear not! I have access to the actual platform. Scherzer, Sale, Kluber, Tanaka, and Greinke are the top pitching recommendations. The Coors game, Rangers, Cubs, Angels, Red Sox, Twins, Tigers, and Astros look like the top stacks.

4. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: I’m frequently asked about Mike Clevinger. I see the makings of a good major league pitcher, but he’s probably at least a full season from putting the pieces together. Given that we’re entering Desperation Days, his matchup against the Royals smells viable. His best strength is a good strikeout rate, but he’s also walking too many hitters. The Royals typically counteract both effects with their aggressiveness.

Also consider: Adam Morgan, Seth Lugo, Blake Snell

Pitchers to Exploit: Brett Anderson is back again. The last time he returned to action in mid-August, he allowed 11 runs in four innings (two starts). I’m apparently still betting against his major league readiness. He draws the Rockies.

Also consider: Jason Vargas, Jose Urena, Joel De La Cruz, Luis Cessa, Ryan Vogelsong, Ricky Nolasco, Mike Fiers, Tyler Chatwood, Christian Friedrich

Hitters (power): With Mark Reynolds done for the season, Stephen Cardullo will hopefully get regular starts against left-handed pitchers. Cardullo is the classic underdog story. He’s ascended from Indie ball to the majors in just one season. He’s had some trouble making contact in 35 plate appearances, but it’s not as if the Rockies are playing him often.

Also consider: Ryan Schimpf, Alex Dickerson, Jon Jay, Chase Utley, Josh Bell, Scooter Gennett, Justin Bour

Hitters (speed): I’ve written about Adam Frazier a couple hundred times this year, although I don’t recall highlighting him in The Daily Grind. He’s a left-handed hitting DJ LeMahieu with a high opposite field line drive rate and without the spectacular home park. Frazier absolutely ought to be starting for the Pirates next season, but the club has a ton of middle infield depth. Injuries will keep him in the lineup for the rest of 2016.

Also consider: Angel Pagan, Travis Jankowski, Cameron Maybin, Ender Inciarte, Jace Peterson, Roman Quinn, Rajai Davis, Jarrod Dyson, Terrance Gore

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.

Watch out for storms in Minnesota. It’s a postponement risk.

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.