The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and Vacations for July 8

Agenda

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

1. Interruption of Services

I’m heading to the Jersey Shore tomorrow for a one-week, ocean-side vacation. I’ll be taking it as a break from DFS and most of my fantasy portfolio. The Daily Grind will return on Monday, July 18 – hopefully rested and reinvigorated! Sorry to leave you all hanging. I trust you can survive a week on your own. If you have an existential crises, I’ll be responding on Twitter.

2. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Yesterday’s spoils were shared between javierbryant and aprodeus. I’ve seen plenty of ties in my day but rarely do I see identical lineups. Trevor Story was the carrying force in every lineup. The leaderboard is updated.

Tonight is your last chance to take more of my money until mid-July. Make it count. We’re on FanDuel.

3. Daily DFS 

Yesterday’s Grind

All 15 games are this evening. It’s a Day of Aces with Jose Fernandez, Jake Arrieta, Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, Noah Syndergaard, and Stephen Strasburg on the bump. Also Cole Hamels, Chris Archer, and Jeff Samardzija. Strasburg and Thor face each other which is always a bummer for planning purposes. The only one I’d hesitate to use is Chris Archer. He’s opposite the Red Sox goliath.

Reaching deeper, Hisashi Iwakuma is a steady presence for cash game owners. He’s skunked two of his last three outings. Going back to May 20, he’s scored between 33 and 39 FD points in seven of his last nine starts. The bad ones came against tough Tigers and Orioles lineups. The Royals have much less firepower.

Matt Shoemaker’s recent clunker against the Red Sox ended an impressive string of starts. He could get back on track against the Orioles. They’re a high variance, strikeout prone offense. They’ll occasionally roll over for the competition. The last time Shoemaker faced the O’s, he tallied 58 FD points as part of a 12 strikeout performance. He didn’t even earn the victory. Unfortunately, he’s playing at Camden Yards tonight.

Less established alternatives include Daniel Mengden and Chad Green. They’re both quite cheap but the upside probably isn’t there to hang with the big guns.

Stack Targets: Sean O’Sullivan, Mike Pelfrey, Ubaldo Jimenez, Andrew Cashner, Kyle Gibson, Dan Straily, Pat Corbin, Matt Wisler, Jon Gray, Vincent Velasquez, Yordano Ventura, Francisco Liriano, J.A. Happ

4. SaberSim Observations

Fernandez, Sale, Syndergaard, Strasburg, and Arrieta top the list. Duh. Of the less notable names, Scott Kazmir’s ranking as the seventh best pitcher stands out. He’s at home against the Padres. Stacks include the Coors game, Sox (both Red and White), Blue Jays, and Rays.

5. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: Brandon McCarthy was in vintage form during his 2016 debut last week. Of the few players I’ve interacted with, he’s my favorite. I’m rooting for him. As we know, the Padres are no great shakes against right-handed pitching. McCarthy should post a good strikeout rate tomorrow, just watch out for long balls. He’s been homer prone since becoming a good pitcher.

Also consider: Robbie Ray, Jake Peavy, CC Sabathia, Adam Conley

Pitchers to Exploit: Chad Kuhl may be one of those guys who bounces between the “to start” and “to exploit” sections. He’s a decent command guy with back-of-the-rotation stuff. His success is heavily dependent upon commanding every last ounce of value out of a mediocre repertoire. The best case scenario would have peripherals similar to Doug Fister without the ground balls. He has the misfortune to face the Cubs tomorrow.

Also consider: Matt Boyd, Joel De La Cruz, Chase Anderson, Yovani Gallardo, Matt Moore, Kendall Graveman, John Lamb, Wade Miley, Edinson Volquez, Luis Perdomo, Logan Verrett, Jerad Eickhoff, Tyler Anderson, Ricky Nolasco, Nick Martinez

Hitters (power): The injury to Matt Carpenter has pressed Kolten Wong back into regular infield duties. The lefty hitter has been deeply disappointing this season. Drafters picked him hoping for a 15/15 campaign. Instead, he has just one home run and three steals. Wong is still only 25 so he could easily adjust his way back into relevance. He has a nice opportunity versus Anderson at Miller Park.

Also consider: Robbie Grossman, Max Kepler, Joe Mauer, Tommy Joseph, Peter Bourjos, Chase Utley, Seth Smith, Hyun-soo Kim, Pedro Alvarez

Hitters (speed): It’s been awhile since we’ve had a Cesar Hernandez sighting in the Grind. He’s played his way back into consideration in recent weeks. He’s not running as often as he should for a player with few offensive skills. The spacious confines of Coors Field should help him to find some holes.

Also consider: Ben Revere, Whit Merrifield

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.

There are a few rain risks tonight. Keep an eye on them.

The Link.

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