The Daily Grind: DRAFT draft

Be sure to roster Felipe Vazquez. He’s one of the best relievers in the league.

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. DRAFT draft

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

Congratulations are in order for minihockey8. Big outings from Zack Godley and Justin Veltander fueled the victory. Mike Moustakas played a part too. Minihockey8 moves into second place on the leaderboard. Niffoc4 is the first user to place in three contests. (I’m still sitting on only one!)

These contests are still filling very quickly. FanDuel limits us to only 20 entries so I’m sticking with the 25 entry format on DraftKings for now.

PS – New users who deposit with my referral link get $20 bonus cash. I also get $20. It’s a win-win.

2. Weather Reports

It’s still very cold at most venues – especially the three that aren’t a part of tonight’s contest. No rain.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: Ahem. I thought we had too many aces yesterday. Behold!

Jacob deGrom, $12,400 @ Miami

Luis Severino, $10,500 @ Chris Sale, $12,400

Stephen Strasburg, $10,800 vs. Atlanta

Aaron Nola, $8,200 vs. Cincinnati

Carlos Martinez, $10,100 vs. Milwaukee

Dallas Keuchel, $9,100 @ Minnesota

Patrick Corbin (ace!?), $9,500 @ San Fran

That’s seven very strong pitchers atop our 12 game slate. deGrom has the softest matchup, and he’s priced accordingly. Nola is the value of the group. I’ll probably let others jump on the Corbin hype wagon since the Giants are a tough crew to strike out. Then again, it’s so nice to get pitchers at AT&T Park.

The hit parade continues. Sean Manaea ($7,800) has looked like an ace through his first two outings. The Dodgers can be a challenging opponent, but they’re off to a tepid start. They seem to be picking up where the left off last season as a highly streaky team. They’ll win something like 20 of 22 games at a later stage of the season. If I love the price, you know everybody using an ace will also be in on Manaea.

Mike Foltynewicz ($6,600) may look like he’s mid-breakout, but his peripherals are identical to past seasons. I’m here to tell you he’s the same dude. Said dude could struggle with the Nationals vaunted offense. For $6,600, it’s a viable contrarian dice roll.

I have a soft spot for Aaron Sanchez ($7,500). I’m still confident he’s a top 30 or 40 pitcher. It’s a shame there’s something wrong with every matchup. Tonight, he could rack up strikeouts against a powerful Orioles offense at Camden Yards. It’s going to be cold, and I worry he’ll be missing a grade or two of command.

It doesn’t take much for a pitcher to outperform a $5,000 price tag. I think Tyler Beede can supply it. From the video I’ve seen, he has a decent looking repertoire. With help from AT&T Park, he should be a viable bargain target.

Stack Targets: Caleb Smith, Eric Skoglund, Joey Lucchesi, Homer Bailey, Martin Perez, Andrew Cashner, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Tyler Anderson

I actually like several of these players. You probably want to avoid Lucchesi and Anderson at Coors Field. That’s just good math. Ryu was a mess in his season debut, but I can’t rule out a quick rebound. He’s usually a touch homer prone.

4. SaberSim Says…

Sale, deGrom, Nola, Strasburg, and C-Mart are the preferred arms for this evening. Nola, Beede, Smith, Manaea, and Ryu are the values. The Sim doesn’t know how broken Ryu looked last week. As for bats, Mike Trout, Nolan Arenado Charlie Blackmon, Byrce Harper, and Rhys Hoskins reside atop the board. Some values include Wilmer Flores, Nick Williams, and Hunter Renfroe.

5. DRAFT draft

Yesterday, I did a short demo video on how to draft a team on DRAFT. It’s an alternative DFS format based on the classic snake draft. Users participate in two to 10 player drafts for a pitcher, two infielders, and two outfielders. It makes for an interesting experience, and the rake isn’t as lethal as the major sites. (I can’t even believe 16% rakes are a thing now…)

The site currently does not support private contests for its browser-based platform. However, mobile users can make private contests via the app. I won’t be using the site as an alternative to DraftKings unless that functionality is updated to support browsers.