The Daily Grind: Draft Results, Erasmo, Schoop, DeShields

Agenda

1. The Daily Grind Invitational – Results
2. Daily DFS – Thin Thursday
3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Erasmo, Rodon, Schoop, DeShields
4. Factor Grid

1. The Daily Grind Invitational – Results

FanGraphs affiliated midseason leagues began drafting yesterday. The Daily Grind Invitational is a 12-team auction league. You can join other midseason leagues via our sign up sheet. We’ll try to accommodate as many people as possible.

As is often the case with auctions, the draft lasted four hours. It ended just before midnight. The present author did not get his usual quantity of sleep hours. He is writing from within a sea of gooey mental cobwebs. In lieu of fancy words, here is my team. And here is a link to everybody’s teams.

Player	Cost
Bryce Harper (Was – OF)	$56
Chris Sale (CWS – SP)	$42
Charlie Blackmon (Col – OF)	$26
Jason Kipnis (Cle – 2B)	$20
Jason Heyward (StL – OF)	$17
Devon Travis (Tor – 2B)	$11
Cody Allen (Cle – RP)	$9
George Springer (Hou – OF)	$9
Mark Teixeira (NYY – 1B)	$8
Jeurys Familia (NYM – RP)	$8
Mark Melancon (Pit – RP)	$8
Glen Perkins (Min – RP)	$8
Matt Carpenter (StL – 3B)	$8
Jason Grilli (Atl – RP)	$7
Chris Carter (Hou – 1B)	$5
Clay Buchholz (Bos – SP)	$4
Andrew Heaney (LAA – SP)	$2
Derek Norris (SD – C)	$2
Adam LaRoche (CWS – 1B)	$2
Ken Giles (Phi – RP)	$2
Ian Kennedy (SD – SP)	$1
Danny Espinosa (Was – MI)	$1
Jake Lamb (Ari – 3B)	$1
Marlon Byrd (Cin – OF)	$1
Luis Valbuena (Hou – 2B)	$1
Brett Lawrie (Oak – 3B)	$1

It’s not the best team I’ve ever drafted, but there are some components I like about it. Closers were consistently underpriced. I took advantage by securing an easy 12 points in the category. While only Allen has elite strikeout production, my unit of six relievers should ensure excellent ratios.

My rotation is shallow after Sale. For $7 more, I could have converted Sale into David Price and Gerrit Cole (assuming my presence in those auctions didn’t spark a bidding war). I’ll have to stream from a shallow pool of options. Once again, I’m counting on my deep relief corps to smooth over any streaming mistakes. It’s risky, but I noticed several owners overdrafted starting pitching. There should be some bargains later in the year.

On the position side of things, I probably bet too much on Blackmon and mid-rebound Heyward. I don’t have a problem with those gambles because I needed those well-round profiles. I’m also fine with overpaying for Bryce Harper.

Every draft has a weird moment. One of ours* centered around Springer. At first, he was won for $12 by an owner who lost his connection for a couple minutes. At his request, I reversed the pick. Then, in an effort to speed up the draft, I entered a $9 bid. After all, somebody else bet $11 in the previous round. Clearly, they didn’t repeat the bid this time. Assuming he’s out for half the remaining season, I drafted him as a roughly $18-20 outfielder. That’s decent value.

Overall, I’m not thrilled with my team, but I think it should be a high floor roster at the very least. I have one category win in the bag with what I assume will soon be six closers. I can convert some of that depth into another position once my needs become more apparent.

The draft itself was a rousing success. I usually find that the witty banter ends abruptly around the third pick. We kept up a constant chatter, and we were always ready to complement a good ass value.

*My favorite was a $110 fat-fingered bid on David Price. We also reversed that pick…

2. Daily DFS – Thin Thursday

Yesterday’s Grind

Early: I think I may skip the three game early contest. The best pitchers are Masahiro Tanaka, Jeff Samardzija, and Jesse Chavez. Shark has the Blue Jays offense at power friendly U.S. Cellular Field. Tanaka has proven frustratingly inconsistent. The game is at Yankee Stadium. Chavez is usually mediocre and occasionally great.

For targets, Nate Karns and Yordano Ventura benefit from Kauffman Stadium. R.A. Dickey draws the limp White Sox offense. In summary, very little separates the cheap and expensive pitchers. Take one of the cheap hurlers and pick a pitcher to exploit. Might I recommend a team with a bad bullpen?

Late: The seven game late contest offers its own slew of challenges. Felix Hernandez draws the Angels. Zack Greinke has an easy matchup with the Phillies. David Price, Carlos Martinez, and Jose Fernandez are all viable. They cost $9,900 of more on FanDuel.

If you want exploits, we have them too. Atlanta has plenty of cheap hitters for Coors Field and Kyle Kendrick. The Phillies are giving Severino Gonzalez another shot in the majors. Michael Lorenzen is mediocre. You could even try others like Brett Oberholtzer, Mike Pelfrey, or Cody Anderson, although they’re decidedly better than the Kendricks and Lorenzens of the world.

Stack Targets: Kendrick, Gonzalez, Lorenzen, Oberholtzer, Pelfrey, Dickey, Ventura

3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Erasmo, Rodon, Schoop, DeShields

Pitchers to Start: Since rejoining the rotation on May 14, Erasmo Ramirez has a 2.17 ERA (3.77 FIP) with 7.50 K/9 and 3.00 BB/9. He has a Jekyll and Hyde act. Sometimes, he strikes out a batter per inning with solid command. In other outings, his walk and strikeout rates go in the wrong direction. The Astros offer a particularly high variance matchup.

Also consider: Kyle Hendricks, Chase Anderson, Erasmo Ramirez, Ian Kennedy, Ervin Santana, Hector Santiago

Pitchers to Exploit: Carlos Rodon’s start against the Cubs could go in either direction. Obviously, Rodon has big swing-and-miss stuff. The Cubs have a bad habit of whiffing frequently. Rodon also has trouble with command. It gets him in trouble with walks.

Also consider: Chris Tillman, David Holmberg, David Phelps, Danny Duffy, Justin Verlander, David Hale

Hitters (power): Jonathan Schoop is just 2-for-14 with a home run since returning from the disabled list. Prior to the extended absence, Schoop was showing signs of a power breakout. He’s a solid power or bust play against Gio Gonzalez. If you have an opening at second or third base, now is a good time to jump on the bandwagon.

Also consider: Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche, Nolan Reimold, Clint Robinson, David DeJesus, Kevin Kiermaier, Danny Valencia, Eddie Rosario, Nick Markakis, Kelly Johnson, David Freese, Gerardo Parra, Scooter Gennett

Hitters (speed): Delino DeShields Jr. is back to leading off for the Rangers. Aside from a few rabbits like Billy Hamilton, DeShields could be among the leaders in stolen bases over the rest of the season.

Also consider: Adam Eaton, Danny Espinosa, Jace Peterson

4. 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.

A couple games have early storm risks, but I think they’ll all happen.

The Link.

At the behest of a salty reader, the words that are usually here have been deleted.