The Daily Grind: Everything You Expected

The thing I envy most about professional baseball players? Getting four plate appearances every day.

AGENDA

1. The Defensive Play You Expected
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. Hitters to Use
5. SaberSim Says…
6. TDG Invitational Returns!

1. The Defensive Play You Expected

Many of the top plays yesterday were of the defensive variety. You know, guys like Albert Almora making ridiculous over-the-head diving plays. Here’s a five star catch from a “top defender.”

It’s a pretty play from Santana who was clearly ready to dash after a hit in front of him. Imagine that ball is just a little farther from him. What do you want to bet it would have gotten by him?

2. Weather Reports

The Nationals have a 50 percent chance of rain all day. A short distance up I-95, Baltimore has a friendlier forecast – only a 25 to 30 percent chance for rain. The Giants-Cubs game will start, but it may not finish. Rain is supposed to roll in around the start of the third hour.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: All 15 games are in the main slate, headlined by Clayton Kershaw and a bunch of guys who aren’t Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers are hosting the Cardinals.

For $2,300 less, you can roster the second most expensive pitcher, Jon Lester. I recommend against it until we get a better read on the weather. Same goes for Johnny Cueto.

Lance McCullers will probably earn a win and a bunch of strikeouts versus the Tigers. It’s not an easy assignment, but I don’t usually worry about his matchup quality. McCullers’ issue is pitching efficiently enough to last into the sixth inning. He’s doing a better job with it this season – seven of nine starts have been of six or more innings. Gone are the days when a so-called workhorse regularly throws seven innings per start.

Carlos Carrasco is back for a start at Great American Ballpark. /ignore

The Twins went wild last night. I’m looking for a bounce back outing from Dylan Bundy. He’s been all over the place this season, mixing gems with flops. When he’s on, Bundy is a great GPP asset.

Jordan Montgomery is a favorite of mine. He has the strikeouts and whiffs. The main issue is his insistence upon using a bad sinker. The pitch performs terribly, and it doesn’t interact with anything in his repertoire. He needs to be emulating Rich Hill. The Royals have a garbage roster so Monty should be fine – even with the sinkers.

I found Amir Garrett for $4,800. While I’m not keen to use him versus a tough Cleveland offense, he hardly needs to show up to be a value. To be fair, two of his last four outings were disasters. He hasn’t tossed a gem since April 19.

Stack Targets: Dylan Covey, Joe Biagini, Zach Eflin, Christian Bergman, Andrew Cashner, Jose Urena, Jordan Zimmermann, Joe Ross, Matt Harvey, R.A. Dickey, Tyler Glasnow, Jhoulys Chacin

4. Hitters to Use

Few things make me happier than this dreadful version of Harvey. I intend to double up on my joy by rostering Austin Hedges. The all-or-nothing catcher costs peanuts ($2,600). Sure, he’s batting .215/.272/.430, but we’re only really interested in the slugging percentage and Harvey’s 23.9 percent HR/FB ratio.

It’s going to be hard to back away from a Diamondbacks stack tonight. They face Covey. Paul Goldschmidt is the (pricey) glue. Jake Lamb is something that fits within a metaphor about glue.

I’m a fan of whichever Blue Jays first baseman gets to play at tiny Miller Park. They’re both shockingly expensive which should translate to low ownership.

Francisco Lindor.

One of these days, Cashner is going to have one of those regression games. You know the type. Bad pitcher succeeds for a time despite lousy peripherals. Then he allows 10 runs in 1.1 innings and his numbers suddenly look correct. Could be tonight versus Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, and Hanley Ramirez.

5. SaberSim Says…

Kershaw, Lester, McCullers, Carrasco, and Matt Shoemaker are the top rated pitchers tonight. Qualms = zero. Hey look, none of the top five hitters are Cubs. Instead, it’s Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Paul Goldschmidt, and Mike Trout. What a bunch of scrubs.

6. The Daily Grind Invitational

Chad Young convinced me that Scott Feldman was going to have a terrible start versus the Indians. So I stacked ’em. Kidzero wisely stuck with the cheaper elements from the Wrigley game. He combined them with a 69 point performance from Zack Greinke. Congrats and leaderboard.

It’s Tuesday. Tuesday is DraftKings Day.