The Daily Grind: Failed Leap

by
June 12, 2017

The MLB Draft begins tonight which has absolutely no bearing on this column. Tune into MLB Network at 7pm ET.

AGENDA

  1. HeeYAA
  2. Weather Reports
  3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
  4. Hitters to Use
  5. SaberSim Says…
  6. TDG Invitational Returns!

1. HeeYAA

HeeYAA

2. Weather Reports

You Aren't a FanGraphs Member
It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.
We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.
1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.
2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.
3. Dark mode and Classic mode!
4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.
5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.
6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)
7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.
8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.
10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!
We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.

The Twins game has a 50/50 chance of storms tonight.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: It’s a nine game Monday. Stephen Strasburg stands head and shoulders above the crowd. He’ll host the Freeman-less Braves offense. He’s already faced the Braves twice this season, and he’s posted 55 and 60 FanDuel points in those outings.

Yu Darvish and Jacob deGrom are also ace-like, but their matchups are much more difficult. Darvish is visiting Houston while deGrom is hosting the Cubbies. Both offenses contain a lot of firepower.

Outside of the top arms, you’re left with a dice roll. Alex Meyer has pitched surprisingly well lately, although I’m loathe to trust his poor command against the Yankees. Kyle Freeland very consistently provides quality starts. Unfortunately, his peripherals are singing the song of impending regression. Mike Foltynewicz is on the wrong side of Strasburg tonight. A win is unlikely even if he can handle the Nationals offense.

Masahiro Tanaka has what should be a simple matchup versus the Angels. In his last five starts, he’s scored -10, 3, 62, 8, and 6 points. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to catch that 60 point outing?

Stack Targets: Mike Pelfrey, Bronson Arroyo, Adalberto Mejia, Yovani Gallardo, Jerad Eickhoff, Luis Perdomo, Meyer, Joe Musgrove, Wade Miley

4. Hitters to Use

I’m keen on Red Sox today versus Eickhoff. Jackie Bradley, Hanley Ramirez, Mookie Betts, and others have my attention. I prefer to use right-handed Red Sox when they’re at home and not named David Ortiz.

Lucas Duda is a solid option against suddenly homer prone John Lackey.

Speaking from personal experience, the ball carries best in Minnesota when storms are near. As long as the Twins game isn’t interrupted, Brian Dozier looks like a savvy choice for dingers opposite Gallardo. Double that for Miguel Sano.

Jameson Taillon is a solid pitcher, but that won’t stop me from looking into a few Rockies sluggers. Especially Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon.

5. SaberSim Says…

Strasburg, deGrom, Taillon, Darvish, and Rick Porcello are the top five pitchers of the day. I’m wary of Taillon in his return from the disabled list. Those are usually short outings – and sometimes rusty. As for Porcello, the Phillies have a couple good low ball hitters. The bats of choice include Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, Hanley Ramirez, Trea Turner, and Anthony Rizzo. Clearly, SaberSim doesn’t expect much from Eickhoff.

6. The Daily Grind Invitational

Hoehne2 rode Mallex Smith, Corey Kluber, Jake Lamb, and Dee Gordon to victory on Friday. It was a rare victory of speed over power. The four of them accounted for 158.2 of you 207.4 points. Congrats and leaderboard.

We’re back on FanDuel today.





 

You can follow me on twitter @BaseballATeam

Comments are closed.