The Daily Grind: Four Aces in the Hole

Mallex Smith is one of my favorite players thus it saddened me to see him demoted yesterday. However, there’s a very good reason to give Smith a minor league tune up right now.

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. Hugs For All

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

Lollygagr ran away from the competition with Gerrit Cole, Adam Eaton, and Anthony Rizzo playing the role of differentiators. Congrats and Leaderboard.

Tonight we have a nine-game contest on FantasyDraft. As always, $2 and no rake.

If you have not signed up for FantasyDraft, please use this referral link for tracking purposes. If I understand properly, by using the referral, you will receive a 10 percent return on any rakes you pay.

2. Weather Reports

After the deluge yesterday, I’m sounding the all clear today.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

We’ll focus on the main slate here. On the one hand, there are a LOT of aces on the table. On the other hand, they’re all fighting to drive the struggle bus.

Max Scherzer leads the way, and I have no reason to back away from a $21,400 price point. While his bottom line results haven’t been Scherzerian, I’m failing to find any serious red flags. On the other side of this matchup is Miles Mikolas. He’s positively festooned* with red flags.

*He’s a handsome word. Festooned.

Next up is Jacob deGrom ($19,800). He’ll host the Reds. deGrom has struggled with home runs (1.73 HR/9) and a .389 BABIP. His stuff is as impressive as ever. I have no reservations about using him tonight, although we can assume he won’t be allowed to go beyond 100 pitches.

The next two aces worry me. I don’t have a good read as to why Corey Kluber ($17,800) isn’t pitching well. He has a totally uncharacteristic 4.35 BB/9. If he can’t rebound tonight against the Marlins, then the Indians might as well toss him on the injury list with a TBD ailment. At this price, I consider him extremely usable. However, I’ll also note Caleb Smith ($16,800) is possibly a better target. The Indians lineup, despite regaining Francisco Lindor, is still quite weak.

Ditto Aaron Nola ($17,800) whose troubles are at least easy to pinpoint. While it doesn’t really show up cleanly in the statistics, anybody watching Nola can see his fine command is complete absent. This indicates either a mechanical or health issue. Hopefully the former. The Tigers lineup is pretty limp. Even if Nola doesn’t shove, he can return value on this price.

Hyun-Jin Ryu ($17,500) is visiting Madison Bumbarner ($15,800) in a battle of left-handers. Ryu looks like a must-play at this price. Since the start of 2018, when healthy, he’s positively shoved. Boy is the Giants offense borophyll.

Good Marcus Stroman ($17,300) is back. He makes nice, long outings. I also like Collin McHugh at Minnesota for $16,300. Decent mid-tier options can be sneaky useful.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Max Fried ($15,300) hosting Cal Quantrill ($11,200). The former is maybe a tad pricey against a fairly potent Padres lineup. The latter shouldn’t be expected to go more than four or five shaky frames. He’s priced so cheaply that he’s playable anyway.

Favorite Plays: Scherzer, deGrom, Ryu, Stroman

Stack Targets: Quantrill, Martin Perez, Antonio Senzatela, Chase Anderson, Felix Pena, Mikolas, Daniel Norris

Yes, I know Perez is in the midst of a velocity breakout. Check the numbers. He still sucks.

4. SaberSim Says…

deGrom, Nola, Scherzer, Kluber, and Smith are the preferred options by the machine. No love for Ryu. Nola, deGrom, Smith, Kluber, and Scherzer are the top values. Wait, that’s the same list in a very slightly different order.

Jose Altuve, Ronald Acuna, Alex Bregman, Mike Trout, and Freddie Freeman are the potent potables this evening. Franmil Reyes, Ty France, Matt Carpenter, Altuve, and Manuel Margot lead the way in bargainland.

5. Hugs For All

Here’s Vladito hugging all the people who matter.

Is Jesus Aguilar woke?

Look at this Trout scrub TOOTBLANning all over the place.