The Daily Grind: Goin’ Cheap

by
August 28, 2019

For some unknown reason, I felt the need to preach into the void this morning.

^That’s me doubling down on the preaching. Hopefully not into a void this time.

AGENDA

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

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

Pyelski narrowly edged out dfreaz5 by less than one point. Gotta love these photo finishes. Aside from the obvious Buehler play (he was only 11 percent owned!), Javier Baez and a couple cheap Coors Field bats carried the bulk of the production. Congrats and Leaderboard.

We’ve got 11 games on FantasyDraft tonight.

2. Weather Reports

Philadelphia and New York are very minor rain risks. I usually wouldn’t mention them except this section hasn’t seen much action lately.

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3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Gerrit Cole ($24,000) sighting! And boy does he cost. The Rays might not be enough of a pushover to justify this price tag. Because selecting Cole means you’re passing on all manner of superbly valuable hitters tonight, you better be confident you’ll get over 30 points. And no, I’m not paying $17,000 to use Ryan Yarbrough against the Astros.

Max Scherzer ($21,600) still has semi-secret restrictions. He could still earn a tidy profit in a 75-pitch, five-inning outing since the Orioles are prone to absenteeism.

Noah Syndergaard ($20,300) isn’t quite as acey and also has a difficult matchup against the Cubs offense. I’m calling this par value. Ditto for mid-tier Kyle Hendricks ($17,800). I’m calling him The Comptroller from now on. I’ll leave it in your hands to guess why.

Jake Odorizzi ($17,800) might be the best arm you can afford if you opt to target Coors Field bats tonight. I’m not overly enthusiastic about a guy who consistently works in the strike zone opposite the hacktastic White Sox offense. This is looking a little high variance to me – i.e. better for GPPs.

Tanner Roark ($15,900) is a guy. I already resisted using this exact analysis for The Comptroller and Odorono. The Royals offense is pretty limp. They’re calling upon Jakob Junis ($14,900). I’d usually avoid him in this matchup, but he’s probably just good enough for this price. The real reason I’m interested is because FDraft left him off the probable pitchers list.

Also hiding is Luis Perdomo ($8,000) but I can’t even justify this bargain price opposite the Dodgiests. Kenta Maeda ($15,500) is… a guy. No. He’s a little better than a guy, but only because the Padres are dog poo versus right-handed pitching.

Anthony DeSclafani ($15,300) draws the much-coveted Miami matchup. In Miami! Speaking of covetous pairings, Aaron Civale ($13,900) is bizarrely cheap in Detroit. He’s coming off a pair of 11 point outings against both New York teams. If that’s roughly his floor, we’re in pretty good shape at this price. Expect ownership to be high.

Ariel Jurado ($8,000) is sometimes allowed to throw seven or more innings. He’s expected to follow Emanuel Clase today. Jurado is entirely BABIP dependent. He fits well with a pricey Red Sox stack.

Favorite Plays: Civale, DeSclafani, Jurado

Unless my thinking changes in the next half-day, I’m going cheeeeeeeeep tonight.

Stack Targets: Peter Lambert, Ross Detwiler, Jordan Zimmermann, Jacob Waguespack, Patrick Sandoval, Eduardo Rodriguez

4. SaberSim Says…

Scherzer, Odorizzi, Cole, Syndergaard, and Hendricks carry the top projections. Scherzer’s nagging back isn’t known to The Sim. Scherzer, Odorizzi, DeSclafani, Mike Foltynewicz, and Syndergaard are the bargain plays. Bats include Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaers, and Nelson Cruz. See what I was saying about Red Sox? Peripheral Prospect Seth Brown, Abraham Toro-Hernandez, Lewis Brinson, Yonathan Daza, and Devers are the best values.

5.Hole 

Uh, there’s a hole in your roof.

Wish this dude wasn’t stuck in the minors for half the year. Michael Brosseau was no match!

This was unexpected.





 

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