The Daily Grind: Good-Not-Great

I still get this Ken Griffey Jr. song stuck in my head sometimes. It picks up around 1:50 to the part I remember.

AGENDA

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

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

Jaymcstell rode James Paxton to victory last Friday. Notably, he was also the only entrant to grab a share of Ryan Yarbrough. Clever. Nomar Mazara and Nolan Arenado also provided some juice. Congrats and Leaderboard.

We’re back up to 52 entries with a two-entry max on FantasyDraft. The theme of the day is good-not-great pitching. We should see some diverse rosters as a result. See ya there.

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

The only venue with any sort of serious delay or postponement risk is SunTrust Stadium. The Atlanta area is scheduled for spotty storms all day.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: Fourteen games are a part of the main slate. Sadly, we lose the White Sox-Indians pairing to a 6:10pm start time. The ace of the day is Charlie Morton ($23,300). Doubly sadly, he’s opposed by the Yankees. Morton has already thrived once against the Bombers. On April 30, he tossed 7.2 innings en route to 10 strikeouts and 36.85 FantasyDraft points. This time, Morton is visiting tiny Yankee Stadium. To say I have serious trepidation about paying ace prices for this game is an understatement. The good news is that his ownership rate should be relatively tame.

Kenta Maeda ($21,600) is the next priciest play. While his matchup against the Phillies is fine, it’s hard to get this much value from Maeda. Too many of his starts fail to last six innings. I know he’s coming off two fantasy gems, but that doesn’t mean we should bet on a third straight dominant outing.

Blake Snell ($20,200) is the other guy over $20,000. The Oakland Athletics have a quietly solid offense. They strike out more than enough to make Snell an easy top target tonight. He should receive run support too opposite Daniel Gossett.

Rick Porcello is almost an auto-start for me any time he’s under $20,000. He costs $19,700 tonight versus a middling Blue Jays lineup. They’re probably without Josh Donaldson. Again, run support shouldn’t be an issue with Marco Estrada on the bumb.

I like both ends of this Dylan Bundy ($18,600) versus Jeremy Hellickson ($16,000) “rivalry” game. Bundy is capable of posting double digit strikeouts. He’s been quite homer prone this season (2.01 HR/9). On the flip side, Hellickson is throwing fewer fastballs than ever. That’s fantastic since his heater is pooey.

Other mid-priced assets I’d use include Tyson Ross ($17,800) versus the Marlins, Zack Godley ($16,900) opposite the Reds, and Jon Lester ($16,100) visiting Pittsburgh. Reaching towards the bargain range, you’ll find a $14,900 Kyle Gibson hanging around Kauffman Stadium, a $14,500 Nick Tropeano partying in Detroit, and #12,700 Dan Straily jamming at Petco Park.

Stack Targets: Danny Duffy, Gossett, Estrada, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Zach Davies, Anibal Sanchez, Jeff Samardzija, CC Sabathia, Steven Matz, Felix Hernandez

“Fans” of Johnny Field may say otherwise, but Austin Bibens-Dirkx still has the most computer generated name in the league. Samardzija is visiting Coors Field. King Felix is King Krap these days.

4. SaberSim Says…

I was very curious what SaberSim would make of this deep batch of pitchers. Ross draws top billing, followed by Maeda, Straily, Sanchez, and Snell. Wut? I’m all for ragging on the LOLMets 2.0, but there ain’t no way in hell Sanchez is startable as anything more than a contrarian play. Values include Duffy, Sanchez, Davies, and Straily.

5. May Marketing

I’m particularly proud of this post about the relationship between power and BABIP. It deserves more eyeballs. The content is from May 10. Actual numbers reported are now out of date, but the message remains unchanged.

You are perhaps aware that I’m running a Patreon page as my personal blog/side hustle. Today, I wrote about how to get the most from your patronage. I suspect you could skim it and still ingest the salient points.