The Daily Grind: Hero Confusion

Sometimes narratives get hijacked. Sometimes Yasiel Puig is the guy who hijacks them.

AGENDA

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

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

Mrschaef nailed down the victory last Friday with the help of Joe Musgrove, Ketel Marte, and some dudes named Mike Trout and Mookie Betts. Congrats and Leaderboard.

Today’s contest is a no rake GPP featuring the usual parameters on FantasyDraft. See you 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

Baltimore and San Francisco might get a sprinkle or two. Nothing overly disruptive. Temperatures throughout the league are forecast for the low-to-mid 70s this evening. Beautiful baseball weather.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Eight of 10 games are a part of the evening slate. Justin Verlander ($20,600) tops the price list, although he obviously doesn’t have an easy matchup versus Masahiro Tanaka ($17,100) and the Yankees. In a deeper slate, my first instinct would be to avoid the Houston and New York lineups – to the point that I’d expect both pitchers to become modestly smart contrarian plays. Since this slate is thin and bottom-heavy, I suspect we’ll see plenty of ownership on both pitchers.

Next up is Hyun-Jin Ryu ($18,600) opposite Miles Mikolas ($15,400). The latter could fall into that coveted contrarian category for two reasons. He has two shaky starts to his name. As a command and control guy, some blips on the radar should be expected. More importantly, the Dodgers have an incredibly dangerous lineup. As for Ryu, I see no drawback to targeting him. Either he or the next guy will be the most popular pitcher tonight.

“The next guy” is Madison Bumgarner ($17,500). Despite missing velocity, he’s looked effective in his first couple outings, including one against tonight’s opponent. Oracle Park is a point in Madbum’s favor, although the Padres offense isn’t a pushover by any means. His opponent, Eric Lauer ($14,600) steamrolled the Giants offense on Opening Day.

Coors Field has my attention for unusual reasons. It was trendy to bet against Kyle Freeland ($12,100) during draft season, a strategic decision I stand by no matter how well he pitches this year. To date, he has two solid starts to his name, although the most recent outing (4.2 innings, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts, and a loss) was unusual. Tonight is his 2019 Coors Field debut. Also landing in Colorado is Julio Teheran ($11,400). The veteran righty is working off his slider this season, using his fastball as a change of speed offering. Sliders do tend to move less at altitude. Both pitchers are solid bargain dart throws.

My boy Anibal Sanchez ($12,600) is setting up a massive bargain day. Don’t use him tonight versus the Phillies (that goes for season-long fantasy too). I wouldn’t fire up Vince Velasquez ($15,800) either for fear of a short outing.

Jhoulys Chacin ($16,100) at Trevor Cahill ($13,700) is the exact sort of boring that can slip through the cracks. Ownership rates should be pretty tame for these mid-tier pitchers in slightly worse than neutral situations. Hot tip, Josh Hader through 2.2 innings yesterday and is presumably unavailable.

Marco Estrada ($14,700) also looks blandly playable tonight at Baltimore. Long term, I expect him to be out of a job by mid-May.

Favorite Plays: Ryu, Teheran, Cahill, Lauer

I like Ryu as my pricey play with a slew of bargain targets rounding out my roster.

Stack Targets: Teheran, Freeland, Homer Bailey, Andrew Cashner, Sanchez

Yes, you can also stack against the pitchers at Coors Field. How novel.

4. SaberSim Says…

Verlandez, Velasquez, Ryu, Bumgarner, and Teheran carry the top projections. Some validation for my interest in Teheran! Speaking of, he’s also the top value along with Velander, Velasquez, Sanchez, and Cahill.

On the hitting side of the ledger, Ronald Acuna, Mike Trout, Matt Chapman, Charlie Blackmon, and Ozzie Albies are the guys to own. Mallex Smith, Chapman, Mitch Haniger, Domingo Santana, and Anthony Rendon lead bargain land. That’s a hell of a bargain crew.

5. Hero Confusion

If you hang around social media, there’s no way you missed this. I’m not sure how Yasiel Puig walked away as the hero of this story. It’s definitely Derek Dietrich.