The Daily Grind: Jonesing

Good news, I still have my sight after viewing yesterday’s eclipse. Hopefully you can still see too.

AGENDA

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

1. Jonesing

Adam Jones played hero last night with a couple bombs. MLB.com didn’t feel those were worth making an embedded video. Click the linky dink.

2. Weather Reports

Rain could be a real issue tonight, especially in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Cleveland may be affected too, but it’s supposed to clear out around 8:00pm. As always pay attention to more timely forecasts.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: Chris Archer is the most expensive pitcher in the slate, although I’m not sure I agree with that sentiment. His outings are rather short for a $12,400 pitcher. While he’ll frequently cross the 20 point threshold on DraftKings, his ability to reach 30 points is constrained by his lack of innings. He’s likely to defeat the Blue Jays.

Carlos Carrasco is also likely to earn a win. He’s opposed by Doug Fister. Carrasco has some of the best stuff in the league, but iffy health has prevented him from turning in an elite season. This is a high risk, high reward pick for $11,700.

Jimmy Nelson visit Jeff Samardzija at AT&T Park is certainly interesting. While I prefer Nelson ($11,000) as a pitcher, I like Samardzija’s ($8,600) relative price. The Brewers always make for an extreme matchup. With all their strikeouts and home runs, they can either seriously help or hurt their opponent.

I swear Masahiro Tanaka has earned negative points whenever I start him. I bought in for his start against the Blue Jays last week. This time around, Tanaka is opposed by a fading Tigers offense. He has the added benefit of NOT pitching at Yankee Stadium.

I find Charlie Morton to be irresistible. He consistently posted very useful scores while retaining a very sane price tag. Today he costs $8,900. He’ll host the Harper-less Nationals.

I’d stay far away from the bargains today. The deepest I’m reaching is either end of Jon Gray ($8,000) at Danny Duffy ($7,600). Both offenses aren’t very intimidating at sea level.

Stack Targets: Lucas Sims, Marco Gonzales, Paul Blackburn, Brock Stewart, Chris Rowley, Matt Boyd, Tommy Milone, Ricky Nolasco, Tyson Ross, Doug Fister, Kyle Gibson, Homer Bailey, Lucas Gioltio, Ubaldo Jimenez

4. SaberSim Says…

The Sim likes Archer, Samardzija, Carrasco, Morton, and Lance Lynn. I have a permanent /ignore on Lynn for fantasy purposes. He’s completely inscrutable. Top bats include Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Paul Goldschmidt, Mike Trout, and Kyle Schwarber. Yeah, Bailey really sucks. Values consist of Jose Pirela, slumpy Kendrys Morales, and Manuel Margot.

5. The Daily Grind Invitational

Congrats to mitchiebaby for taking down the pot. Adam Jones and Jonathan Schoop combined to do the bulk of the heavy lifting. Leaderboard.

We’re on DraftKings today. I’m officially firing up RotoQL for some contrarian picks (and hopefully some stretch run profit). For the purposes of FanGraphs, we’re still friends with Matt Hunter and his SaberSim system. I’m tooling around with RotoQL for my edification.