The Daily Grind: Man See Ya On The Bench

The players you sit… those are the ones that get ya.

AGENDA

1. Man See Ya
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. Hitters to Use
5. SaberSim Says…
6. TDG Invitational Returns!

1. Man See Ya

It’s a shame when the top performances on a given day are contributed by non-starters. Nobody benefited from Trey Mancini yesterday. He entered as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth and stuck around for a second at bat in the 11th. Here they are.

Prior to the outburst, Mancini had gone homerless from May 9 through June 6 – a span of 81 plate appearances in which he hit .260/.321/.315. Home runs are a very necessary part of his offensive game.

2. Weather Reports

Pittsburgh might get some mid-game rain, but it doesn’t look like an postponement is in the cards.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Three games are early, eight are late, and one is dead smack in the middle. It’s too bad – I wanted to stack Diamondbacks against Clayton Richard.

Early Slate: Johnny Cueto, Michael Fulmer, and Mike Leake are the top targets in the early slate. Fulmer should be the most popular opposite the lowly Angels. Even terrible Buck Farmer handled them. Cueto and Leake are visiting Miller and Great American Park. Home runs happen.

J.C. Ramirez is a viable contrarian pick versus the Tigers. Personally, I think they’ll pop a couple home runs, but there’s room for a strong outing and an unexpected win.

Stack Targets: Paolo Espino, Scott Feldman

Main Slate: The theme this evening is flawed aces. Lance McCullers is the most expensive pitcher. In his most recent outing, he tallied eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Reaching that six inning quality start threshold can be a challenge for him. A visit to Kauffman Stadium is a plus.

The other flawed aces are Jon Lester, David Price, Gerrit Cole, and Michael Pineda. Lester has mixed a couple gems around a slew of oddly weak performances. He’ll host a tough Rockies offense. Price is visiting tiny Yankee Stadium in his third game off the disabled list. Cole has been a worse, stolen base prone version of McCullers this year. The stuff is superb, but he isn’t producing ace-like outings. Pineda remains homer prone.

If you aren’t using one of them, then you must be betting on mediocrity from Edinson Volquez, Derek Holland, or Joe Ross.

Stack Targets: Alec Asher, Kyle Gibson, Ben Lively, R.A. Dickey, Jason Hammel, Ross, Christian Bergman, Holland, Tyler Chatwood

4. Hitters to Use

Alex Avila appears to have made “the adjustment.” His fly balls are way up, and he’s hammered 58.9 percent hard contact. I mention him only because he’s gone insane. With a day game after a night contest, he’ll probably sit.

I like the idea of Tommy Joseph versus a hanging knuckleball at SunTrust Field. The park is looking like a launching pad, and it’s not even technically summer yet. Aaron Altherr also has my eye.

Jose Altuve is weirdly cheap at $3,800. He’ll have trouble homering in KC, but power is only a secondary benefit to owning him. George Springer and other potent Astros are of interest too.

Sam Gaviglio should be a lefty. He’s not. I still like Brian Dozier to thump the ball. Gaviglio is overdue for a 2.1 inning disasterpiece.

I think Kris Bryant will enjoy facing Tyler Chatwood. The wind might be blowing out tonight too. Better think about Nolan Arenado too despite an iffy matchup.

If I had to pick one Tiger to homer against Ramirez, it’s J.D. Martinez. If I had to pick a second Tiger, it’s still J.D. Martinez.

5. SaberSim Says…

Lester, Price, Pineda, Jake Odorizzi, and McCullers comprise the top five pitchers according to SaberSim. Hitters include George Springer, Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Eric Thames, and Kris Bryant. Paul DeJong, who is personally responsible for my current losing streak, is the top value.

6. The Daily Grind Invitational

This season is challenging some of my fundamental assumptions about DFS. At least my traditional fantasy teams are playing well. In any case, schweitz1986 wins again. Buck Farmer, Brian McCann, Miguel Sano, and Matt Adams provided most of the juice. He has a dominating lead on the DK leaderboard.

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