The Daily Grind: My Grapes, They Are Still Sour

Last Thursday, a couple players not starting and edited my way out of the money. On Friday, I was detained at a dinner five minutes too long to remove Franmil Reyes from my lineup (he sat). Hunter Renfroe (51 points) absolutely would have been my replacement which would have led to over 230 points. Grumble grumble.

Or maybe I would have reconceptualized my entire roster like I did on Thursday. (Based on the two lineups I submitted, I would have found the extra money for Renfroe by downgrading 22-point Alex Bregman).

AGENDA

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

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

Congrats to kidzero who posted the second-highest point total of the season with the help of Renfroe, a Jake Bauers cycle, and a pair of top-performing pitchers. Leaderboard.

We have a 12-game slate on FantasyDraft tonight.

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

St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Washington D.C. carry some mild rain risk. Most likely, they’ll be playing through some passing drizzle.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Mike Soroka ($20,400) is the top pitcher in the slate as measured by price. Despite his recent meltdown, I think I prefer the Zack Wheeler ($17,700) side of the equation. I figure, Soroka has only a very narrow edge in expected performance – perhaps a point. That doesn’t really justify the near-$3,000 price difference.

Poor Jose Berrios ($19,800) and Luis Castillo ($19,500) have difficult matchups against the Red Sox and Astros respectively. I’m probably avoiding Berrios outright while Castillo seems like a high risk, high reward option against the sorta-depleted Astros.

Look, I know Lance Lynn ($18,400) has been getting the job done, but I’ll still happily bet against him continuing to do so. There are very few matchups in which I’d consider him for more than somewhere in the $14,000 range. A start against an improving Indians offense and Mike Clevinger ($16,800) just isn’t right at this price. As for Clevinger, he’s making his first start since hitting the injured list. Look for a limited pitch count. His most recent rehab start was a whopping 67 pitches. So let’s say 80 or 85 pitches tonight? That might still work against a Gallo-less Rangers club.

Yes please Kenta Maeda ($18,000). While I have reservations with using him in most matchups due to a long history of heavily managed outings, I’ll happily ply him against the Giants Triple-A quality lineup.

Why is Yonny Chirinos ($17,000) more expensive than Masahiro Tanaka ($14,900). That’s definitely wrong. I’m not over-keen to use Tanaka against the Rays, but this is a ludicrously tempting price tag. After all, he spun 23.7 and 28.75 points versus the Rays in two May starts. The game is at Yankee Stadium.

‘Tis true that Patrick Corbin is slumping. I’ll still happily use him for $15,900 – even against a tough Phillies offense. Injuries have converted it from scary to merely difficult.

For boring mid-tier production, consider Mike Fiers ($15,500). The Athletics host the Orioles. Similarly, Danny Duffy is visiting an Encarnacion-free Mariners offense. Seattle is slowly shipping off their power hitters.

Miles Mikolas ($12,700) costs next to nothing because left-handed hitters are toasting him like a pack of marshmallows at a camp fire. However, the Marlins really only have two lefty hitters on the docket – Curtis Granderson and JT Riddle. Do we even care about them? Elieser Hernandez ($11,900) also looks like a fair value at this price.

And while we’re on the subject of values, Felix Pena ($12,800) has an easy path to the win bonus considering he’ll also probably be used as a Follower. His opponent is Edwin friggin’ Jackson. Rick Porcello ($14,100) has a habit of toss long outings. The Twins are a team to avoid in most cases, but Porcello is cheap enough to try.

Favorite Plays: Wheeler, Maeda, Tanaka, Corbin, Mikolas

Stack Targets: Tyler Beede, Edwin Jackson, Andrew Cashner, Hernandez, Jhoulys Chacin

I like Beede as a sleeper usually. Just not against the Dog Hairs.

4. SaberSim Says…

Corbin, Clevinger, Maeda, Fiers, and Duffy are the top projected pitchers. The three priciest arms rank sixth to eighth. Yep, this is a weird slate. Hernandez, Corbin, Mikolas, Chacin, and Duffy are the preferred bargains. Technical Luis Garcia is (incorrectly) listed second so maybe Pena would have a spot.

Target Jackson says The Sim. Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Austin Meadows, Cody Bellinger, and Tommy La Stella are the preferred bats. Value town is populated by Martin Maldonado, Jason Kipnis, Cavan Biggio, Rowdy Tellez, and Luis Rengifo.

5. A Record Series

Charlie Blackmon set a record for most hits in a series.

It wasn’t the only record of the series. This Wil Myers single clinched the most runs scored.

This happens when I play OOTP sometimes. The fielder always gamely follows the ball through the wall to retrieve it.