The Daily Grind: NotGraphs, Peralta, Greene

Agenda

1. Description Seeking Player
2. Daily DFS – David Peralta
3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Greene, Sabathia, Vargas, Bourn
4. Factor Grid

1. Description Seeking Player

NotGraphs aficionados may recall the “Nickname Seeking Player” feature. What you find before you is similar in nature except where it is obviously different. So, I present today’s Description Seeking Player:

“He throws like a tolerant Nazi.”

Three questions spring to fore. What characterizes a tolerant Nazi? Is he or she tolerant in the truest sense of the word or merely relatively tolerant? How does one encapsulate Nazi-like tolerance in the medium of throwing baseballs? Answer these questions and you may well be no closer to the player we seek.

2. Daily DFS – David Peralta

Yesterday’s Grind

Yesterday was the time to use Peralta. He went 1-for-4 with a home run, two runs, and three RBI all while batting cleanup for the Diamondbacks. That’s a tidy little game in DFSland. He’ll face an even weaker pitcher today in the form of Chris Heston. The Diamondbacks have one of the better parks for offense, and I can easily see this being a high scoring affair.

Perhaps you know Peralta’s story. The former pitching prospect left professional baseball after the 2007 season. Arizona then signed him out of amateur ball during the 2013 season. He quickly ascended the ranks to the majors where he’s held his own.

Peralta is an aggressive hitter with some pop and speed. That makes him useful in almost any fantasy format. He’ll participate in a straight handedness platoon. He could lose late game plate appearances as a result.

Stack Targets: Chris Heston, Jeremy Hellickson, Aaron Harang, Scott Feldman

3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Greene, Sabathia, Vargas, Bourn

Pitchers to Start: Finally, a good day for streaming. Despite only nine scheduled games, the field of waiver wire pickups is wide and varied. One of the best options is Shane Greene. Our own Ben Duronio recently wrote about Greene. In short – he has good rate stats, run support, and a neutral home park.

The Twins lineup looks like an easy exploit at first glance. It’s not. They aren’t a powerful club, but they have the necessary pieces to drive in a lot of runs. I expect this start to be a battle. He’s opposed by a similar pitcher in the form of Kyle Gibson.

Also consider: A.J. Burnett, Trevor Bauer, Kendall Graveman, Daniel Norris

Pitchers to Exploit: CC Sabathia has emerged as a semi-popular rebound candidate. Once he showed better velocity this spring, fantasy owners started jumping on the bandwagon. I remain noncommittal.

At Yankee Stadium against the all-powerful Blue Jays, I’ll happily target Sabathia. The primary dealers of damage – Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Josh Donaldson – obviously won’t be available on the wire. However, some lower upside plays like Dioner Navarro, Dalton Pompey, and Devon Travis are floating around.

Also consider: John Danks, Nick Martinez, Asher Wojciechowski

Hitters (power): Kennys Vargas will face Greene. While it’s not an ideal matchup, Vargas remains widely available (23 percent owned in Yahoo) and has 30 home run upside. He’s capable of squaring up a ball on any day.

Also consider: Kendrys Morales, Luis Valbuena, Ike Davis, Navarro

Hitters (speed): Michael Bourn is a difficult player to analyze. He was a fantasy beast in 2012 – his last fully healthy season. Now it’s unclear if he’ll even attempt to steal. Considering that speed is his main source of value, it’s a concerning problem. Bourn remains the Indians leadoff hitter…for now. He’s a low OBP hitter, so he’s no better suited to the task than Jose Ramirez. Tread lightly.

Also consider: Pompey, Travis, Odubel Herrera

4. The Factor Grid

The table below indicates which stadiums have the best conditions for hitters today. The color coding is a classic stoplight where green equals go for hitters. The weather conditions are from SI Weather’s home run app. A 10/10 means great atmospheric conditions for home runs. A 1/10 means lousy atmospheric conditions.

There’s a lot of rain in the forecast. The three northeast games, Cincinnati, and Kansas City are all at risk. Monitor the situation.

The Link. Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Houston are the safest locations for power today.

This post is not brought to you by any DFS platform. The current author is quite pleased to present a DFS ad free environment.