The Daily Grind: Streaming Wars Lives Here Too

I’ve decided that a link to Streaming Wars will live in this column – at least for the immediate future. I have not decided where in the column it belongs. Today, let’s try up here in introland. I picked out six starters to try tomorrow along with a must-own middle infielder.

AGENDA

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

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

Kidzero doubled down on his roster and his winnings. He finished first and second place. Trevor Bauer, Kole Calhoun, and Dexter Fowler carried the day. Congrats and Leaderboard.

I’ll see you for a 52-ticket, two-entry contest on FantasyDraft tonight. You really should join us. Over the rest of the season, we’ll all average between $40 and $80 of winnings. Math. Sure some will lose. Others will win more at their expense. The odds, however, favor everybody.

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

Minnesota and Atlanta both have the potential for late storms. That may interrupt the starting pitching. As always, check closer to game time. For the Twins, that means 1:10pm ET. The Braves play tonight.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Early Slate: It’s a wee three game contest. The big name pitchers are Jordan Zimmermann ($18,400) and Gio Gonzalez ($16,700) at Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh respectively. Good situations for decent veterans. Good luck…

Stack Targets: Burch Smith, Hunter Wood

I’ve mostly seen Wood work in relief so I assume he’s doing that short start nonsense the Rays have spent the season testing. Anybody know who would serve as the handcuff starter? I’ve completely lost track. Ryan Yarbrough?

Main Slate: Eleven games are a part of the night crew. Two aces to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. Beyond the big guns, practically everybody else has a use case too.

Chris Sale ($25,000) receives top billing versus The Round One ($8,500). Sale certainly looks like an attractive asset given the Rangers strikeout issues. A few of their best hitters are left-handed. I’ll also add that Bartolo Colon’s price is sufficiently tiny to make him playable.

If you’re using Colon it’s probably because you’ve opted to combined Jacob deGrom ($22,900) with stud bats. deGromulent will host the Phillies. For some reason, he’s available at a slight discount. Rhys Hoskins may get the night off after introducing his face to the wall last night.

Lance McCullers ($21,600) is running hot, albeit against some really bad opponents. The Athletics are pretty solid offensively, making this a less valuable matchup than deGrom. This season, McCullers has lasted seven innings a total of seven times. That’s a good thing! In the past, he rarely finished six frames.

Freddy Peralta is overhyped and overpriced due to a few good outings. He’s more of a mid-tier guy. Even so, there’s nothing wrong with stretching to find $19,600 for a visit to Marlins Stadium.

Mike Foltynewicz hosts the Blue Jays. He looks like a modest bargain at $19,300. Speaking of bargains, Folty’s opponent, Sam Gaviglio ($10,400) will probably supply more than a point per $1,000 – my rough measuring stick for playable bargain pitchers.

We’re not even near the end of the rosterable pitchers. Carlos Carrasco is back for a probably shortened outing. That’s priced in at $18,400. Nor do I object to trying Tyler Mahle for $13,600. Obviously, I’d rather face the Reds than the Indians, but that $4,800 discount is pretty sizable for what figure to be similarly projected outings.

Kenta Maeda is back from personal leave in time to drub the Padres. He costs $17,900. The difficulty with Maeda is in getting more than five innings out of him. When you do, it’s usually a gem. He’s a great GPP play. Joey Lucchesi, aka sea level Tyler Anderson, isn’t a bad play either for just $14,800.

Vince Velasquez ($15,900) benefits from facing a terrible Mets lineup. Alas, he must outduel deGrom. Like Maeda, he’s a high risk, high reward asset at this price.

Marco Gonzales ($14,100) is visiting Jaime Barria ($12,700); both of whom could crush these price tags. I anticipate ridiculously low ownership rates for these two bargains too. If you’re looking for a controversial play, I’d start here.

Well, I could keep going, but let’s stop here.

Stack Targets: Colon, Shelby Miller, German Marquez, Dan Straily, Dylan Bundy, Carlos Rodon, Sonny Gray

You could use Bundy, Rodon, or Gray because they’re either good pitchers or facing a bad opponent (Gray). Bundy has the difficult assignment of taming the Yankees. Rodon has very mixed results since returning from the disabled list.

4. SaberSim Says…

Sale, deGrom, Peralta, Carrasco, and Luke Weaver are the preferred arms. The White Sox are strikeout prone so I guess Weaver makes some sense. Top values include Straily, Weaver, and Gaviglio. On the hitting side, J.D. Martinez, Mookie Betts, Charlie Blackmon, Paul Goldschmidt, and Aaron Judge lead the way. Bargain hunters should try Logan Forsythe, Marcell Ozuna, David Fletcher, Justin Turner, or Enrique Hernandez. Personally, I might ixnay Forsythe.

5. Lucroy Loses

It won’t show up on any stat sheet, but Jonathan Lucroy earned -1 WAR yesterday.

Two out rally! Duh. Duh. Duhduhduh.

I don’t know what’s happening here. Neither does Maikel Franco.