The Daily Grind: The Dream

I’m running behind because…

It's a thrilling trade deadline in The Devil's Rejects (20-team dynasty). My team is stuck in 6th place with little opportunity to climb into the money (5th and higher pays).

— Brad Johnson (@BaseballATeam) August 9, 2019

AGENDA

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

1.The Daily Grind Invitational

I think yesterday was my worst ever performance. Both of my pitchers scored in the negative range and my big plays of Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, and Xander Bogaerts improbably zeroed out. Shockingly three lineups were worse than mine!

It was a contest of extremes as djil131 scored a whopping 225.35 points (even with Judge too). Chris Sale and Nick Castellanos were the big contributors although it was obviously a team effort. Congrats on the new season-high score. Leaderboard.

We’re playing a 14-gamer 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

August is nice because the weather usually cooperates.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Walker Buehler is the big man on campus. A price tag of $21,900 seems pretty friendly with the way he’s pitched since the start of June. (You just have to ignore a flub at Coors Field). It’s not like the Diamondbacks are some ferocious opponent. Robbie Ray ($18,400) has always felt like somebody whose performance is mostly divorced from the quality of his opponent. Case in point, he’s scored over 20 points against the Dodgers in the two times he’s faced them this year. He’s a solid contrarian play.

Stephen Strasburg ($21,400) is par value in a visit to CitiField. The Mets will call upon boring ol’ Marcus Stroman ($16,800) who I would only use if I had exactly that amount of money to spend and didn’t want to upgrade any facet of my offense.

The reason I see no cause to use Stroman is because Drew Smyly ($11,000) has made considerably changes to his repertoire and add one mph since leaving the Rangers. He’s ditched a bad changeup, tripled his cutter usage, and deemphasized his fastball. The result is more grounders, fewer walks, and softer contact. He’s looking revived just in time for a visit to Oracle Park.

Of course, there are a few guys between Stroman and Smyly who are relevant. Like Shane Bieber ($20,400). He’s a little pricey for the dreaded Twins matchup, but he’s generally returned value against any opponent – including the Astros and these same Twinkies. Devin Smeltzer ($15,100) would be borderline usable as a discount Stroman if not for the whole Smyly thing.

Wade Miley ($17,800) is a better mid-tier target than Stroman thanks to a likely win bonus along with otherwise similar projections. Yea, he costs a little more, but he’s worth it.

Caleb Smith ($19,800), Trevor Bauer ($19,300), Yu Darvish ($18,000), and Julio Teheran ($17,100) are all viable but uninspiring at these prices. Teheran has a very friendly matchup versus the Marlins but also frequently scores under 15 points. Bauer and Darvish are cancelled out by GABP and each other.

Brad Keller ($15,000) randomly started throwing two mph harder. He’s still just a two-pitch guy without any strikeout ability. There’s a lot to like about a visit to Detroit.

We could talk about some of the others, but it’s kind of a waste of breath. Or whatever the correct analog for that phrase is for blog posts. Perhaps Gio Gonzalez ($14,900), Jalen Beeks ($14,600), and Dakota Hudson ($13,000) are worth a sniff if you’re not feeling Smyly but want a bargain.

Favorite Plays: Smyly, Buehler, Ray

Stack Targets: Edwin Jackson, Kyle Freeland, Jaime Barria, Dylan Bundy, Kolby Allard, J.A Happ, Chris Archer, Brian Johnson, Sean Reid-Foley, Smeltzer

Reid-Foley is strangely expensive in what looks like a horrific matchup for him.

4. SaberSim Says…

Buehler, Bauer, Strasburg, Ray, and Darvish are the top projections. Freeland, Smyly, Tyler Beede, Gonzalez, and Archer are the preferred bargains. I like when there’s a clear choice between quality and value.

Yordan Alvarez, Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, Rafael Devers, and J.D. Martinez feature among the big bats. Bargains include Lewis Brinson, Mike Ford, Isan Diaz, Ryan O’Hearn, and Max Stassi.

5. The Dream

Just a reminder that Gio Urshela is a better hitting Miguel Andujar with much better defense. Remember when Yankees fans were going on and on about Andujar?

This is the dream.

Well that’s new.