The Daily Grind: The Readers Have Spoken?

Last week, I ran a twitter poll to see if we should stick to DraftKings or spend a week on FanDuel. The results were… inconclusive.

For readers of The Daily Grind.

FanDuel next week?

— Brad Johnson (@BaseballATeam) April 20, 2018

That’s 15 for yes, 30 for no, and two folks suffering existential crises. On the one hand, the DraftKings crowd won by a two-to-one margin. On the other hand, the 15 FanDuel votes are nearly enough to fill a contest on that platform. Here’s my compromise. We’re going to bump up to a 40 entry contest on DraftKings. Top 10 paid. If we don’t fill the contest, we switch to FanDuel tomorrow.

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. Some Minor League Reports

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

Iamlee13 wove Carlos Correa with a bunch of core contributors en route to the win last Friday. Congrats and Leaderboard.

If you didn’t read the intro, i.e. the part above the agenda, then go back and read it. We’re on DraftKings. Although the top 10 are paid, I will only track the top five for the leaderboard.

PS – New users who deposit with my referral link get 25% bonus cash after jumping through a few hoops. I also get 25%. Conditional referral bonuses suck, but I guess they’re better than no bonus.

2. Weather Reports

The Braves and Reds game is not a part of the slate. Which is good because it also isn’t going to happen. The rest of the league looks to be dry and seasonally temperate.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: We have eight games with which to work tonight. Gerrit Cole and Carlos Carrasco are the obvious top plays. Cole has performed masterfully since joining the Astros, and he’s priced accordingly at $12,600. Good luck affording him against a solid Angels lineup. Carrasco isn’t much cheaper ($11,700). I’m a little wary of what I view as a high variance matchup against the strikeout prone, powerful Orioles at Camden Yards.

On DRAFT (a niche DFS platform), Gio Gonzalez was the eighth ranked pitcher. I heartily recommended him. On DraftKings, he’s third ranked at $10,800. I guess that’s about par value for a visit to AT&T Park. Still seems like an awful lot for Gio. If you don’t use Gonzalez, Chris Stratton ($6,800) looks like an obvious bargain play opposite a banged up Nationals lineup.

Masahiro Tanaka, despite poor results to date, is probably better than his $8,800 price tag. He should earn an easy win. Then again, a Twins stack at Yankees Stadium is totally sensible.

Come on! Trevor Cahill is sixth priciest at $7,000. He’s supposed to be the $5,500 bargain play. He looked like good Cahill in his Oakland debut, but the White Sox aren’t exactly known for working counts to making heaps of contact. If he pitches well, he should receive sufficient run support to win.

I found the “Cahill” of the day. It’s Kevin Gausman for $5,800. Despite a disastrous first start, he doesn’t appear to be as bad as typical first-half Gausman. The strikeouts, command, and swinging strike rate all seem to be in place. Unfortunately, since his velocity is way down (92.4 mph), I’ll stick to mid-tier bargains like Cahill and Stratton.

Walker Buehler is making his rotation debut for the Dodgers. He costs only $6,200, and he’s facing the Marlins. He’ll probably pitch well. I’m not sure he’ll last five innings. You do the math.

Stack Targets: Bryan Mitchell, Miguel Gonzalez, Gausman, Jarlin Garcia, Jake Odorizzi, Matt Moore

I’m supposed to think Jarlin is a viable pitcher because anti-BABIPd two New York teams and the Cubs to death? I’m impressed. I’m also crying fluke.

4. SaberSim Says…

Buehler is the top projected pitcher, tied with Carrasco. SaberSim is expecting 6.4 innings. I dunno about that. Tanaka, Cole, and Stratton round out the top five. Values are Buehler, Stratton, and Gausman. There’s a Coors game tonight. Charlie Blackmon, Mike Trout, Nolan Arenado, Joey Gallo, and Khris Davis are the preferred bats. David Dahl, Pedro Alvarez, and Marcus Semien are among the values.

5. Some Minor League Reports

I’m running behind today. I spent some time on these minor league reports of a few Phillies and Rays prospects. Perhaps you’ll like them.

I assume you saw the Brandon Belt thing. I’m not even going to link it. Instead, here’s a classic save from Brandon Morrow.