The Daily Grind: Too Many Aces!

by
June 8, 2018

The episode with fat Lee Adama.

AGENDA

  1. TDG Invitational
  2. Weather Reports
  3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
  4. SaberSim Says…
  5. Perfect, basically

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

It feels good to report my own name as the winner. I didn’t field a particularly strong roster which always seems to be true of my winners. I just happened to do a little better than the other not-strong rosters. Shoutout to “starter” Austin Pruitt. Leaderboard.

We’re going with the standard 52-entry, two max entry contest on FantasyDraft. It’s a doozy 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

No venue looks likely for a delay or postponement tonight, but several have a small potential to develop storms. Check closer to game time.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: I did say this was a doozy. Justin Verlander ($24,200), Chris Sale ($21,100), Stephen Strasburg ($21,400), and Jacob deGrom ($20,200) headline the slate. Verlander’s matchup against the strikeout prone Rangers is highly appealing. However, it’s hard to look away from the sale on Sale. The White Sox aren’t exactly a difficult opponent. Strasburg should do fine against the Giants. deGrom has the riskiest opponent – the Yankees. So much power… It could make him a great contrarian ace.

Trevor Bauer ($23,100) is actually the second priciest pitcher in the slate. Under normal circumstances, I’d call this par value opposite the Tigers. How can I justify Bauer over Sale? (Well, if I think Sale will have an high ownership and Bauer will be virtually unowned…)

Do you prefer J.A. Happ ($20,600) to deGrom? FantasyDraft does. Happ is hosting the Orioles. He has a gaudy strikeout rate this season, yet I can’t find a single thing he’s doing differently. It’s baffling. Anyway, I endorse the outing and price point. Again, it’s hard to justify not finding $500 more for Sale.

Masahiro Tanaka ($18,500) is on the wrong side of deGrom. He’s also nearly as good as deGrom if you ignore all those pesky home runs. CitiField should help.

I keep saying Caleb Smith is better cast as an elite reliever. For now, he’ll continue starting. And a matchup versus the Padres should yield strikeouts – possibly a double-digit total.

Walker Buehler ($17,700) straight up sucked last week. He earned the win anyway. Also, the game was at Coors Field so he gets a pass. His pairing against the Braves is one of the more difficult assignments for the higher quality arms in this slate. That said, the Atlanta lineup thins very quickly after the top of the order. I like this one as potentially underused.

Vince Velasquez’s strikeouts and inconsistency are set to smack against the Brewers. He’ll run you $16,100. Citizen’s Bank Park is a terrible place to use VV. Given your alternatives, I’d look elsewhere. Then again, anybody who fires over 10.00 K/9 has DFS potential.

The bargain of the day is Matt Andriese versus the Mariners. He’s only $10,400. Andriese has buffed his strikeout rate in short bursts. He’s great for about two times through the order, after which he rapidly deteriorates. As the second pitcher in the game, he has a slightly increased chance to earn a win.

But wait, there’s more. Jakob Junis, Garrett Richard, Frankie Montas, Luke Weaver, Marco Gonzales, Jhoulys Chacin, and Michael Fulmer are all some kind of playable.

Stack Targets: Doug Fister Wilmer Font, Dylan Covey, Andrew Cashner, Matt Harvey, Lance Lynn, Eric Lauer, German Marquez, Brandon McCarthy, Chacin, Andrew Suarez, Weaver

Covey could be in the midst of a breakout. His fastball is up 1.5 mph, and he’s rolling over 60 percent ground balls. I’d hesitantly use him if not for a matchup against the Red Sox.

4. SaberSim Says…

Sale, deGrom, Verlander, Strasburg, and Tanaka are the top rated arms. Sales, Andriese, Chacin, and deGrom are the values. Bats include the guys you expect – Mike Trout, J.D. Martinez, Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Carpenter, and Charlie Blackmon. Ok, I guess you didn’t expect Carp. Chris Owings, Marcell Ozuna, Jose Martinez, Jesse Winker, and Dexter Fowler are the best of a deep bargain pool.

5. Perfect, basically

I have trouble finding time for DRAFT drafts. Yesterday, I live drafted during a podcast and the results were about as good as they get.

Well, that’s my high point on that platform. I turned $3 into a whopping $10.





 

You can follow me on twitter @BaseballATeam

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Anon
5 years ago

I would think the issue with Buehler is highly restricted pitch counts. He has yet to throw over 97 pitches and only once over 94 pitches. He’s made it work thus far by basically being an elite pitcher when he’s out there but I wouldn’t count on him being allowed to work through much trouble. I think the Dodgers are trying to nurse him through the season knowing they might very well need him to pitch right to the finish given their position and the likely fight they will be in the last couple months. They don’t want to run up his IP or pitch totals but they absolutely need him because 4/5 of their starting rotation is on the shelf and it’s almost guaranteed that they will be missing at least one of those guys the entire rest of the season.

BTW, Buehler didn’t get the W last week in Coors. The Dodgers scored 100 runs but not until the inning after he left

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