The Daily Grind: Trades, Nelson, Heaney, Valencia

Agenda

1. Three Trades
2. Daily DFS – Nelson, Anderson
3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Heaney, RdlR, Valencia, Ichiro
4. Factor Grid

1. Three Trades

I had a busy weekend from a fantasy perspective. I consummated three trades, all in different formats with very different goals. Let’s briefly run through two of them. The third merits it’s own post.

The most ordinary swap occurred in a 12-team redraft league. I’ve stumbled down to 10th place while waiting too long for certain offensive players to kick up the production (Mike Napoli, Christian Yelich, and Victor Martinez to name a few still on my roster). Despite the offensive struggles, I think I was able to address those issues via the waiver wire (Joe Panik, Matt Duffy, Cameron Maybin, and Devon Travis).

My team is also 40 innings behind pace (1,400 IP cap). The league has three outfield and two utility slots, yet I have seven outfielders excluding Jorge Soler on the disabled list. I decided to seek elite pitching by offering Yasiel Puig. Luckily, I was able to net Gerrit Cole from an owner who is over 100 innings above pace.

Trade number two occurred in the ottoneu league FanGraphs Staff Two. I swapped a $1 Stephen Piscotty for $17 Jeff Samardzija. My team is in second place behind Chad Young. Samardzija’s owner is in last. Shark will serve a luxury depth role along with Drew Hutchison and Collin McHugh. Hopefully the White Sox trade him to a nice, pitcher friendly park. The Angels could use a playoff pitcher.

Barring anything crazy, we’ll talk about the third trade tomorrow. Jeff assures me the GB/FB splits will be back too.

2. Daily DFS – Nelson, Anderson

There are nine games this evening. The pitching is…sketchy. On the face of it, $6,700 for Lance McCullers looks like a steal. Unfortunately, he’s against a tenacious Royals offense. The top end of the food chain includes a $8,600 Clay Buchholz. He too comes with a caveat – the bashful Blue Jays. And not the shy kind of bashful.

Everybody you might think to use can be characterized as high risk, high reward. Two names stand out as the best. Jimmy Nelson draws the bashful Phillies offense (yes, the shy kind of bashful). Nelson occasionally weaves strong outings, but he also has a low floor. He should earn a win against O’Sullivan.

The other option is Cody Anderson at Tropicana Field. Anderson had a solid MLB debut. He’s not likely to rack up many strikeouts, but he has solid stuff.

Stack Targets: Bud Norris, Sean O’Sullivan, Joe Blanton, Allen Webster, CC Sabathia, David Hale

3. Tomorrow’s Targets – Heaney, RdlR, Valencia, Ichiro

Pitchers to Start: Andrew Heaney has twice been traded for second basemen. Last week, the Angels finally recalled him from Triple-A where he posted a 4.71 ERA (3.08 FIP) with 8.50 K/9 and 2.87 BB/9. Personally, I like Nick Tropeano more than Heaney, but there’s little doubt Heaney is the higher ceiling pitcher.

Also consider: Kyle Hendricks, Taylor Jungmann, Eduardo Rodriguez, Marco Estrada, Anthony DeSclafani, Mat Latos,

Pitchers to Exploit: I actually still like Rubby de la Rosa even though he’s constantly in the exploit section. He has good stuff including a 12.1 percent swinging strike rate this season. An 18 percent HR/FB ratio is the sole blemish in his peripherals. Dynasty league owners should try to buy low. Either he’ll get a lot better over the next season, or he’ll be the next Estrada.

Also consider: Ivan Nova, Danny Duffy, Jorge de la Rosa, Ian Kennedy

Hitters (power): Danny Valencia has four home runs in 106 plate appearances. Surprisingly, they’re all against right-handed pitching. Nevertheless, Valencia has murdered lefties to the tune of .404/.440/.511 (.487 BABIP).

Also consider: Seth Smith, Brad Miller, Logan Morrison, Mark Canha, Chris Young, David Peralta, Melky Cabrera, Domingo Santana

Hitters (speed): With Giancarlo Stanton sidelined for four to six weeks, Ichiro Suzuki should receive plenty of playing time. Remember when he was a first round rabbit?

Also consider: Billy Burns, Adam Eaton, Angel Pagan, Brock Holt

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.

The Cincinnati game includes a storm risk, but it sounds like it will be a temporary delay. Plenty of hitter friendly parks tonight.

The Link.

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