The Daily Grind Transforms
The Daily Grind will become something new this year. Fans of the column can rest assured; it will be a familiar sort of new. The motivation behind the changes is to improve the overall product. My personal goal is to win the FSWA award for best fantasy baseball column. Today’s post will introduce some of my plans and open the comments to reader ideas.
Years ago, when I created TDG for The Hardball Times, it was designed as something I could whip together in 30 to 40 minutes before work. The mission was to provide traditional fantasy owners in daily moves leagues with a wide slew of streaming options. Over time, daily fantasy was included in the analysis.
I’m proud of what we accomplished in the past. I recommended that users stream a long list of fantastic hitting and pitching performances – most memorably Phil Humber’s perfect game. However, it’s time for the column to transform from a list of rapid fire impressions to something more lovingly curated.
The new Grind will lack the breadth of streaming and DFS picks of past seasons. Instead of listing nearly every streaming eligible player, the column will focus on more detailed analysis of just a few players. The specific execution is still undecided and will likely vary in the first few months.
There’s a good reason to drop the scattershot approach – we have comments. We’ve always had great chats, and I intend to encourage further interaction this year. If you want the old rapid fire impressions about certain players, you need only ask.
In addition to a more focused approach, the Grind will regularly include whimsy from the previous day, tactical and strategic advice for a wide range of formats, swing analysis from expert Dan Farnsworth, and GIFs to support my wide and wild assertions.
The best news – I’ve shaken the FanDuel sponsorship for this season. No more annoying ad, no more generic headlines. FanDuel remains my favorite DFS site, but that doesn’t mean they need to be splattered all over the column. I’ll use MLBTR style headlines this season. For example, The Daily Grind: Opening Day, Hughes, Carrasco, Yankees would indicate that I’ll have some opening day info, pitcher analysis of Phil Hughes and Carlos Carrasco, and something to say about the Yankees.
The first month of the season is always a work in progress. That’s where you come in. I appreciate any feedback or recommendations for the column. Do note that there are still time constraints. I won’t be able to implement some good ideas simply because they’re too labor intensive. However, there might be an easier way to offer similar content, so don’t self-censor. Just don’t take it personally if I can’t fit your idea into my morning routine.
Those are my plans for the column. I want to foster a place where folks can congregate and chat about a variety of fantasy baseball topics. Most importantly, I want the Grind to be a place of teaching and learning. Around the World Wide Webs, most fantasy analysis is geared towards shoving halfcocked analysis down the reader’s throat. We don’t need more of that. Instead, let’s make a micro-community for information exchange.
The ball is in your court (yeah, wrong sport). What do you want to see in The Daily Grind this year?
You can follow me on twitter @BaseballATeam
Your message and efforts seem genuine, and I am excited to check in on your column throughout the sun soaked days of summer. Good luck in your efforts, and I hope it cultivates the information exchange, that we would all greatly enjoy.
Thanks Brad! Most interested in under the radar/streaming pitching options for the following day with a little blurb. Maybe some sort of confidence rating or something similar for those that you discuss?
Perhaps along with analysis of a few players there could be a quick ‘others of note’ section where you list a player with reasons for consideration where applicable. For example: Grichuck; consider him if he starts, excellent against LHP.
I like the idea in general, though I certainly enjoy having a number of DFS picks to choose from as well. But taking some deeper dives on some players and supporting it with gifs, that’s certainly not a bad thing. I’m looking forward to it.
I’d like to request that FAAB be discussed when talking about streaming/pickups.
I can make that a topic, but the general rule of thumb is to bid $0 on stream plays. You should have multiple options with similar profiles most days, so somebody should get to you.
Wish it could transform into #notgraphs
I think it’s really hard to make it a streaming and DFS column, it might be worth splitting it into 2. As a DFS player, and NL only player, the streaming stuff is just noise to me, and I imagine it’s vice versa for those looking for streaming options.
I think it should be focused on value picks with their listed prices of Draftkings and Fanduel each day. It would be such a valuable tool to a have sharp baseball mind to take me through the day’s value plays before I look to make lineups.
Thanks!
I appreciate the sentiment, but a cross-platform column is exactly what I want to read (and create). Streaming is the true gateway to DFS. They’re not so different as they might seem at first glance. If you can you scrape value out of the dregs of a 15-team mixed league, you can play (and succeed at) DFS.
The use of sections should allow you to avoid content that is low value for your personal uses.
Interested to see where this goes. I liked the old column but I imagine as readers became more familiar with your rationale they were able to choose players themselves, and thus were less likely to read the column.
As for a suggestion, maybe this exists somewhere and I just haven’t found it yet, but I know I would appreciate a list of low-ownership platoon-type hitters. Rather than you picking out guys every day, you would just provide a one-stop shop for all the information we would need (this list of platoon-type guys, plus daily lists of SPs and their handedness, parks, and weather). Then you could update the list weekly as ownership rates change and injuries occur.
Brad, which ownership numbers mean the most to most people? I know, for ex., that Yahoo and ESPN tend to be way different. And obviously 12 and 15 team and league-only are way different (though obviously the latter are less played). But there is also roster size, etc. At any rate, do you plan for a baseline of replacement value for this and past columns, or if not how do you base your rationale for selecting a player as open to stream?
I’d also suggest something about how to look at SP plays in a more specific way, but you kick my ass enough fighting for the same pool that I need to shut up. (Which reminds me, here’s another suggestion: wake up later. I could use the time.)
Nope, gotta wake up at 6am every day and hustle.
Would you include some sort of early speculation or analysis as to major bullpen meltdowns and/or possible closer changes? I’d like to know first thing in the morning if there is a guy to pick up. This may be redundant with the bullpen report, but sometimes that report is published too early and they miss the late games. Sometimes it’s not published at all.
Analyzing the last night is just as valuable as looking ahead to the next day.
Love TDG columns. Streaming options with some sort of confidence factor would be wonderful.
Also, if you’d continue to highlight batters that may be worth moving into lineups or guys that would be worth avoiding/moving out of them, that would be helpful as well.
Brad, I follow TDG for my DFS games every day. I found your ballpark factors to be of excellent value. If I could recommend an improvement, if you only show the home ballparks that are in play for the day (instead of all ballparks), that would be an upgrade. Look forward to your commentary!