The Daily Grind: Version Three Crowdsourcing

The Daily Grind will return in 2020 for a ninth season. Birthed in 2012 as an advice column on The Hardball Times Fantasy Focus for adherents of LIMA (a classic strategy for spending most draft resources on hitters), the advent of daily fantasy proved too stimulating a distraction. Since 2017, this column has focused solely on the DFS scene.

The versioning mentioned in the headline refers to my template for the article. In the first edition for FanGraphs, I juxtaposed DFS choices with traditional fantasy picks for the next day. Version two winnowed down to DFS while introducing The Daily Grind Invitational and a related leaderboard. Now it’s time to consider ways to improve the column.

First, let’s be clear about what’s staying. TDGI will exist in some form, probably either back on FantasyDraft or on DraftKings. The Invitational is my favorite part of this column. I will also bring back what is referred to in my notes as “Section 5.” Most days, it’s a trio of interesting video clips from the previous day. Sometimes it’s a more serious written topic. Or a less serious written topic.

In recent seasons, I’ve focused my attention on pitchers; i.e. who to use and abuse. There’s a method to this madness. This is an early morning column. I typically finish writing it by 8:00am ET. Pitcher information – aside from umpire pairings – is roughly set at that point of the day. However, until lineups are released much later in the afternoon, it can be challenging to offer actionable insights about hitters. So much is determined by the lineup order, and I expect this to be a very volatile year as teams try to figure out how to milk maximum advantage out of 13 position players.

When considering a redesign, the timing of the column should probably receive top consideration. And so, my goal is to make this the best first-glance DFS content on these interwebs. You can help me out by volunteering what kind of information you want to read many hours before contests begin.

I aim to supply an upgraded weather section by commenting on parks which may be experiencing greater or lesser than normal atmospheric effects. In the past, I’ve restricted my “Weather” section to reports on rain, very cold temperatures, and wind direction at Wrigley Field. My favorite weather resource, DailyBaseballData.com, typically doesn’t supply atmospheric data until closer to game time. I may need to use a new resource.

Player picks seemingly shouldn’t be the primary emphasis of the column, at least not in bulk. One thought is to include a section related to “Players You Should Know” which might highlight one to three low-cost and/or low-popularity players who merit consideration on a given day.

Lastly, before I turn the mic over to you, I believe the voice of the column is perhaps the most important aspect. Tables, charts, and clinical descriptions of a player’s traits are all well and good, but what I really seek to provide are the spicy noodles that led to this review:

The topic of the day was a particular fruit fly that needed to die.

And so, your homework.

1. What do you want in a first-glance DFS column?
2. New sections?
3. General thoughts about life, liberty, and the pursuit?

One final note, there are time constraints to each section. I can do something complicated if, for example, all that’s required is a one-time effort in creating a PowerBI report that I refresh daily. But if I’d need to hand-enter data every day, it’s just not going to be feasible.