The Daily Grind: Zimmering

I’m sluggish today after the dog decided a 1:00am walk was a good idea. Then sleep decided to elude me. I’m not meant to operate on short sleep. But the grind goes on…

AGENDA

1. Zimmering
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. Hitters to Use
5. SaberSim Says…
6. TDG Invitational Returns!

1. Zimmering

After opening his major league career with a stylish sombrero (three strikeouts), Indians prospect Bradley Zimmer showed off the power stroke yesterday.

That goes in the book as a double and a home run. Of note: the double would have left the yard in roughly 25 ballparks. A phantom oppo boppo for his first career hit! Judging from the five or so swings I’ve seen of his, he’ll be exploitable on the inner edge. His power comes when he gets full extension.

2. Weather Reports

Kansas City has a 50 percent chance for storms. Texas is going to get rain too, but it’ll come after the game is complete.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

We have five games in both the early and late slates. The Brewers-Padres meetup got left out as did the second half of the Twins-Rockies doubleheader.

Early Slate: Jon Lester is the top name, but I’m more interested in using the Red Rabbits against him. The wind has been blowing out at Wrigley the last few days. Early reports say it’s 15 to 20 mph to dead center today. Keep an eye on it. I’d avoid Amir Garrett too if the wind is blowing.

The Twins will want to milk every drop from Ervin Santana due to the doubleheader. Sweet Erv has a challenging assignment versus the Rockies. I’m not capable of rationalizing his 1.50 ERA and .128 BABIP. Treat him as an overpriced 4.00 ERA pitcher. He may be worth using anyway.

So much for the full strength Tigers lineup. Miguel Cabrera is back on the sidelines with a minor oblique strain. It’s about time to oust Victor Martinez from the DH slot. Dylan Bundy has pitched well against good and bad offenses alike – including the Red Sox three times. He also looks a little fortunate, but I also think he can buff his strikeout rate to mitigate the regressive effects on his .253 BABIP and low home run rate.

Stack Targets: Lester, Garrett, Jordan Zimmermann, Martin Perez, Tyler Glasnow, Nick Pivetta

Late Slate: Any time the action is split, it seems as if the late game has garbage pitching. What is this slop? Marcus Stroman is off to a better start than in 2016, but he’s mixing strong outings with meltdowns. The Braves are Freddie Freeman-less tonight which should help his cause.

Danny Duffy and Jordan Montgomery are viable if the storms hold off. I prefer Monty – both in a general sense and based on the matchups.

I’m tempted by Hyun-Jin Ryu even though the Marlins have one of the top offenses against left-handed pitching. He’s capable of going seven deep with a strikeout per inning and a goose egg on the scoreboard.

Stack Targets: Sam Gaviglio, Hector Velazquez, Dylan Covey, Edinson Volquez, Sonny Gray, Julio Teheran

4. Hitters to Use

As noted above, Billy Hamilton, Jose Peraza, and to a lesser extent, Eugenio Suarez are stolen base threats today. Go ahead and use all the fly ball hitters too from the Reds and/or Cubs.

Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge, and a few other Yankees are of interest versus Duffy. Baby Power!

Cameron Rupp gnashes southpaws. Perez is one of those. Tommy Joseph is in full crush mode too.

Cody Bellinger is one of a half dozen potent Dodgers. Use ’em or lose ’em.

The Pirates have Glasnow on the bump which means Trea Turner will steal approximately seven bases. Also Michael Taylor and Jayson Werth and Bryce Harper OH MY!

Last night, I used Kyle Seager for the first time. It didn’t go well. Doesn’t mean it won’t go well today versus Covey. Plus other Mariners.

By now, I’ve indirectly recommended basically every hitter.

5. SaberSim Says…

Lester, Stroman, Ryu, Teheran, and Duffy are the top rated pitchers today. You may have noted I’m stacking Jays versus Teheran. That presupposes there are enough Jays to stack. I see Pillar and Smoak and uh…

Top bats include Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Bryce Harper, and Addison Russell. I’d voice my disagreement if it weren’t for the wind. Have you ever paused to think about how weird it is that there’s wind.

6. The Daily Grind Invitational

Welp. We sucked yesterday. Congrats to rizzi1234 for holding off the competition with a meager 113 points. That’s usually a bottom five point total. Tyler Collins and Matt Shoemaker did all the heavy lifting. Awesomely heroic pick of Collins – he was 0-for-30 prior to popping two home runs last night. Leaderboard.

The next two days belong to FanDuel. Please note, the contest is for the EARLY time slot because a). I’m busy tonight and b). the night crew is gross.