The Daily Grind: DFS, Streaming, and More for May 7

Agend

1. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard
2. Daily DFS
3. SaberSim Observations
4. Tomorrow’s Targets
5. Factor Grid

1. The Daily Grind Invitational and Leaderboard

Yesterday’s contest didn’t fill so DraftKings unceremoniously deleted it. I really don’t like how they handle that. It’s funny how a 30 user contest will fill by noon but a 35 user contest doesn’t fill at all. I guess we have a solid core of 30 people playing.

We’re over on FanDuel today for a probably free game. It’s a 20-team, $2 early slate contest. If it doesn’t fill, it will run as a free contest.

2. Daily DFS 

Yesterday’s Grind

Early: Seven games are early excluding the first game of the Orioles doubleheader. Clayton Kershaw has about as tough a matchup as he’ll ever get against the Toronto Blue Jays. You probably don’t want to pony up the $13,000 it costs to roster him on FanDuel.

Johnny Cueto versus Jonathan Gray has the potential to be a pitchers duel at AT&T Park. Cueto’s been alternating good and bad starts. He’s due for a good one. Of course, we know that’s not a real thing. The point is that he’s a high risk/reward option. Gray offers a similar profile (with a lower floor) at a fraction of the price.

David Price has the platoon advantage against the Yankees most dangerous hitters. Ha! The Yankees don’t have dangerous hitters. Price has had a weird season including a bad outing against the Bombers last week.

If you prefer a cheaper option than the aces but don’t want to roll the dice on Gray, try Ian Kennedy opposite Cody Anderson. The right-handed fly ball hurler will work in a mostly pitcher friendly park against a most mediocre lineup. He’ll have a decent shot at a win too.

Stack Targets: Mike Pelfrey, Jeff Locke, Anderson, R.A. Dickey, Adam Wainwright, A.J. Griffin

Late: If you ask me, and I do believe you are asking me, there are three usable pitchers tonight. Chris Sale has the potential to turn in his best outing of the season against the strikeout prone Twins. Remember Tanner Roark. As Noah Syndergaard taught us last night, dream matchups sometimes lead to heartbreaking mediocrity.

Bartolo Colon is the next Mets righty to draw the Padres. Will the rotund one succeed where Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom failed? Watch him toss a complete game with 10 strikeouts just to spite his better rotation-mates.

Behind door number three is Jake Odorizzi against the Los Angeles Trout. The Trout only have the one hitter plus a couple guys who aren’t terrible (Kole Calhoun and Albert Pujols). The Rays should be able to hit Jered Weaver. Then again, the Rays are exactly the sort of team that doesn’t have enough discipline to handle Weaver.

Stack Targets: Brandon Finnegan, Tom Koehler, Jeremy Hellickson, Shelby Miller, Ervin Santana, Weaver, Ubaldo Jimenez, Jimmy Nelson, Julio Teheran. Jesse Hahn, James Shields

3. SaberSim Observations

SaberSim gives the edge to Sale over Kershaw today. They aren’t in the same contest so you can pick both. I have no arguments with Cueto and Price as the third and fourth best pitcher picks. I’m against using Dallas Keuchel versus the Mariners, and there ain’t no way in hell Julio Teheran is the sixth best pitcher.

SaberSim says thou shalt stack Brewers, Astros, Mets, and Tigers. Personally, I also like the Red Sox in a high risk, high reward matchup versus Nate Eovaldi. The projection system is less keen on Sox today.

4. Tomorrow’s Targets 

Pitchers to Start: Matt Andriese has succeeded against Triple-A opponents this season. He has 11.53 K/9, 1.83 BB/9, and a 3.41 ERA in 34.1 innings. Expect no more than five plus innings in tomorrow’s spot start. The command and control specialist won’t post big strikeout rates in the majors, but he could eventually be ownable in a Jerad Eickhoff sort of way.

Also consider: Josh Tomlin, Nick Tropeano, Steven Wright

Pitchers to Exploit: I liked Tyler Duffey heading into the season, but I’m terrified of him at U.S. Cellular Field. Duffey doesn’t have stand out skills with a modest strikeout rate and command. He’ll have matchups worth streaming this season, but they’ll be very context dependent.

Also consider: Ross Stripling, Justin Verlander, Martin Perez, Junior Guerra, Justin Nicolino, Kendall Graveman, Mike Foltynewicz, Collin McHugh, Eddie Butler, Andrew Cashner, Luis Severino

Hitters (power): Assuming Carlos Ruiz doesn’t start today, he’ll be a sneaky-good streaming catcher tomorrow. The Phillies have given Ruiz plenty of rest while they continue to groom Cameron Rupp. The result is an offensive renaissance for Ruiz. He’s hitting a luck neutral .311/.380/.578 with a career best .267 ISO. The power will decline but perhaps not as far as you’d expect. He’s a stealth lefty masher, and Nicolino is among the worst southpaws in the league.

Also consider: Daniel Nava, Seth Smith, Adam Lind, Jake Lamb, Darin Ruf, Adam Duvall, Kendrys Morales

Hitters (speed): Jonathan Villar is still available in 62 percent of Yahoo leagues. I suggest remedying that oversight versus overrated lefty John Lamb.

Also consider: Aaron Hicks, Brad Miller

5. 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.

At this time, several games are at risk of receiving some stormy weather. It doesn’t look like anyone should be rained out.

The Link.

This post is not brought to you by any DFS platform. The current author is quite pleased to present a DFS ad free environment.