The Daily Grind: Some Kind of Walker Texas Ferris Buehler Pun

You’re running out of time to hit your games played and innings pitched caps in traditional fantasy leagues. Luckily, you have a free resource available in the form of Streaming Wars.

AGENDA

1. TDG Invitational
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. Déjà Vu Again

1. The Daily Grind Invitational

Mrschaef ran away from the pack with the help of a solo-owned Marwin Gonzalez. Knocking down two 30-point pitching performances helped too, although there were plenty of those to go around. Congrats and Leaderboard.

Even with plentiful promotion, a $2 entry was worth $3.15 yesterday. Over one-third of entrants cashed. This is easy money folks: on FantasyDraft.

If you have not signed up for FantasyDraft, please use this referral link for tracking purposes. If I understand properly, by using the referral, you will receive a 10 percent return on any rakes you pay.

2. Weather Reports

Come on in, the water’s fine.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Early Slate: There’s a tiny three game early slate which can be summed up by saying ‘obviously, use Jack Flaherty.’ He costs $22,200 and represents the only established pitcher in the slate. His opponent, Touki Toussaint ($15,800) possesses some talent wrapped in a volatile package. I expect nearly everybody to use Flaherty and Toussaint together.

The pitcher after the Opener is the Follower. Spread the word. If you can work out whoever is following Diego Castillo, they’re probably a good investment. I’ve stopped actively trying to track these since they’re typically a poor investment. It takes an unusual scenario like a three game slate to open the door.

Stack Targets: Gabriel Moya, Yohander Mendez, Spencer Turnbull

Main Slate: We’re left with 10 games this evening. Walker Buehler is, incorrectly, the most expensive. He’ll cost you $22,100 to host the Story-less Rockies. It’s a great matchup and probably well worth the price of admission. However, I’d much rather use Carlos Carrasco for $21,000 against the strikeout prone White Sox. They’re Abreu-less. As a bonus, Carrasco faces scrubby Dylan Covey at Progressive Field. Buehler has a decent opponent in the form of Tyler Anderson.

Next up, you’ll find David Price ($19,700) at Luis Severino ($19,400). Hard pass on Price against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Hardest pass. Severino is plenty worrisome too.

Cole Hamels ($18,500) is visiting Robbie Ray ($17,900) and the lefty mashing Diamondbacks. Hamels has maintained a jump in velocity that occurred two starts prior to his trade. That’s now 12 starts with a 92.0 to 93.5 mph fastball. The extra zip undoubtedly explains most of his reemergence as a quality pitcher. Ray is a massively volatile alternative. He’ll probably do worse than Hamels, but he’s also more likely to post the top point total.

Chris Stratton is coming off a complete game gem. He’s looked quite effective in recent weeks. Perhaps he’ll redeem Justin Mason by supplying DFSers with a hot finish. A matchup against the Padres for $15,800 looks like an easy pick. His opponent, Robbie Erlin ($9,100) is the cheapest arm even though he’s possibly not among the 10 worst pitchers in this slate. He’s certainly not bottom five. You probably don’t need the value play though.

Chris Archer ($15,700) is a huge bargain for his outing against the Royals. Look for a rebound performance after a couple months of bland flavors. Dallas Keuchel ($15,500) and Felix Pena ($15,200) are also playable. Keuchel usually supplies between 15 and 25 points.

Stack Targets: Covey, Jimmy Yacabonis, Roenis Elias, Heath Fillmyer, Brett Anderson, Sam Gaviglio, Gio Gonzalez, Matt Harvey, Erlin

I think Gaviglio maybe got bumped. I guess we’ll see.

4. SaberSim Says…

As I suspected, Carrasco is the runaway top arm. He’s distantly followed by Buehler, Archer, Ray, and Severino. The best values are Erlin, Archer, Carrasco, Gonzalez, and B. Anderson. Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, Jose Ramirez, Starling Marte, and Aaron Judge are the lineup anchors. I’d might take it easy with Judge (he’s not discounted). Franmil Reyes, Billy McKinney, Chris Davis, D.J. Stewart, and Steven Souza represent premium bargains.

5. Déjà Vu Again

So what we have here is a near-exact repeat of a previous improbable event.

Now that’s an embarrassing drop.

Braille jerseys are kind of cool. Except I find players don’t enjoy being groped by strangers upon the chest and shoulders. I mean, I imagine that’s true. I totally don’t know from experience.