Rise & Grind: Wednesday, August 12th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders cup o’morning joe. Start your day off right here, as we sort through yesterday’s happenings and take a peek at the upcoming DFS day.
In Case You Missed It
Geno Smith – Yesterday was a very sad day if you play lowball season long leagues. Geno Smith, the presumptive #1 pick in lowball, had his jaw broken in a locker room altercation. According to sources, Smith owed teammate IK Enemkpali $600 for an unused airline ticket. Enemkpali apparently bought Smith a ticket to attend his football camp and Smith was unable to attend. Smith intended to pay Enemkpali back but he didn’t want the funds intercepted. You know how that goes with Smith. Several times last year he intended to get the WRs the ball, but he just wasn’t fast enough. That’s likely what happened here too. Smith is likely out 6-to-10 weeks and backup Ryan Fitzpatrick will fill the void. While this is a sad story, I can’t let you miss out on the jokes surrounding this situation.
First off, we need to know who we are dealing with here. This is Enemkpali’s draft day report card. “Very thickly built, flashes shock and violence with his punch…keeps battling to the Quarterback.” Yep, that pretty much sums it up.
While there are plenty of other good Geno jokes, this one is the winner for me. In my opinion, there is definitely a market for Enemkpali’s “services” in the NFL.
Bankroll Tracker – This news is about a week old, but many of you probably missed it. The RotoGrinders Bankroll Tracker is live. CruzinToVictory has all the details in that thread I just linked. In my opinion, some sort of a bankroll tracker is a must-have for any serious DFS players. So many of us spend hours researching our team and then above five minutes researching contests. You should be playing the contests where your win rate is best. Only you can determine that by looking at your results though. Let RG help you determine your best contest type. Go download the tool already!
King of Miami – More details are emerging about the King of Miami contest hosted by DraftKings during Week 1 of the NFL season. The trip is five days in total with two nights in Boston and three in Miami. The Boston portion includes a tailgate party at the Patriots game on opening night. The following day, contestants will take a chartered jet down to Miami. The Miami portion includes a party and a King of Miami GPP for the contestants. If all of this sounds amazing to you and you have $12,500 laying around, head over to this thread and let FatalError know you are interested. If $12,500 is a bit out of your price range, that’s okay. DraftKings will be running four qualifiers this month, with three in preseason NFL and one likely in MLB.
PGA Millionaire Maker – By the time you read the Rise and Grind tomorrow, the PGA Millionaire Maker will be locked. Last time I checked there is still plenty of room to jump in. Even if you don’t follow golf, there is enough content here on RG to build a really solid team. futureoffantasy has a great article on Searching for a Specialist, hokie2009 has the Course Breakdown, ezellmt has your PGA Targets, STLCardinals has the Daily Fantasy Foursome, and Notorious and Gibbathy have expert picks and projections for incentives members. If all that wasn’t enough, STLCards, Gibbathy, and Devo spent an hour last night breaking down the field on PGA After Dark. Sounds like there is a million dollars worth of advice available for free.
MLB Recap – Mmmm, don’t you love the taste of chalk? By all accounts the Arizona Diamondbacks were last night’s chalk stack. Madison Bumgarner and Matt Harvey were near the top of everyone’s list. Guess what? Someone won $100K doing just that (more on that in a second). MadBum went complete game with 12 Ks while the Dbacks hung a 13-spot on Philadelphia. I won’t get too deep into the results since you can already get that in bhdevault’s Daily FanDuel Roundup.
Big Winners – As I mentioned above, someone won $100K last night. That person was randlan, who used a six-player Diamondbacks stack teamed with Bumgarner and Harvey. His extra two pieces were Solarte and Saltalamacchia. If you ask me, that was a relatively chalkish lineup. Other winners included davebla in the Moonshot, ihavearepuation in the Hot Corner, and pistol15 in the High Heat. Over on FanDuel, quietstormnl used a Royals/Diamondbacks 4×4 stack with Grienke to win the Grand Slam, Line Drive and Rally. Russelld07 took down first and second in the Squeeze, theclone won the Slugger, and ksherm14 won the Home Run. The rest of yesterday’s links are in this forum thread.
On the Menu
MLB Today – As is usually the case on Wednesdays, we have a split slate. There are five early games (before 7:05 ET) and 10 late. Notorious already has his First look posted, which includes odds and rankings. Later today you can expect the usual array of articles, including the Grind Down, Six-Pack and expert picks. If you prefer your advice in podcast form, stop by GrindersLive at 3:30 ET. 3rdAndSchlong and BritDevine will kick off 3.5 hours of advice that takes you all the way up to lock.
#NarrativeStreet – With a smaller slate tonight, there are fewer options to differentiate your team. Here are a few picks based on narratives that others may not be considering. Chris Owings kicks things off for Team NarrativeStreet with a #BirthdayGame. Fire him up if he is in the lineup. On the #RevengeGame front, Nelson Cruz is the top play going up against the Orioles and Gausman. The same candidates from yesterday are also in play in the Oakland/Toronto game. Those were Valencia, Lowrie, and Donaldson. Last but not least, Michael Cuddyer is looking for revenge against the Rockies. If you prefer your narratives to be backed up by numbers, we can do that too. The Daily Batter Hub ahs the best and worst BVP splits. You really can’t ignore Prince Fielder’s .357 average and 3threeHRs off Pelfrey in 28 ABs. He’s the #BVPPlayoftheDay.
Parting Shot – As I mentioned above, today is your last chance to get in a PGA Millionaire Maker. If you don’t take advantage, you are going to have to win $1M in NFL instead. By the way, if you are a Jets fan, I’m sorry. Not for making fun of your team, but really just sorry. I know the loss of Geno for 6-to-10 weeks hurts. Rumor has it Michael Vick isn’t even interested in coming back. There is one QB still available though and he is interested. Check out Jared Lorenzen; he looks like he is in the best shape of his life. I’m just saying think about it Jets.
With that, I’m outta here. See you tomorrow!