At FantasyLabs, we believe that we have the best tools and data available to those who play daily fantasy sports. We also realize that these tools and data are only as beneficial as our ability to communicate their functionality and worth.

With this in mind, our Trend of the Day series features articles that walk subscribers through an important trend each weekday, created with our Trends tool. Also, shortly after you create a trend, you will be able to see it under the “My Trends” column in our Player Model tools.

Trend of the Day: Slumping $10,000 Pitchers

Many of us in life are forced to make decisions regarding the items for which we’re willing to pay a premium and those for which we want a discount. My wife and I are generally on the same page when it comes to the big-ticket items — house, kids, cars, etc. — but when we’re together in a grocery store it quickly becomes clear that we have very different ideas on the foods that are worth paying up for.

She’s not a big cereal person and claims that there isn’t much of a difference between many of the store-brand versions and their (in my opinion) far superior, slightly pricier name-brand cousins.

When I’m not paying attention, she sometimes swaps out a box of Cap’n Crunch for the off-brand stuff, just to be “funny.” Of course, when we’ve arrived home and I discover the substitution, I do what any reasonable person would do. I put it in the trash.

And my wife is a big proponent of paying up for a wide variety of flavored coffee creamers. Personally, I’m not sure why someone would want coffee to taste like thin mints or coconut, but what do I know?

Our various approaches to grocery-budget allocation are not entirely unlike our methods of DFS-lineup construction. Some of us prefer to pay up for bats and roster riskier pitchers. I’m a guy who’s apt to pay up for premium pitching and the Consistency that we generally associate with it. On the flipside, it’s crushing to pay for an expensive pitcher who doesn’t deliver the Plus/Minus that we expect.

With this in mind, today’s trend will focus on elite pitchers who have struggled of late.

Step 1: Player Filters > Salary > “10,000 to 15,700”

 

With a Plus/Minus of +1.56, high-priced pitchers tend to return great value, all others factors aside.

Step 2: Fantasy Month Filters > Month Plus Minus > “-61 to -1”

 

Interesting . . .

Step 3: Fantasy Month Filters > Month Salary Change > “-3100 to -100”

 

There are a number of ways we could attempt to quantify a “slumping” pitcher. For our purposes, I’m quantifying that in terms of Plus/Minus and Salary Change over the past month. Because one really poor showing can throw off a pitcher’s total Plus/Minus for a month, I’ve opted also to incorporate price, as a drop in salary (along with the negative Plus/Minus) should indicate that a poor showing has occurred on more than a single outing.

Now let’s get to the results.

 

These are really solid numbers, with a +3.28 Plus/Minus and a 65.7 percent Consistency. Results like this speak to the reasoning behind rostering these pricey assets. Over the long term, they are just so consistent and productive that they truly warrant their massive salaries.

Here are today’s matches are for this trend.

 

Good luck tonight!