The daily grind: 7-31

The Daily Grind provides daily match-up advice based on my every morning waiver wire search. I welcome advice to help make this column more effective. Ownership rates are from Yahoo!

The Fanduel picks are a mixture of Daily League specific advice and information for the more typical fantasy owner.

Today’s grind

Those in leagues with same-day moves should refer back to yesterday’s table. Some of those entries are already obsolete.

The Fanduel Daily League Players of the Day are:

Pitcher (to start): Neither pitcher is a must-start option, but Kris Medlen against the Marlins and Aaron Laffey against the Mariners strike me as playable.

Pitcher (bum): Keep a close eye out today as any probable pitcher who is dealt will result in an exploitable situation. Ryan Dempster is scheduled today, but if he’s traded it will be a bullpen day.

For more fixed starts, the potent Tigers lineup can probably get to Josh Beckett. And the White Sox face the ultimate bum – at least this season – Nick Blackburn.

Hitter (power): Tyler Moore against Cliff Lee has a chance to show some power. Not a recommendation I ever expected to make. Travis Snider has Dempster at the moment, but that could change suddenly.

Hitter (speed): Carlos Gomez has the platoon advantage, plenty of speed, and a surprising recent burst of power. His ownership is still only at 23 percent. Rajai Davis also has the platoon advantage and should be back to starting more frequently now that Snider and Eric Thames have been dealt.

Tomorrow’s grind

There are a ton of pitching options tomorrow, most of them guys I would have recommended weeks or months ago but not now.

That said, Carlos Villanueva against the Mariners at Safeco looks quite useful. Jake Westbrook is set to face the Rockies which is a survivable match-up and Zach McAllister has the Royals.

If you want something with a little more ceiling and uncertainty, Wade LeBlanc is paired off against the Braves and Ben Sheets.

Few match-ups for the gambling man tomorrow. Our old pal Andruw Jones is back again. And the duo of Seth Smith and Brandon Moss should be back in action.

Carlos Gomez and the Brewers face Jordan Lyles, but without the platoon advantage, it might be one of those games where Nyjer Morgan gets a tune up.

Reliever watch

The Dodgers acquired Brandon League from the Mariners, which really doesn’t mean a whole lot as far as we are concerned.

Francisco Cordero blew up in the seventh yesterday and really shouldn’t be pitching anywhere near a leveraged situation.