The daily grind: 8-13
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.
There will be no column tomorrow.
Today’s grind
The Fanduel Daily League Players of the Day are:
Pitcher (to start): I keep saying “try Alex Cobb” and it keeps not working, but I’m going to go ahead and do it again. Cobb against the Mariners should turn out all right for you.
I might take a peek at Jeff Samardzija against the Astros. Or alternately, Mike Minor is 46 percent owned but he’s facing the Padres and he’s on an extended run of excellent pitching. He should be owned.
Pitcher (bum): Bums aplenty this year. Armando Galarraga should help the baby Cubs provide some offense.
Chief Bum Jeff Francis will be plying his trade against the Brewers today in the match-up of the day.
Hitter (power): Brennan Boesch has been heating up and at some point, Samuel Deduno is going to reveal that he’s a swing man quality pitcher. David Murphy will get the start against David Phelps.
Hitter (speed): Carlos Gomez is foolishly only 31 percent owned despite being a regular fantasy start for the past four or more weeks. Against Francis he should wreak havoc. Juan Pierre’s always a useful alternative.
Tomorrow’s grind
I recommend Clayton Richard and Jarrod Parker for pitchers tomorrow. For anyone needing a hitter, it’s Bumsgiving tomorrow so you’ll be tripping over options in even the deepest of leagues.
| Team | Player | Handedness | Opposing pitcher | Team | Player | Handedness | Opposing pitcher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angels | Astros | |||||||
| Alberto Callaspo | R | Ubaldo Jimenez | Ben Francisco | R | Chris Volstad | |||
| Athletics | Brett Wallace | L | Chris Volstad | |||||
| Brandon Moss | L | Jeremy Guthrie | J.D. Martinez | R | Chris Volstad | |||
| Jemile Weeks | S | Jeremy Guthrie | Brewers | |||||
| Chris Carter | R | Jeremy Guthrie | Carlos Gomez | R | Tyler Chatwood | |||
| Coco Crisp | S | Jeremy Guthrie | Norichika Aoki | L | Tyler Chatwood | |||
| Blue Jays | Cardinals | |||||||
| Yunel Escobar | R | Jose Quintana | Jon Jay | L | Ian Kennedy | |||
| Rajai Davis | R | Jose Quintana | Cubs | |||||
| Rangers | Brett Jackson | L | Lucas Harrell | |||||
| Geovany Soto | R | Hiroki Kuroda | Josh Vitters | R | Lucas Harrell | |||
| David Murphy | L | Hiroki Kuroda | David DeJesus | L | Lucas Harrell | |||
| Rays | Diamondbacks | |||||||
| Carlos Pena | L | Kevin Millwood | Chris Johnson | R | Joe Kelly | |||
| Red Sox | Stephen Drew | L | Joe Kelly | |||||
| Cody Ross | R | Wei-Yin Chen | Dodgers | |||||
| Royals | A.J. Ellis | R | Kevin Correia | |||||
| Salvador Perez | R | Jarrod Parker | Marlins | |||||
| Alcides Escobar | R | Jarrod Parker | Carlos Lee | R | Kyle Kendrick | |||
| Lorenzo Cain | R | Jarrod Parker | Greg Dobbs | L | Kyle Kendrick | |||
| Tigers | Justin Ruggiano | R | Kyle Kendrick | |||||
| Omar Infante | R | Brian Duensing | Padres | |||||
| Delmon Young | R | Brian Duensing | Yonder Alonso | L | Tim Hudson | |||
| Twins | Carlos Quentin | R | Tim Hudson | |||||
| Ryan Doumit | S | Doug Fister | Cameron Maybin | R | Tim Hudson | |||
| Denard Span | L | Doug Fister | Will Venable | L | Tim Hudson | |||
| Ben Revere | L | Doug Fister | Phillies | |||||
| White Sox | Domonic Brown | L | Josh Johnson | |||||
| Jordan Danks | L | Henderson Alvarez | Pirates | |||||
| Yankees | Garrett Jones | L | Chad Billingsley | |||||
| Andruw Jones | R | Matt Harrison | Reds | |||||
| Casey McGehee | R | Matt Harrison | Zack Cozart | R | Chris Young | |||
| Todd Frazier | R | Chris Young | ||||||
| Ryan Ludwick | R | Chris Young | ||||||
| Rockies | ||||||||
| Josh Rutledge | R | Randy Wolf | ||||||
| Eric Young Jr. | S | Randy Wolf | ||||||
| Willin Rosaio | R | Randy Wolf |
Of speed, we have plenty. Carlos Gomez, Rajai Davis, Coco Crisp, Jemile Weeks, Will Venable and Eric Young Jr. all have tasty match-ups and a better than normal shot at providing a stolen base.
Of power, we have equal plenty. Andruw Jones, Carlos Pena, Brandon Moss, Chris Carter, Delmon Young, Brett Wallace (!) and Todd Frazier all have a match-up that could reasonably produce a home run.
Reliever watch
Kameron Loe picked up a save for the Brewers, further confusing the world about the closer situation. Personally, I would divest entirely or hold John Axford as neither Jim Henderson or Kameron Loe are suitable high leverage relievers.
Frank Francisco tried to blow the save, but Jon Rauch bailed him out. The moral of the story is that sometimes it pays to invest in a closer. Francisco has a two-year, $12 million contract while Rauch is on a one-year, $3.5 million contract. This might be a case where the Mets could have combined that money and saved themselves from reliever hell. Although the theoretically available names at that price, Joe Nathan and Ryan Madson in particular, probably would have refused to sign with the Mets.