The daily grind: 8-17-13

The Daily Grind provides daily match-up advice for tinkerers and daily fantasy players. I welcome advice to help make this column more effective, including notice of impending weather events, new injuries, and changes to platoon situations. Ownership rates are from Yahoo!

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

Sorry to any owners who may have considered Nathan Eovaldi due to my kind words. To be fair, I did point out pretty clearly that he’s was “fringy.”

Today’s weather watch

Atlanta has a chance of showers all day today, but the rest of the league is free and clear.

Today’s grind

Today isn’t the deepest in recent weeks, but you have a couple of choices.

In other news, Travis D’Arnaud was promoted for today’s game against the Padres. He’s a streaming option, but it’s unclear if he’ll be demoted once John Buck returns after the weekend.

Tomorrow’s grind

Pitcher (to start): Wade Miley has a start at PNC Park tomorrow. He’s 57-percent owned, yet this is a match-up to use only if you absolutely must. You should expect an ERA below 4.00 in most outings, but the Pirates are a tough opponent.

Ricky Nolasco faces Cole Hamels and the Phillies in what should work out to be an interesting pitching duel. Of course, we know how often expectations like that are flummoxed. Nolasco is only 42-percent owned.

Todd Redmond has been stacking strikeouts since joining the Blue Jays’ rotation. The increase is a bit baffling since there’s no obvious reason for the breakout, but it could mean that he’s more widely usable than most assume. I would stay away from his match-up with the Rays, but if he performs well, he may be worth an add next week against the Astros.

Hector Santiago and Samuel Deduno are two fringe fantasy options facing weak lineups. Santiago is the guy to focus on in this match-up, though his walk rate is too high for his 3.37 ERA to be sustainable.

Jason Vargas has that coveted Astros match-up. A one-game boost in strikeouts will make him an attractive start.

Scott Kazmir’s inconsistency makes it hard for me to recommend him in any meaningful way. A look through his game log reveals that he generally either blows up or dominates, with few outings in the middle. Obviously, that’s an unscientific way to form expectations, but it does make me reticent to recommend him.

Pitcher (bum): Edwin Jackson may have a 3.57 FIP and 3.70 xFIP, but his results have been ugly enough to cause concern and a game against the Cardinals is unlikely to help anyone.

Hitter (power): Jonny Gomes is back on lefty patrol against CC Sabathia.

D’Arnaud will see lefty Eric Stults.

You can try Juan Francisco against Homer Bailey.

Brandon Belt is a better choice against Tom Koehler.

Hitter (speed): Leonys Martin remains at 46-percent owned. He’ll face Erasmo Ramirez, who has shown solid peripherals and otherwise bad results.

I probably haven’t mentioned that Eric Young Jr. steals a lot of bases.

Pitchers to come

Monday: Stick with Alexi Ogando versus the Astros.

Tuesday: I’m going to go with Dan Haren for Tuesday, but it’s going to be a very deep day for streaming, weather permitting.

Wednesday: Brandon Beachy faces the Mets, and that’s good enough for me to recommend him.

Noteworthy news

Phillies news tends to come dripping with snark, and the decision to fire Charlie Manuel in favor of Ryne Sandberg is no exception. This seems like a perfectly obvious move to me.