The daily grind: 9-20-13
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.
Today’s weather watch
Scattered thunderstorms are expected in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Chicago (NL) may also see some rain but it’s a lesser risk.
Today’s grind
Today is a difficult day for pitcher streaming with no “safe” choices at your disposal.
Tomorrow’s grind
Pitcher (to start): Ivan Nova faces the Giants tomorrow. He’s struggled to net strikeouts in his last six starts, with only one of those being good. He’s also shown a bit of a walk problem recently, so it’s fair to wonder if he’s gassed. If you’ve owned Nova, it might be time to thank him for his service and find a safer alternative.
Scott Kazmir may be a better option than Nova despite a bumpier season. He features a career best walk rate this season and he’s been especially stingy in the last couple of months. He’ll face the Astros.
Dillon Gee should have a shot at a win while maintaining adequate ratios. Those who jumped on the bandwagon after his rough start to the season have been treated to some very nice numbers.
Jorge de la Rosa is a risky play at Coors Field against the Diamondbacks. They have a couple of good right-handed hitters that he’ll need to get through to win.
Burch Smith showed what he can do last time out against the Braves, striking out 10 and walking two over seven innings. Walks have been a problem for Smith, but if he gets them under control he’ll strike out enough batters to be a fantasy asset. With Clayton Kershaw starting for the Dodgers, don’t expect a win.
Pitcher (bum): Ryan Vogelsong is on the road at Yankee Stadium. He’s still showing reduced velocity and whiff rates while allowing more home runs. The combination looks like runs for the Yankees.
Pedro Hernandez is unexceptional in nearly all ways. The lefty has a tough assignment against the Athletics.
Tyler Cloyd opposes the Quad-A Mets lineup, but he doesn’t have the stuff to take advantage of the match-up. He’ll need to show an elite walk rate like in 2012 if he wants to succeed in the majors.
Joe Saunders is generally exploitable. He’ll face the Angels.
The Orioles still have TBA listed.
Hitter (power): Jonny Gomes will get a crack at Mark Buehrle and David Ross may as well.
Josh Satin, Lucas Duda and Andrew Brown usually bat in the heart of the Mets lineup.
Chris Young once again has the platoon advantage and Michael Choice is a nice option if he starts.
Hitter (speed): Collin Cowgill sometimes leads off against lefties like Saunders.
Eric Young Jr. has his most favorable match-up in weeks.
Pitchers to come
Sunday: There are a few good choices for Sunday led by the increasingly popular Sonny Gray.
Monday: Monday is heaped with steaming talent. If you need to maximize upside, then consider Yordano Ventura. As is often the case, upside comes with plenty of risk.
Tuesday: Tuesday includes Alex Wood, Danny Salazar and Michael Wacha all of whom are excellent draft candidates for next season and all of whom are showing signs of being gassed.
Noteworthy news
Jered Weaver was scratched from today’s start. In other news, the Dodgers and Red Sox are the first teams to clinch playoff berths. The Dodgers clinched their division yesterday while the Red Sox need one more win (or a Tampa Bay loss) to clinch the division. It’s probably worth noting that Boston has five more wins than the Dodgers.