The daily grind 5-14

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!

Today’s grind

Christian Friedrich headlines a shallow group of stream-able pitchers today. He faces the Giants and is just five percent owned.

Tim Stauffer makes his first start of the season against the Nationals. I haven’t been following his recovery so I don’t know how sharp he’s looked in the minors.

Drew Smyly briefly had a regular role in this column, but his ownership is 41 percent now and he was snapped up before I noticed him in most of my leagues.

Ryan Doumit’s ownership is down the 24 percent and he faces Jeanmar Gomez today. On the other side of that match-up is Carl Pavano, so stack up on Indians hitters like Michael Brantley.

Craig Gentry should get to face Bruce Chen.

Hope for Taylor Green to start against Miguel Batista.

Juan Pierre has posted his second best season to date for the Phillies. He draws Lucas Harrell today, which should be good for a single or two.

Tomorrow’s grind

I honestly wouldn’t use any waiver starters tomorrow. If I had to make a pick, Wade Miley against the Dodgers isn’t a bad match-up.

The Indians will face Jason Marquis, so keep a hold of your Indians hitters. Is it any wonder the Twins are so terrible with Pavano and Marquis going back-to-back?

The Yankees will see Wei-Yin Chen, which means another Andruw Jones start.

Ervin Santana’s had a rough go of things this year. Josh Reddick and Seth Smith draw the favorable match-up.

Reliever watch

The closer nonsense continues. Frank Francisco blew another one, leading some to wonder why he’s still in the back end of that bullpen. Then again, Jon Rauch isn’t the most reliable alternative.

Brett Myers blew a save but his role is very safe.

Addison Reed had an epic meltdown, allowing six runs in less than an inning. With Chris Sale back in the rotation, Matt Thornton might be the current closer. Reed remains the best reliever in that bullpen.

John Axford’s save streak ends at 49. Needless to say, he’s secure.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Yesterday’s results

Qualitative notes today on Thursday and Friday performance.

Strong performers: Reddick (2), David Murphy, Eric Thames, Smith, James McDonald, Reed Johnson

Mediocre performers: Jones, Ryan Sweeney

Weak performers: Gentry, Thames, Kyle Drabek

Worth note, one of Reddick’s games was a 4-for-4 performance with four runs, five RBI, two home runs, and a steal. That’s the perfect game of hitting.


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Mark Himmelstein
11 years ago

I still don’t think Bobby Parnell is as far off as most seem to expect. Terry Collins has repeatedly sung his praises, and Rauch’s total lack of whiffability is tough for even an old-school guy like Collins to ignmore.

Plus the Mets are in an interesting situation as an organization. On a different team, I’d expect their saber-friendly front office to mandate the manager avoid Parnell as a closer to keep his arb potential down. But the Mets are over-achieving, and desperately need to reclaim large portions of a lost market in a hurry. Aside from on-field viability, their financial situation is now more-or-less settled (in terms of Madoff issues), so I have a feeling they’ll be willing to risk having to pay Parnell more in the long term if it means putting a better product on the field in the short term.

If I was looking for a saves-only patch, it’d be Rauch, but for potential long-term viability and secondary upside, I’d grab Parnell. In one league where I’d just picked up Fuentes I went with Parnell instead of Rauch.