The daily grind 4-27
by Brad JohnsonApril 27, 2012
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
Danny Duffy is getting skipped due to elbow tightness. It's something to keep an eye on. Marco Estrada got pushed back to Saturday. A (little bit) more on him later.
Jake Arrieta against the Athletics is today's top match-up on the cheap. He's up to 19 percent owned.
Paul Maholm faces a terrible Phillies offense, but he's been pretty ugly too. Mike Leake has a similar situation except he's against the Astros. Both are solid gambles if you absolutely have to use a guy.
A few hitters stand out as having solid match-ups. Marlon Byrd should get the start against John Danks. Eric Thames gets to hit off Blake Beaven today and John Mayberry Jr. should get the start against Maholm. Those three players have had a very slow start to the year.
Tomorrow's grind
Tomorrow is chock full of pitchers with good match-ups and untrustworthy skill sets.
Estrada can record strikeouts in bunches, but he can also work himself into jams. He faces the Cardinals lineup.
This makes me feel dirty, but Bruce Chen faces the Twins tomorrow. You might be able to get away with starting him. Imagine the bragging rights if you win your league/weekly match-up. "I won AND I even used Bruce Chen!"
Randy Wells is an ordinary pitcher, but he faces the Phillies lineup which is cobbled together slop. Dillon Gee draws the Pirates, whose offense has been ridiculously bad. You could also try Wei-Yin Chen against the A's because they're bad, too. I won't be giving him a roll because I've never seen him pitch.
Reliever watch
Sean Marshall blew his first save of the season. Before to that outing, he wasn't really as sharp as his numbers let on. Aroldis Chapman lurks, making Marshall's job perpetually on the line.
Heath Bell blew another one, his third of the season. Steve Cishek is next in line, but Bell still has a lot of rope left. The Marlins are going to have a tough time demoting him this early in his contract.
Jordan Walden blew his first save of the season. The Angels have some comparable options so things could get shuffled around. If the rest of the team was performing as expected, I would say that his job is completely secure, but the Angels are starting to drift into "make something happen" mode.
Yesterday’s results
The Mariners got to Rick Porcello for two bomb-diggities. Yuck: 6.2 IP, 3 K, 6.75 ERA, 1.35 WHIP
Felix Doubront roped in a win with a mediocre line: 6 IP, 2 K, 4.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP
Ryan Sweeney had a solid 2-for-5 day with one run and one RBI.
Rajai Davis went 0-for-2 and didn't get a chance to do his job—stealing bases.
Chris Davis went 1-for-3 with a walk, a home run, two runs scored, and two RBI.
Endy Chavez went 0-for-4.
Luke Scott was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run. Jerome Williams somehow survived him.
I'm calling that a win based on a couple of strong hitting performances and Porcello probably not being available to hurt you. Picking five waiver wire hitters and netting a home run is fine work in my opinion.
2-0.
Challenge
I like this idea of trading my weekend time for Twitter followers. If you guys can drum up just 10 followers for me by the time I wake up tomorrow, I will write a Saturday post that includes picks for Monday too. I will not be available for a Sunday post.
For those keeping track at home, I'm asking to get bumped to 241 followers.
Follow Brad on Twitter @baseballAteam. Email him at pitchin432 AT Yahoo.com
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