The daily grind 6-11
by Brad JohnsonJune 11, 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
It's one of those Mondays where hardly anybody plays.
I found Chris Capuano to start today in the THT League (apparently there aren't any believers there), but he's 85 percent owned.
Garrett Richards is widely available, but don't use him unless you have to.
Raul Ibanez's ownership rate has crept back down to 35 percent. He faces Randall Delgado today.
Pickings are a bit slim beyond that. Daniel Nava and Rajai Davis are both under-owned, but both are dealing with day-to-day injuries and should be considered questionable for this evening.
Tomorrow's grind
Wei-Yin Chen against the Pirates feels pretty safe to me. He's just 19 percent owned.
Alex Cobb has a reasonably friendly match-up against the Mets.
It's doubtful they are available, but Max Scherzer (Cubs) and Clay Buchholz (Marlins) have good match-ups.
The Phillies vs. Twins game features Kyle Kendrick and Nick Blackburn. Stack up on as many left-handed hitters as possible from both clubs. Some names include Ryan Doumit, Ben Revere and Jim Thome.
Andruw Jones should be let off the bench to tame Mike Minor.
Davis might need a blanket recommendation. His teammate Colby Rasmus is under 50 percent owned and should be widely carried.
Reliever watch
Brian Fuentes blew another save on Sunday, losing his grip on the closer's role in the process. A committee of Fuentes, Grant Balfour and Ryan Cook is expected to be used, with Cook given a shot at the role. Sean Doolittle lurks in the wings. He struck out five in two innings yesterday and as a bonus, I played against him frequently back in the glory days.
Aroldis Chapman blew the save and took the loss yesterday. He came on in the eighth with inherited base runners. His role is safe for now, although the Reds really ought to be looking into stretching him out if they want to hold on to their narrow division lead (currently tied with Pittsburgh).
Rafael Soriano blew his first save of the season just in time to stir up some controversy. David Robertson is expected to return from the disabled list sometime this week. Robertson was originally handed the role when Mariano Rivera hit the shelf, but the Yankees ought to be fairly indifferent between Robertson and Soriano.
Alfredo Aceves blew the save Sunday, his fourth of the season. He's been stable since the beginning of the year, so he has a little bit of leeway. Besides which, the Sox bullpen lacks an obvious replacement at the moment.
Yesterday’s results
That was last week.
Follow Brad on Twitter @baseballAteam. Email him at pitchin432 AT Yahoo.com
<< Return to Article