The daily grind 4-18

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

There are a few strong pitching match-ups today. R.A. Dickey against the Braves is the one I’m most willing to gamble on, although his ownership rate is up to 30 percent. There’s also Juan Nicasio against the lowly Padres lineup and he’s held steady at eight percent owned. Mark Buehrle is 47 percent owned and he faces the Cubs today.

Yesterday I recommended David DeJesus against Buehrle or Darnell McDonald against Derek Holland. If you have the opportunity, push lefty masher Shelley Duncan to the top of the list. He’ll face Jason Vargas today.

Tomorrow’s grind

Tomorrow’s crop of pitchers is just ugly. If he’s available in your league, give Vance Worley a spin against the Padres. He’s owned in 61 percent of leagues and probably isn’t available. If you’re feeling masochistic, try Josh Tomlin versus the Mariners or Tommy Milone against the Halos.

Tomorrow might be a good day to gamble on Jim Thome receiving a rare start. The Phillies face Joe Wieland and Thome is about due for a game in the field. Keep an eye on the Phillies starting lineup tonight, though; if Thome starts, he will not play tomorrow.

If you need an infielder, Mark Ellis faces Randy Wolf tomorrow.

Reliever watch

Heath Bell recorded his first save yesterday and Chris Perez is up to three. Consider them temporarily off the hot seat. The Marlins are heavily invested in Bell, so he should be safe for awhile. With Perez, the Indians simply lack a high leverage reliever to replace him.

Yesterday’s results

I hope Justin Masterson was unavailable in your league yesterday. So much for “automatic start.” He got skunked: 3.2 IP, 1 K, 19.64 ERA, 3.00 WHIP

Joe Blanton had a fairly typical start, unfortunately, giving up hits in droves. Hopefully you took to heart that I declined to pick him up for my own teams. 5 IP, 2 K, 7.2 ERA, 2.20 WHIP

Jesus Guzman had a decent 1-for-3 day with a run and a walk. I wish I’d included Chris Denorfia, who I picked up later in the day, he went 4-for-4 with a run.

Jason Kubel was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Solid.

Duncan is rounding into a frequent suggestion. He put together a 1-for-2 performance with two walks and a run.

His teammate, Casey Kotchman, was 1-for-5 with a double.