The daily grind 4-25

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

Jarrod Parker and Juan Nicasio are the top options for the day. They face the White Sox and Pirates respectively. In shallow leagues, Chris Sale and Trevor Cahill may be available. Sale faces the A’s while Cahill draws the Phillies.

Carlos Gomez is creeping toward a full-time role by never striking out. He’ll start today against the lefty.

Todd Helton, Marco Scutaro, and Garrett Jones benefit from a double header. If you need to dig deeper, both rosters have a few less desirable options.

Eric Thames will get the start against Jason Hammel. He homered yesterday.

Chris Heisey will probably start against Barry Zito, but I won’t pretend to understand the mind of Dusty Baker. Actually, I realized yesterday that the Reds are the only team in baseball I haven’t seen play at least once, which probably explains why I don’t have a firm grasp on their platoons.

Tomorrow’s grind

Rick Porcello faces the Mariners. A common theme to this series will be: Pick pitchers who are facing the Mariners.

It’s a thin crowd beyond Porcello. Felix Doubront faces the White Sox. That’s a pick for the ballsy.

In the battle of the Sox, Ryan Sweeney should get a start against Philip Humber. Sweeney’s getting snatched up in more and more leagues thanks to a hot start.

The Blue Jays vs. Orioles game features Drew Hutchinson and TBA. That’s going to be an ugly game. Really, you could just pick up any available player from either team, although I’d focus on Thames or Rajai Davis, depending on the handedness of the O’s TBA. Chris Davis is also generally available.

Luke Scott faces Jerome Williams. I still think Scott should be rostered in way over 29 percent of leagues.

Reliever watch

Dale Sveum has powers akin to the Pope. After a Carlos Marmol blown save, Sveum absolved Marmol of his sin. In all seriousness, Marmol’s job is quite safe for the time being.

Javy Guerra took the loss yesterday but did not blow a save. He still has job security.

Yesterday’s results

Tommy Milone had a lovely outing, earning the win along with: 8 IP, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.38 WHIP

Randy Wolf’s outing is more of a “solid” vintage. He got the win while posting decent numbers: 6 IP, 4 K, 3.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP

Thames had a 2-for-4 evening that included a solo home run, one run, and one RBI.

Sweeney was 2-for-6 with a run and an RBI.

Gerardo Parra was 2-for-5 with a run, an RBI, and a stolen base. Both hits were doubles.

Jason Kubel completed my day of great picks. He went 1-for-4 with a solo home run, one run, and one RBI.