The daily grind: 4-4-13

The Daily Grind provides daily match-up advice for tinkers and daily fantasy players. I welcome advice to help make this column more effective, including notice of impending weather events, new injuries, and changes to platoon situations. Ownership rates are from Yahoo!

The Fanduel picks are a mixture of Daily League specific advice and information for the more typical fantasy owner. Use the team-by-team TDG eligible players spreadsheet for more detailed information.

Today’s grind

The Fanduel Daily League Players of the Day are:

Pitcher (to start): Dillon Gee is the top choice for today, and he might be worth rostering outright. I know I missed my chance at him in a couple leagues.

James McDonald will oppose Travis Wood. Both pitchers are streamable, although I would prefer McDonald.

Pitcher (bum): Bronson Arroyo has a tough first assignment—to squelch the Angels. I have my doubts and will be betting against him later.

The Nationals haven’t dominated offensively the way I’ve expected. Wade LeBlanc is yet another Marlins pitcher who is prone to meltdowns.

The Orioles, Blue Jays, White Sox, and Tigers all have favorable match-ups as well.

Hitter (power): Nolan Reimold has looked pretty sharp at the plate in the two games I watched. He’s cheap in daily fantasy and I have hope that he’ll move up the lineup.

Chris Parmelee and Vernon Wells both have to overcome chilly weather, but they have the right pitcher match-up to pop a home run (Rick Porcello and Ryan Dempster respectively).

Hitter (speed): Collin Cowgill’s a nice well-rounded choice to poach a steal. If you want something a little more leveraged towards steals, let’s see if Juan Pierre can slap his way on against Jordan Zimmermann.

Tomorrow’s grind

Pitcher (to start): You have a couple stream choices today, but none of them are must-starts.

I happen to like to like Zach McAllister, probably more than I should. The Rays aren’t an offensive powerhouse, but they know how to grind out some runs.

Dan Straily has some upside and a match-up against the no-bat Astros should help him. He did not look particularly sharp this spring, so I’m wary. He’s opposed by Brad Peacock, whom I could describe the exact same way with the additional caveat that the Astros have to score for him to win.

Pitcher (bum): Liam Hendriks should help the Orioles continue to produce runs.

Wade Davis vs. Kyle Kendrick looks like a bullpen game. And not just because both pitchers are better as relievers.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Another match-up that should produce runs in bunches is Jason Marquis against Jeff Francis at Coors Field.

Hitter (power): You could use Seth Smith and Brandon Moss against Peacock, since both hitters are left-handed.

Scott Feldman doesn’t have swing-and-miss stuff and Juan Francisco does well against pitchers he can hit.

Matt Joyce (and left-handers in general) should enjoy Kyle Kendrick.

Hitter (speed): Domonic Brown may be more of a power threat, but I think he’s eager to prove he can swipe some bases after leg injuries forced him to play station-to-station in past seasons.

It’s a Chris Denorfia day. It’s also a Craig Gentry day. Be aware that Ron Washington isn’t running the center field platoon strictly on handedness.

Noteworthy news

Hiroki Kuroda is fine after being hit on the hand in the second inning yesterday.

Rafael Soriano does not look poised for a repeat of his historic season after vulturing the win yesterday.

Weather watch

Today it’s easier to tell you who has good weather. The Mariners and Athletics will be playing in 60-degree temperatures while the Blue Jays, Indians, Orioles and Rays will have domes protecting them. The rest of the league is looking at a game time temperature between 30 and 50 degrees. There will be lingering showers in Atlanta.


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Will H.
10 years ago

Soriano did give up a hit and a walk before getting two outs, so there’s that (Brad’s inexcusable snafu aside) and he didn’t seem to throw very hard. I would have preferred if he was the one who vultured the win, though.

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

I wouldn’t worry too much Will, I recall reading somewhere that he really hates playing in cold weather. Then again, maybe you should worry, it’ll be cold in September.

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

By which I meant October…

Cory
10 years ago

“Matt Joyce (and left-handers in general) should enjoy Kyle Kendrick.”

I don’t think these two will be matched up tomorrow…Phils are taking on Wade Davis and the Royals.

Morgan Conrad
10 years ago

Despite your early season struggles, a good column!  I’m going with Gee and Straily.

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

Ok, I’m clearly writing this too fast. I’ll try changing my schedule.

cannoncruz
10 years ago

LOL….You are the only one I have seen talk about Liam as a late pick pitcher with upside. Now I see you have him listed as a bum. Will his command fail him?

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

I believe you have me confused with someone else. I’ve never seen Hendriks as somebody with enough upside to merit a pick. His upside is similar to a good season from John Lannan, which is hard to roster in roto because of the lack of strikeouts, and he’s just as likely to post an ERA north of 5.00.

Maybe an AL-only league, but my focus is 12-team mixed and daily fantasy.

I hear there’s another Brad Johnson contributing fantasy columns for another site, you might have read his work.

mark
10 years ago

Can you please elaborate on this?  I don’t get it:

“Rafael Soriano does not look poised for a repeat of his historic season after vulturing the win yesterday.”

cannoncruz
10 years ago

My apologies to you sir. I share your sentiments.

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

Jesus…Looks like I need a spring training.

I meant Fernando Rodney.

Morgan Conrad
10 years ago

Breaking news on Brandon Moss.  Even though we have correctly identified him as left-handed, his wife went into labor, so his status for Friday (and, I’d presume, the weekend) is in doubt.

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

I saw that earlier and had some choice words…