The daily grind: 7-12-13

The Daily Grind provides daily match-up advice for tinkerers 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 daily picks are a mixture of Daily League specific advice and information for the more typical fantasy owner.

Today’s grind

Pitcher (to start): The Corey Kluber express gained three points yesterday, by which I mean he’s now 21 percent owned. He faces the Royals.

John Lackey will face Jarrod Parker today. Both pitchers are over 60 percent owned, so they may not be available.

Pitcher (bum): Juan Nicasio is returning from the disabled list in time to catch a hot Dodgers club.

Ryan O’Sullivan is getting a spot start for the Padres.

Hitter (power): Kelly Johnson is an interesting platoon option given his multiple eligibilities. Just be sure to use him against only righties.

Brandon Belt is a more typical power choice. He faces O’Sullivan.

Cody Ross has yet to tap into the fantasy value he showed last season, but a match-up against Tom Gorzelanny should be favorable.

Hitter (speed): There are a lot of great speed options today, I suggest focusing your attention here rather than power.

Drew Stubbs is my top pick since he mashes lefties. Leonys Martin, Rajai Davis, Will Venable and Eric Young Jr. are all solid alternatives.

Tomorrow’s grind

Pitcher (to start): Phil Hughes is apparently auditioning for a new club. He’ll face the Twins.

Lefty Hector Santiago will try to shut down the Phillies. He’s opposed by John Lannan, whom I mention only because the White Sox are quite bad at scoring runs.

You may wish to consider Dan Haren and his 4.10 xFIP against the Miami Marlins, despite an ugly 6.00 ERA.

Pitcher (bum): It’s a shame that Jason Hammel reverted to his previous talent level. He was interesting to watch last season. Now the Blue Jays are likely to swat a few home runs.

Edinson Volquez versus Tim Lincecum would be the high scoring match-up of the day if both teams were capable of mustering offense.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Hitter (power): Try Juan Francisco against Randall Delgado.

Look to Travis Hafner against Samuel Deduno, but only if Derek Jeter sits the game out due to his quad injury.

Hitter (speed): Hang onto Venable or Davis.

Jose Tabata is back to playing every day and is a fine option against righties like Carlos Torres.

Noteworthy news

Danny Salazar was superb in his debut and may be worth a FAAB bid and stash. In Yahoo leagues, he was not yet a part of the player universe yesterday, so I assume that he’ll be on waivers for most owners.

Max Scherzer will attempt to improve to 14-0 tomorrow.

Weather watch

Another day with a chance for storms. Games in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Atlanta could be affected.


You can follow me on twitter @BaseballATeam
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Brad Johnson
10 years ago

Definitely Archer. I’m pretty sure Stults has been blessed as Jamie Moyer’s heir, but that doesn’t help me trust him in any given match-up. I never used Moyer except in an emergency and I’ll treat Stults the same.

pobothecat
10 years ago

(psst … “Sean” not “Ryan” O’Sullivan)

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

Whoops, Ryan’s the prospect in the Phillies system.

Matt
10 years ago

What do i do with Paul Maholm?

6×6 roto 0 keeper league

Thanks.

Matt
10 years ago

12 teams

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

Good question. His season has been split almost in half in terms of performance with the first half being way better than his peripherals and his second half being way worse. His season numbers now line up with his peripherals. It’s interesting how often that happens.

Just looking at a couple high level stats, there’s nothing in his recent performances to make me think that something is wrong or that a more nuanced look is in order.

With that in mind, a 4.00 ERA, average strikeout rate, slightly above average WHIP, and slightly above average odds for W’s can be expected.

When I say average, I mean for a 12 team fantasy roster, not MLB.

Kubrick
10 years ago

Who do you like better for Sunday:  Archer vs Hou. or Stults vs SF?

Lava
10 years ago

Who would you drop for Burnett in a 14 team league? I’ve waited on taking him of the DL, but his start in NY is too juicy to pass up.

Gerrit Cole, Jarrod Parker, Steve Delabar, Ian Kennedy, Yovani Gallardo.

I’m having trouble deciding between the blech of Kennedy or the Ugh of Gallardo.

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

I’d do Delabar, Kennedy, Gallardo in that order, but the margin is very thin between those options. The specifics of your league and roster could change that analysis.

Don’t consider dropping Cole or Parker.