The daily grind: 7-20

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!

The Fanduel picks are a mixture of Daily League specific advice and information for the more typical fantasy owner.

Today’s grind

Those in leagues with same-day moves should refer back to yesterday’s table.

The Fanduel Daily League Players of the Day are:

Pitcher (to start): As I stated yesterday, I’ve found Marco Estrada’s stuff to be quite impressive this season. He’s offering generous helpings of strikeouts with a scanty side of walks. Based purely on numbers, Miguel Gonzalez has a tolerable match-up against the Indians.

Pitcher (bum): Is Nick Blackburn the worst pitcher of the season? I think so. And I expect the Royals to add some more whoopin’ to his line. As an alternative, I think the Rays could get to Hisashi Iwakuma in a big way.

Hitter (power): Who but Andruw Jones. Carlos Pena and Luke Scott are a nice pair of alternatives.

Hitter (speed): I don’t really think Lorenzo Cain is likely to steal a base, but I love his match-up and expect big things today. Beyond the usual suspects, I’d look at Tony Campana, Gerardo Parra, and Denard Span.

Tomorrow’s grind

Chris Tillman against the Indians is one of the better freely available match-ups. You could also try Carlos Zambrano against the Pirates and hope that it’s a day that Andrew McCutchen doesn’t hit a bomb.

Alex Cobb against the feeble Mariners is worth a glance despite the fact that Cobb has struggled against mediocre competition lately.

J.A. Happ still looks like he should be having a much better year than he is. A game against the lefty-heavy Diamondbacks could help his numbers.

It might be a good day to own Adam Lind.

I’m hoping that Tyler Colvin keeps finding his way into the lineup as he frequently draws exploitable match-ups like Kip Wells.

The options above from the Royals and Twins probably have the best combination of talent, availability, and favorable match-ups. And they play each other, which should make things interesting.

Reliever watch

An uneventful evening although Drew Storen threw a clean inning in his return from the disabled list. He was brought into a game in which the Nationals were behind five runs in the ninth. Tyler Clippard still has a grip on the job, but it’s slipping.