The daily grind: 8-19-13

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 weather watch

The weather looks lovely in today’s baseball playing cities.

Today’s grind

Today isn’t the best day for pitcher streaming unless Danny Salazar is available to you.

Tomorrow’s grind

The Blue Jays and Yankees meet for a doubleheader tomorrow, with the Yankees currently throwing TBA in both games.

Pitcher (to start): Rick Porcello is slightly unnerving to use as a fantasy starter due to his low strikeout totals and occasional implosions. Tomorrow he faces the Twins, so the match-up makes him worth pursuing.

Tony Cingrani continues to succeed with his limited repertoire. He’ll face the Diamondbacks and Patrick Corbin, who has been unavailable for a long time now.

Brandon Beachy has a desirable match-up against the Mets. He’s opposed by Zack Wheeler, who is usually worth a look. Just be careful against the hot-hitting Braves.

Dan Haren is the top pick for the day, facing Cubs lefty Chris Rusin. In recent starts, Haren has avoided the home run issues that plagued him earlier in the season. With the Cubs featuring such a light hitting lineup, that trend should continue.

Zach McAllister is a fringy choice against the Angels. He’ll need to continue to avoid the long ball in order to provide value in this one.

Sonny Gray was dominant last time out and once again has a good match-up, this time against the Mariners. An injury to Bartolo Colon will help ensure that he holds a spot in the rotation.

Pitcher (bum): John Danks has struggled since the start of July. He’s actually pitched decently altogether, with a career-best walk rate, but he’s also allowed way too many home runs.

Ryan Vogelsong continues to show reduced velocity, so the Red Sox will be a challenge to defeat.

Mike Pelfrey has a tough assignment against the Tigers. This one could be ugly.

Along with the Yankees, the Rangers and Phillies still show TBA for tomorrow.

Hitter (power): Daniel Nava contributes more to average, runs and RBI, but he has a juicy match-up with Vogelsong.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Justin Maxwell was placed on the bereavement list last Friday, so I assume he will be back for tomorrow’s match-up with Danks.

Daren Ruf is a good choice against the lefty Jorge de la Rosa.

Try Ryan Doumit and Oswaldo Arcia against Porcello.

You can try steady prospect Matt Davidson against Cingrani.

Hitter (speed): J.B. Shuck has a decent shot at a steal against McAllister.

I’m getting close to cutting the cord with Leonys Martin. He’s up to 46 percent owned.

Pitchers to come

Wednesday: The first game listed is Alex Wood versus the Mets and that’s really all that I need to see. I did go through the motions to confirm that he has the best match-up among available pitchers.

Thursday: Jose Quintana against the Royals remains the best choice for Thursday.

Friday: Martin Perez will face the lowly White Sox on Friday.

Noteworthy news

Mike Trout is experiencing a hamstring issue and may miss some time. Keep an eye on it.

In other news, Mets prospect Travis D’Arnaud is now expected to remain with the team. His performance may affect the club’s offseason planning at the catcher position.


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Joe
10 years ago

Would you drop Ramos for D’Arnaud?

Gordon Shumway
10 years ago

Bartolo Colon is on the DL, so he won’t be helping to ensure a spot in the rotation tomorrow.

Gordon Shumway
10 years ago

Sorry, the rest got cut off. So would you recommend dropping Bartolo for Gray going forward with bartolo on the DL?

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

Hang onto Ramos unless it’s a keeper league Joe.

Yes, Bartolo is a fine fantasy pitcher but not worth a DL stash this late in the season. Buy in on Gray or someone more talented if possible.

chewie manners
10 years ago

picked B.Belt and Brian Roberts for some playoff hits. I have Laurie and C. Johnson, who do I sit? or is is it by matchup

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

Definitely by match-up. Belt is great against those mid-tier or worse righties. The rest are a little more difficult to manage with generalities.