The daily grind: 8-3-13

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

Four games have a less than 50 percent chance of seeing thunderstorms – Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.

Today’s grind

Did I mention pitchers on the lead in? The waiver wire is chock full of startable guys at the moment, so take advantage.

Tomorrow’s grind

Pitcher (to start): As I’ve been saying all week, Phil Hughes’ start against San Diego at Petco is very enticing. Hughes is just 31 percent owned and has posted dominant numbers while on the road. I don’t read too far into that split, but there’s a difference between being on the road and being at Petco.

Alex Wood is option 1b for the day. The only flaw in the match-up is that he’s opposed by Cliff Lee. Lee was questionable for the start as of yesterday and has narrowly avoided the disabled list with a stiff neck, so there’s a possibility that he could be less than his usual self or even a late scratch. As for Wood, keep an eye on his velocity, In three major league starts this season, he’s shown average fastball velocities of 92.1, 90.3, and 91.8. Guess which outing didn’t go well.

Taylor Jordan has emerged as a viable back end option by walking almost nobody to make up for a poor strikeout rate. He has the ability to strike out more hitters in his skill set, but that might take time to actualize. He faces a dreadful Brewers lineup today. Just be aware that he has an innings limit this season so he’s not the best to own outright.

Wei-Yin Chen is up to 41 percent owned. He features strong performance in three categories but can hurt strikeouts in any league with an attainable innings cap. Today he’s matched against the Mariners. For what it’s worth, I like the individual players in the M’s lineup a lot more than the combined output they receive.

Felix Doubront had his start pushed back to tomorrow. He’s opposed by Brandon McCarthy, who will finally be making his first start since returning from the disabled list.

Scott Kazmir should enjoy his match-up against the lowly Marlins. His stuff has subtly declined throughout the season, but he’s still good waiver fodder with match-ups like this.

Pitcher (bum): The exploits for today are all pitchers who tend to be feast or famine, meaning they could allow a ton of runs or twirl a gem. The most likely to implode are Joe Saunders, Juan Nicasio and Mike Pelfrey.

Guillermo Moscoso is separate from the list above—he’s a true exploit.

Hitter (power): Daniel Nava is a solid choice in case McCarthy is rusty.

Cody Ross has fallen into a part-time role, but should get to face the lefty.

Michael Morse has the platoon advantage, although the combination of rust and Chen’s talent could render that advantage irrelevant.

Hitter (speed): Kelly Johnson might like the Moscoso match-up and can contribute in multiple categories.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Rajai Davis will be in there against C.J. Wilson.

Continue rolling with the Rangers’ new leadoff hitter, Leonys Martin.

Pitchers to come

Monday: Jose Quintana remains the very tentative top pick for Monday

Tuesday: You have options in the brand of mediocrity you choose on Tuesday. You can go with a high upside prospect in Zack Wheeler or the veteran core performer in Edwin Jackson.

Wednesday: Left-hander Hector Santiago is paired against the Yankees on Wednesday.


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Jamon
10 years ago

Hey Brad, would you start A.J. Griffin today against Texas??

Brad Johnson
10 years ago

Yes. Texas’ offense isn’t so elite that you have to bench your core performers.