The daily grind: 9-25

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

The Fanduel Daily League Players of the Day are:

Pitcher (to start): Yesterday I felt pretty safe using Marco Estrada and Wei-Yin Chen. How wrong I was.

Today I feel very uncomfortable with Tyler Skaggs and Edinson Volquez, but that’s what’s available.

Reader Tom likes Erasmo Ramirez, but I’m not on that particular bandwagon yet.

Pitcher (bum): A couple of offensive powerhouses face weak pitching today. The Yankees will see Esmerling Vazquez, who has struggled in big league exposure. Meanwhile, in the Motor City, you’ll find Bruce Chen opposing the Tigers.

The Indians and White Sox game could also feature some fireworks. Both Corey Kluber and Francisco Liriano have struggled this season.

Hitter (power): Raul Ibanez has been very good over the last few days going 7-for-12 in his last three games with five extra base hits and three home runs. Against Vasquez, that performance could very well continue.

Delmon Young has great career numbers against Chen, which means very little. He has strong numbers against lefties as a whole which means a lot more. What’s probably most important is that we’re talking about Bruce Chen.

Hitter (speed): There’s not a lot to say about the speed guys today. Ben Revere, Norichika Aoki and Rajai Davis are solid gambles to snag a base.

Tomorrow’s grind

Pitcher (to start): It’s another rough day for starters as fantasy owners look for that one last hurrah.

Kyle Kendrick stands out, but he’s got to turn back into a pumpkin eventually and he’s up to 39 percent owned.

Alex Cobb against the Red Sox is a stealthy pick. Cobb is an inconsistent, mid-rotation pitcher, but the Red Sox are quite depleted.

I’m not comfortable with Jarrod Parker against the Rangers and I’m not a fan of Martin Perez for fantasy purposes, but they’re going to end up being some of the better gambles to make up an innings deficit over the next week.

Pitcher (bum): The Cardinals looked like they were going to fall on their face down the stretch, but they merely tripped and recovered. Against Bud Norris tomorrow I expect them to unleash a punishing assault.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Jeremy Hefner didn’t record an out in his last start. The Pirates are playing for more in this game, aiming at a .500 or better season.

How do the Twins have so many terrible pitchers? The Yankees should continue their slugging ways against Samuel Deduno.

Hitter (power): Hold the course with Ibanez, who has yet another good match-up.

I usually recommend guys with the platoon advantage, but try Starling Marte against Hefner.

Jonny Gomes will get a look at Rangers prospect Perez.

Hitter (speed): Will Venable has a solid match-up with Aaron Harang. Venable is a little too prone to strikeouts for a speedster type, but Harang doesn’t exactly record heaps of those.

Stick with Aoki for speed. He’s swiping bags in bunches.

Reliever watch

Heath Bell caused some controversy in a radio interview yesterday by suggesting the Marlins could benefit from a manager less prone to buffoonery. He also seems to be disgruntled about not being the closer, stating that he’s pitched well since a rough April. I’m not sure he’s looked at his numbers. It might be worth noting that his FIPs are considerably better than his ERAs.


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Abdoozy
11 years ago

You don’t like Clayton Richard tomorrow at Petco vs the Dodgers?

Abdoozy
11 years ago

And I’d feel better about Kendrick if Washington had already clinched the division, but there’s no reason to think they will be holding back.  They hammered Estrada yesterday, and personally I think Mario has better stuff than Kendrick. Interested in your thoughts on this one.

Brad Johnson
11 years ago

Clayton Richard is as close to a no risk, no reward pitcher as baseball has to offer. If accruing innings is your only requirement, use him.

As for Kendrick, I’ve been in the Philly area for his last 10 starts, so I’ve seen them. I’ve also seen him pitch a LOT over the years. He’s a solid pitcher when he has command of his fastball. During that impressive stretch, he had that requirement down. During his last two outings, it has not been the same.

Let me put it this way, I’m not going to use him, but given the paucity of options out there, I can see why somebody else might.

Abdoozy
11 years ago

Well, sure, Clayton is an inning eater, but he also has 7 wins in his last 9 starts, and 6 quality starts, and he’s not a WHIP killer like many starters with near-4 ERAs.  He’s never going to K enough to get fantasy guys excited, but I’m in a championship playoff where I need all the help I can get with W and QS.  Calculated risk, I guess.

Agree with your assessment of Kendrick though. Which means he will probably come out and throw 8 innings of four-hit ball and strike out 9, while Richard barely makes it into the 5th inning and leaves with the bases juiced trailing 5-1.  Oh well, can’t say you didn’t warn me…

Brad Johnson
11 years ago

That’s the fun with fantasy baseball – in a one off like this, all things are possible.

When I give advice, I’m basically saying “if Jonny Gomes faced Martin Perez every game of the year, he would be a very good hitter.” Very good hitters go 0-for-4 many times in a season.