The daily grind: 9-3

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.

A call to arms: With September games underway, playing time trends can become unpredictable. I can’t watch 30 teams at once so if you discover a trend that can be leveraged, please share.

Today’s grind

The Fanduel Daily League Players of the Day are:

Pitcher (to start):Ross Detwiler is fairly reliable and it’s hard to ask for a better match-up than the Cubs.

I don’t know much about Jeff Locke besides his minor league numbers, but said numbers are good and the Astros lineup is not.

I’m an early fan of Patrick Corbin and I expect he’ll survive his match-up with the division leading Giants just fine.

Pitcher (bum): If you’re looking for a bum today, it’s Bruce Chen against the Rangers. Alternatively, I don’t see the Brewers being too kind to Ricky Nolasco.

Hitter (power): Jonny Gomes against C.J. Wilson tops the list of power options today. That list trails off surprisingly quick, mostly because there are a lot of solid pitchers going today.

Hitter (speed): Rajai Davis will have the platoon advantage against a thoroughly mediocre pitcher. Jon Jay has a fair match-up and could score a handful of points.

Tomorrow’s grind

Kyle Kendrick is on the best run of his lifetime, allowing only four runs over his last four starts. I know some of my readers will want to ride the wave. Good luck to you, I’m going to observe from a distance.

You can try Jarrod Parker against the Angels, because he’s a solid pitcher and he at least has the Oakland Coliseum on his side to slow down the Angels’ powerful lineup.

Team Player Handedness Opposing pitcher   Team Player Handedness Opposing pitcher
Athletics         Astros      
  Brandon Moss L Zack Greinke     J.D. Martinez R Wandy Rodriguez
Blue Jays         Brewers      
  Yunel Escobar R Zach Britton     Carlos Gomez R Jacob Turner
  Rajai Davis R Zach Britton     Norichika Aoki L Jacob Turner
Rangers         Cardinals      
  David Murphy L Jeremy Guthrie     Jon Jay L Matt Harvey
Rays         Cubs      
  Carlos Pena L Freddy Garcia     David DeJesus L Edwin Jackson
Red Sox         Dodgers      
  Cody Ross R Blake Beavan     A.J. Ellis R Eric Stults
Royals         Giants      
  Salvador Perez R Matt Harrison     Gregor Blanco L Ian Kennedy
  Alcides Escobar R Matt Harrison     Brandon Belt L Ian Kennedy
  Lorenzo Cain R Matt Harrison     Angel Pagan S Ian Kennedy
Tigers         Mets      
  Brennan Boesch L Justin Masterson     Scott Hairston R Jaime Garcia
  Quintin Berry L Justin Masterson   Nationals      
Twins           Steve Lombardozzi S Chris Rusin
  Ryan Doumit S Jose Quintana     Tyler Moore R Chris Rusin
White Sox         Phillies      
  Dayan Viciedo R Scott Diamond     Domonic Brown L Mat Latos
Yankees         Pirates      
  Raul Ibanez L Alex Cobb     Travis Snider L Jordan Lyles
            Garrett Jones L Jordan Lyles
          Reds      
            Zack Cozart R Kyle Kendrick
          Rockies      
            Tyler Colvin L Tommy Hanson

Scott Hairston stands out as possessing a strong match-up.

Carlos Gomez and Norichika Aoki get to face Jacob Turner, who simply isn’t ready for MLB hitters.

Our old favorite David Murphy should turn in a couple of hits against Jeremy Guthrie.

Tommy Hanson has struggled lately (to the point that I cut him in a league), which is why I like Tyler Colvin tomorrow.

Reliever watch

The Phillies received an ugly combined effort from Jeremy Horst and Jonathan Papelbon that ended in a Chipper Jones walk-off home run. The Phillies will overreact in the offseason to “fix” their struggling bullpen, but clearly Papelbon is more than safe at this point.

A question

I’m thinking about taking my down time today to experiment with a subtle format change. Basically, I would be moving the table behind the scenes and going back to reporting only the top match-ups of the day. I hope to provide some additional information as well.

My question is: given that we’re in the stretch run, should I wait until next season to try a new format?


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Bluff
11 years ago

1st round of H2H playoffs:

What 2 do you like of Colvin (Hamels/Lee/T.Hudson/Hanson 4 of the pitchers he faces this week),Revere(not hitting at all), Harper,I.Davis,C.Gomez ?

This is my opponents roster who is inactie:

C – Molina
1B – Butler
2B – R.Weeks
3B – AmRam
SS – Andrus
OF – Cruz,Zobrist,Ellsbury,Jennings
UTIL- C.Davis

Brad Johnson
11 years ago

Well…definitely Gomez even though you have to suffer through an occasional day off.

Without looking at his match-ups, I think I’d go with Harper for the second one. He’s been a bit up and down in his age 19 season, but I expect him to start showing signs of adjusting down the stretch.

Bluff
11 years ago

I am a Tex and Granderson owner, I am hearing possibly Tuesday for Granderson and maybe weekend for Tex.

Does that change what i should do if i may have 1 or both back by next week?Or do I grab Gomez/Harper for Colvin/Revere no matter?

C – Wieters
1B – Colvin (1B/3B/OF)
2B – Pedroia
3B – Frazier (1B/3B/OF)
SS – Hanley (3B/SS)
OF – Gordon/Revere/Morse(1B/OF)/Crisp
UTIL – Aybar
BN – Granderson/Texeira

Brad Johnson
11 years ago

In that case, I think I’d pick up Gomez with Colvin and hang onto Revere for a bit in case you need to push for SBs later.

HGS
11 years ago

First week of my 5×5 playoffs start today.  My opponent and I have been neck and neck in both HR and SB, and I can choose b/t 4 guys for two spots: J. Werth, T. Frazier, C. Carter, and R. Davis.  Should I try and maximize power, or play Rajai to give myself the best chance in SB?  Also, Frazier and Carter might run into playing time problems this week, and Werth has missed the last 2 games w/ a bum hammy.  Which 2 guys should I play for the week?  Nats only team w/ 7 games.

Brad Johnson
11 years ago

I think I might gamble on Davis.

I wish I could say that Frazier has played his way out of any playing time concerns, but he’ll get pushed to the bench his fair share as the Reds try to keep guys like Rolen and Heisey sharp.

I’d also stay away from the injury, however minor it might be. You might get 7 days or 0 and the latter would be devastating.