MLB Daily Grind Down: April 3

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2013-04-04 12:20:01

One of my favorite things about daily fantasy baseball is that a couple times a week, the games start during the day which is a great way to pass the time at work. There are 3 early games on the schedule and then quite a few night games as well. Today’s Grind Down shows the pitchers and batters that you need to be taking:

Kansas City

• Ervin Santana gets his first start on the Royals and it may be a rocky one. Last season he really struggled on the road posting a 6.22 ERA. Not only that, but the White Sox batters have had success off him in the past as well.
• Billy Butler seems to have Peavy’s number, he is 12/27 with 3 HR’s off of him in his career. Butler is definitely worth a look today. Also for the Royals, Escobar, Gordon, and Francoeur all have had success against Peavy in the past.

Chicago

• Jake Peavy pitched very well at home last season with an ERA of around 3, the problem is that he was 0-3 against the Royals last season with a 5.68 ERA in those starts. Even though the numbers may suggest otherwise, I still think he is a decent play today as Vegas has the White Sox favored and the over/under at only 7.5.
• I expect the White Sox to knock Santana around a bit today. While De Aza has the best BvP stats, the sample size for all of the batters is small. I’m looking at Alex Rios and Paul Konerko to both have good days against the righty.

Texas

• Alexi Ogando takes the mound today after only pitching 66 innings last season. The good news for him is that he faces the Astros who love to strike out and hate to score runs. I’m not sure how late into the game the Rangers will pitch Ogando and this being his first start in a while, I would stay clear just in case.
• The Rangers batters haven’t faced Humber much, so you have to throw the BvP stats out the window. They put up some runs last night and I expect them to do it again today. Look for Adrian Beltre to bounce back after a quiet day yesterday and for Elvis Andrus to score a couple more runs.

Houston

• Phillip Humber really had a bad year last year for the White Sox. He posted an ERA on the season of 6.44 and will look to have a bounce back year with a new team. Facing the Rangers in your first start isn’t exactly the matchup he was hoping for though.
• Like I mentioned earlier, it’s hard to know what to expect from Ogando today. I think he will pitch well, but make a few mistakes. I think Chris Carter and Brett Wallace are both solid options today batting 2nd and 4th.

Detroit

• Anibal Sanchez was really good for the Tigers last season, especially on the road. While Minnesota may seem like a great matchup, their offense isn’t bad and they typically don’t strike out as often as other teams. Even Verlander struggled a bit with their lineup yesterday. Expect Sanchez to pitch well enough to pick up the win, but give up a few runs in the process.
• There is a lot to like about the Tigers bat’s today. Correia doesn’t get many strikeouts so you won’t have to worry about losing points for K’s. Miguel Cabrera is 9/19 against him and is a solid play today. Austin Jackson is another guy to watch out for. Expect him to get the Tigers off to a hot start.

Minnesota

• Kevin Correia isn’t a guy that will wow you with his stuff. He only gets one strikeout per two innings so he doesn’t really scream start me from a fantasy perspective. He is just an average pitcher and the Tigers bats are too good.
• Joe Mauer is 4/5 against Sanchez in his career and is really looking to have a bounce back season. He is a decent option if you can get him cheap enough.

Chicago

• Edwin Jackson is typically a pitcher that plays much better at home, but he isn’t a bad option today against this Pirates team that has consistently struggled to score runs. Jackson faced them once last year and fared pretty well going 7 innings with 5 K’s and only 2 ER’s.
• I don’t love the Cubs batters today, but I do like one of them in particular and that is Starlin Castro. He crushed lefties last season and is surprisingly cheap on a few sites. He is also a threat to steal bases which is always a plus.

Pittsburgh

• Wandy Rodriguez is one of my favorite pitchers of the day today. He averages about 6 K’s per 9 innings and has a great matchup against the Cubs. Last season he was 2-1 against them with only a 2.25 ERA and 12 K’s in 3 starts.
• The Pirates can really struggle to score runs sometimes and it’s hard to predict how well they will hit the ball each day. I do expect a better performance out of them, but that’s still not saying much. Andrew McCutchen has 2 HR’s in 11 at bats against Jackson and Starling Marte could be a solid play as well.

Boston

• Clay Buchholz takes the mound today and he pitched pretty well down the stretch last season. Usually taking a pitcher against the Yankees is crazy, but without their big guns, their lineup just isn’t scaring anyone. If he is cheap enough, the gamble on him could pay off.
• The Red Sox look to be 2 games up on the Yanks already. Kuroda is a solid pitcher that usually doesn’t get into too much trouble. Dustin Pedroia is probably the only guy to take here.

New York

• Hiroki Kuroda was really a nice surprise for the Yanks last season and was arguably their second best pitcher behind Sabathia. None of the BvP stats against the Red Sox jump out at you, but then again there are usually always a lot of runs scored when these two teams meet.
• Robinson Cano should be in all of your lineups today. He is 12/25 with 4 doubles and a HR against Buchholz in his career. I also think that Brett Gardner will get on base, steal one, and score a run or two.

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