Fantasy News and Notes: Week Nine

Casey Cannon
May 29, 2008

Hello and Welcome to the Hunt Park Insider Fantasy Guide - now with double the sugar and all the caffeine! Every week I dig through statistics, news, and rumors to provide the reader with the kind of fantasy advice that only someone in total soccer submersion can provide. I write this Monday night before the official injury reports come out, so don't be grumpy if I tell you to pick a hurt player. For information on MLS Fantasy Football go to http://fantasy.mlsnet.com/.

For those of us in Columbus it is a great week for soccer. An Open Cup Game, USA v England, and more Crew this weekend.  Now if my fellow Central Ohio residents can only learn that its ok to throw soft things, like streamers and poop, but not hard things like smoke bombs and sea urchins, all will be good in Crewville.  Well assuming the Crew can remember to score some goals.  Although I don’t know why the hooligans don’t set off  smoke bombs for every opposition corner kick – in the first row, not on the field! The smoke would obscure the view of the kicker and his teammates.  Or would reducing corners to a crap shoot actually help the kicking team? Somebody ask Mr. Ralston what he recommends.  

The pain I felt leaving Crew stadium was assuaged somewhat by my fantasy team.  It turns out that I made some good recommendations last week.  First I recommended taking three from Toronto, which worked pretty well for me, though personally I wish I had taken Dicho.  I recommended three from LA.  That was a good call, but in a weird twist Buddle is the third highest Forward on the spreadsheet this week. And while warning my reader away from San Jose, I pined for the return of Ned Grabavoy.   Ned showed he was thinking about the Crew when he made a nifty assist to some duchebag for a goal.  San Jose managed a win so for the team portion last week I went two out of three.

On the Individual side last week I called Greg Sutton for Captain and that was a home run.  Strangely my Value of pick of Jamie Moreno, playing against Sutton twice last week also worked out.  I also declared all FC Dallas players “with significant playing time” – expect Kenny Cooper - Over Priced.  Hoops Bench warmer Dominic Odoro, made his case for more time on the pitch.  Playing for all of 25 minutes Odoro scored 2 goals in 10 v 10 soccer.    Turns out Cooper was overpriced for the weekend with the rest of the Hoops regulars.  For the individual side, I went 2.75/3.  Not a bad week of picks. Hopefully my picks this week will be even better.  

Before I detail my picks this week I need to point out some odd scheduling.  First there is a Wednesday game so get the picks in early!  With that out of the way notice that Dallas plays two games this week.  Houston plays two games this week.  Houston plays two games NEXT week too.  DC united plays two games next week.  No Chicago or Wizards this week.  If Houston were doing better my advice would be to take every Dynamo player and relax till mid June.   The Dynamo can’t seem to consistently play well yet so the picking is hard this week.  As for FC Dallas, if someone can figure them out, drop me a line. Anyone with  DC players this week?  If so, just hold them for next week, if not, well lets see here…

Take Three – Houston.  I am not necessarily solid on this advice, but  Houston plays Four games in two weeks.  Every player has two chances this week to earn some fantasy points.  I will even call out which players to take right now.  DeRo, Caraccio, Onstad.  Ching is overpriced, if my reader has money to burn take him over Caraccio, otherwise go with my three picks.  I have no faith in this team, but based on their average points per game, multiplied by 1.8 to account for both games this week these three are solid picks.    

Take Three – New England.  They are at home facing a DC team who’s  had to pull out all the stops to earn a desperation win at home against Toronto.  New England is at home again against Dallas next week, so any Revolution picks – while REVolting - should be good for two weeks.   While Houston is a shaky pick, the Revs are the closest thing to a slam dunk available this weekend.  Just keep reading to avoid taking the wrong Revolution player.

Avoid – San Jose. Reasons to avoid the Earthquakes this week:  1. They are on the road. 2. They are not good enough to win two in a row. 3. People in China don’t think their nickname is very nice.  4. There is no individual Earthquake player I can recommend.  In the individual section below I have yet to recommend a captain or value pick from the Earthquakes, and naming a San Jose player overpriced just is too obvious to even write.  

Captain – Pat Onstad. I need to admit that I really don’t like the matchups Houston faces this week.  In addition, with two games this week Onstad only just barely edges out Will Hesmer for expected points this week.   I am going to trust the spreadsheet, but if my reader wants to go elsewhere, I understand.  

Value – Edison Buddle. Let me take a moment to hedge.  The two most important players to LA are playing Wednesday night, getting on a plane and flying to Toronto to play on the road in a East VS West match up.  Again, I have serious concerns about this match up.  If the two big Galaxy stars need rest or are unable draw attention from the Maple Leaf defenders… well we all know what happens when a team depends on Buddle to be the main offensive option.

Overpriced – Shalrie Joseph.  No seriously, I’m not just bitter. Joseph cost 364,000 yet earns an average of 0.9 points a game.  Sure having his PK blocked last weekend didn’t help his fantasy value, but right now on my spreadsheet, even with no Chicago or K.C. players Joseph sits as the 119th field player.  Each point he earns costs $404,444.  I doubt anyone from Columbus would take him, and hopefully everyone who plays realizes that this midfield beast  is a fantasy pariah.  

Stop by next week when we discuss the underhand delivery vs overhand delivery of streamers.

Casey Cannon
Section 135
Crew Stadium
Cannon_casey@hotmail.com