The most important document in an MLS Fantasy managers arsenal may well be the injury report. No amount of wheeling and dealing will do any good if you don’t know which players will be available. On a round like this one where six teams play twice, it is crucial to know if any players might miss some of the 180 available minutes. To wit:
Only 2.3 percent of managers are currently carrying Diego Valeri, but he was certainly an attractive choice when looking to stockpile this week.
That’s not the only question mark when looking at the week ahead. The LA Galaxy have seen Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza, and Robbie Rogers all miss time due to fitness over the last two games. Is there any player on that backline guaranteed to play every minute?
So then, who are the Fantasy diamonds out there still floating under the radar? Luke Mulholland ($8.3) is only selected by 1.2 percent of managers, but with two seven-point performances in the last three rounds, he’s a good candidate to scale the mountain and put up double-digit points this week.
Seattle defender Dylan Remick ($6.0) is only selected by 1.6 percent of managers, but with two straight clean sheets, the Sounders defense is a great place to make investments this week. With limits on how many players from one team can appear in your team, some managers may have to decide whether they believe the reports on Obafemi Martins or not. MLS Fantasy is an adventure, which asks skippers to debate tough questions each week.
So will any of this help this week’s patient? Let us welcome Tyler Helback, whose fantasy train is taking him for a wild ride.
Dear MLS Fantasy Doctor:
Injuries are ruining my best laid plans. I have three transfers available and $1.0 in the bank. Can you help?
So you have six players on a double match week, including the all-powerful Clint Dempsey. Valeri is out, Dom Dwyer was a scratch over the weekend, but otherwise it’s a relatively healthy squad there.
We have $11.1 to play with after transferring out Valeri, and since you’ve already got Dempsey I think the Monday Morning Centerback recomendation of Marco Pappa ($8.9) will work well. He hasn’t scored this season, but he is piling up the assists. The only issue is he’s not always a full 90 guy. That transfer will leave you with four midfielders capable of double digit points. Captain Dempsey to really take advantage.
Even if Dwyer wasn’t questionable, I’d want to rotate in a double match week forward. This week I’m looking at Gyasi Zardes ($9.5), who has underperformed without Robbie Keane there to take him underwing. Now that Keane has returned, as well as distributor Jose Villarreal, look for Zardes to return to form.
We now have $3.4 in bank, so let’s use that to upgrade an inactive player and get you a fifth midfielder. The $5.8 you’d get from transferring out Andy Dorman would give us $9.2. Let’s roll the dice on Mulholland, to round out our double match week roster. Sub him in for Raymond Lee and there we go.
With these moves, we should be well on our way to a great big beautiful tomorrow.
