MLS Fantasy Rekrap Week 2: The Goalman Cometh

I told you all that the goals were coming, I did - I told you. There were 34 goals last week which reduces to 3.4 per game. Of course that average is a little top heavy thanks to the six goal explosion that Atlanta had against Minnesota. The weather was a big topic of discussion for everyone, everyone aside from MLS who was happy to look at the weather, see that snow was forecast to start at kick off and say ‘nah, no need to risk this one not getting on ESPN and move kickoff up two hours to keep 30,000 people off the roads or the players from risking injury,’ but Atlanta prevailed and there were only a few car accidents and one maimed player.

At this point, there’s no need in keeping the secret of why the team is so successful in the snow - every Atlantan knows when it snows you eat milk sandwiches, this is surely what United did before demolishing the Loons.

Anyway, onto the Rekrap.

The Superb:

What can you say about the top scoring fantasy player in MLS last week? Miguel Almiron got to Minnesota, saw the 30 foot statue of Paul Bunyan in Brainerd, said ‘time to retire Paul, there’s a new lumberjack in Lake Wobegon,’ and had 18 points.

The Shameful:

Between Giovani dos Santos and Giovinco there are two healthy hamstrings. GdS strained his in the game against Portland and was taken out at the half and Oguchi Onyewu tried to remove Giovinco’s thigh from his body prompting his substitution just before 45 minutes. So two of my forwards played 90 minutes between them, scored two points, and are both injured. This is the worst score from anything called Gio since the last IIHS Geo Metro safety test.

The Strange:

If you had asked me, I would have said Johan Kappelhof had as much of chance at making the Dreamteam as Johann Christian Bach, Johan Santana, or Johan de Witt, but the Chicago Fire defender got a goal and clean sheet on his way to 16 points.

Rekrap’s Roster

Goalkeeper

Tim Howard ($6) played a great game for Colorado against New York and only missed a clean sheet because of an own goal. Minnesota is decent going forward but hasn’t faced anything like what Colorado does on defense so far in MLS. Axel Sjoberg is hurt, but I still like Colorado to keep Minnesota out of the net this week.

Even on the road, I like Clint Irwin ($5.5) against Vancouver who is coming off of a midweek game and a bad loss against San Jose.

If you want to take a risk, Alec Kann ($4.5) will face a Chicago team that scored a decent goal on the road against Columbus but got a little lucky with a strange goal against RSL and a second one that can be chalked up to defensive apathy. Chicago is better than last year and their front four can take advantage of unfocused defenses but Atlanta could also see their first clean sheet of the year this week.

Defense

A Colorado defender, or three of them, see Howard, Tim. If you only want one, take a look at Jared Watts ($5.6) who got 6 points off of defending bonuses last week.

Jimmy Medranda ($5.0) is cheap and has been playing out of position at midfield for Sporting KC so he has potential to get a clean sheet and some attacking points. I like their match at home against San Jose who is bound to come crashing back to earth if they face a team that can keep all 11 players on the field for 90 minutes.

If you want a higher priced defender, Justin Morrow ($6.1) has a good match, see Clint Irwin, with Toronto facing Vancouver.

Midfield

Miguel Almiron ($9.2) had 18 points with two goals, an assist, and three bonus points. He’s a bargain as a #10 who picks up bonus points, showed he can score, and set up his teammates. Chicago is better in midfield and defense than Minnesota but still should give him chances to get points.

If you had questions about what Maxi Moralez ($9.2) would bring to MLS, he answered them against DC United last week with an assist, goal, and several bonus points. I expect NYCFC to have another good game against Montreal at home this weekend after the Impact let Seattle come back late and struggled all last year with allowing goals in the closing minutes of games.

Diego Valeri ($10.1) should be a nearly weekly pick this season. This week he has Houston at home and while the Dynamo have been much better than last year, I think Portland will put them on the back foot more often than Seattle, who came out flat in week one, or Columbus last week, who are still looking to regain their attacking form from 2015.

Forward

I predicted that Josef Martinez ($9.2) would score 45 goals at the beginning of the year, and I was probably off because he’s on pace for 51 goals this year. Don’t try to tell me how math works, this isn’t FiveThirtyEight.

Cyle Larin ($9) has an extra week of rest under his belt, Alejandro Bedoya just broke up with his best friend on Twitter, and Orlando is at home. Philly is decent, but the backline still isn’t that good.

LA will be missing several starters due to injury and suspension and is going to be playing at altitude which, even with the addition of Jermaine Jones, has long been a problem for them. That’s why I like Yura Movsisyan ($7.4) to get on the score sheet this week for Real Salt Lake.

Own Goal (F, $0), the New York Red Bulls top scorer has two goals in two games leading the team to a 2-0-0 record. I have a hot take about this: New York is off to a slow start again, by all rights they should just have two draws, but they are getting results.

Finally, Dominique Badji ($6.4) is playing Minnesota this week and while I think the Loons have to make changes or Adrian Heath will be looking for a job in USL, but opposing forwards have 5 goals against MNUFC this year and I think he’s in good shape to get number 6.

Rekrap’s Rejects

I really want to warn people off of Anibal Godoy ($7.2), he’s got 26 points in two games, he had 106 all of last year, and they’ve come in games where San Jose’s opponents had players see red cards. I’m staying away from him this week against Sporting KC on the road but am prepared to be proved wrong.

Any cheap midfielder for that matter, this week I think I’m going to go with a 4-3-3 and put my cheap midfielder money in my defense and run a more expensive front six.

Keep away from FC Dallas, this week they had CONCACAF Champions League and last weekend, they sat and absorbed pressure against SKC and hoped to do something on the counter. With CCL taking priority to start this year, I’m going to avoid Dallas until they are out of that competition.