Before I am distracted I want to offer the list of all the defenders who, over the last two weeks, my spreadsheet thinks are not overpriced.  This is the complete detailed list based on Dollars/point. 

• Julius James – Toronto
• Marco Velez– Toronto
• Gonzalo Segares – Chicago
• Ryan Johnson – San Jose (only counts if there is reason to think he will get playing time with the new offensive pieces San Jose obtained)
• Chris Leitch – New York
• Steven Keel – Colorado
• Ante Jazic – Los Angeles

That’s it.  The annoying thing isn’t that defenders are hard to pick, but that they are mostly overpriced. Personally I wouldn’t recommend most of them.  Pick up Chad Marshall of Columbus and Jimmy Conrad of KC.  Then look for a favorable matchup, and try not to spend any real money on your back line.  If you have some money left over go ahead and splurge on a third defender on the top of the points list, just make sure to have the right forwards. 

Last week my picks were sweet.  Sadly no one got to read them.  (Honestly, I went 5/6 but the picking was pretty easy last week).

Team Picks

Take Three – San Jose.  No seriously. I am recommending the expansion team.  I may not believe that San Jose is very good, but I know the Wizards are pretty bad.  San Jose at home, quick pick up Mr. Huckerby.  If the Wizards pull out a win I won’t pick the Earthquakes till 2009.

Take Three – Real Salt Lake.  Bizzaro week continues.  On their home carpet in Utah and playing against Colorado the fighting Mormons seem like a good bet.  Sure RSL has been off the last few weeks, but does anyone believe they are as bad off as the Rapids?  Nope, pick up Morales.

Avoid – Colorado.  They can steal a win now and then. But not this week. Odd discrepancy of note, Conner Casey is a top ten player on the spreadsheet.  Yet his team is horrible. 

Two Up, Two Down

Let me take a moment to be totally honest.  Getting this data is a pain.  I hate it, and not a week goes by that I don’t drop several choice expletives as I deal with this thing.  I hope my reader appreciates it.

Keeping with the defensive theme, there are two defenders on the up.  First is Nick Garcia from San Jose.  He has added a point and a half over the last four weeks.  William Conde, now that he is playing is also rising up the charts.  He has added 1.3 points per game over the past four weeks.  And yes, GBS and Angel are also doing pretty well too.

Falling out of the top ten is Steve Ralston, loosing 2.36 points per game over the past four weeks.  His teammate Adam Christman, is also down, drooping .92 points per game.  This correlates with the Revs drop in form of late.  I am just happy my data correlates with reality.

One last thing before my individual picks.  Someone asked about picking up Huckerby a couple weeks ago. Yeah, go ahead and do that.

Individual picks

Keeper – Busch owns the top of the spreadsheet.  Cannon is at home against the Wizards.  In my opinion, the matchup favors Cannon, but historical data says Busch.  You decide.

Value – Edson Buddle. He is the #1 value again.  $13,938 per point.  Landon Donavon and Huckerby are within shouting range though.  Maybe just maybe I can write about someone else next week. 

Overpriced – Frankie Hejduk 181,200 dollars per point for this Crew Defender.  His assists are few and far between and he is part of a defense that has a gaping O(Rourke) in the middle.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy, he just isn’t a good fantasy pick.

Stop by next week, when I write about the stupid things I do tomorrow due to sleep deprivation.