Mulling over the midfielders

The midfield situation is a bit easier for the first couple slots and a bit harder for the last couple. So, here's the chart ranking our midfielders by minutes per point from 2011.

Rank	Player	Team	M/Point	G+A
1	Ochoa	Seattle	7.1	2
2	Grazzini	Chicago	12.4	9
3	Fagundez	New England	12.6	3
4	DeRosario	DCU	12.9	28
5	Donovan	LA	13.5	15
6	Harris	Vancouver	13.9	5
7	Ferreira	Dallas	15.3	4
8	Zakuani	Seattle	15.6	4
9	Rosales	Seattle	15.7	18
10	Franklin	LA	15.8	7
11	Fernandez	Seattle	15.8	9
12	Richards	New York	16.3	14
13	Fucito	Montreal	16.6	4
14	Beckham	LA	16.7	17
15	Chiumiento	Vancouver	16.9	11
16	Morales	RSL	17.1	5
17	Davis	Houston	17.1	20
18	Shea	Dallas	17.3	15
19	Evans	Seattle	17.3	10
20	Torres	Philadelphia	17.6	5
21	Nyassi	Montreal	17.8	10
22	Chavez	San Jose	18.1	10
23	Pappa	Chicago	18.2	10
24	Smith	Colorado	18.3	7
25	Clark	Houston	18.3	7
26	Soolsma	TFC	18.3	8
27	Pardo	Chicago	18.4	6
28	Cruz	DCU	18.6	5
29	Plata	TFC	18.6	8
30	Nagbe	Portland	18.8	5
31	Lindpere	New York	18.9	14
32	Feilhaber	New England	18.9	11
33	Jewsbury	Portland	19.0	15
34	Adu	Philadelphia	19.0	3
35	Najar	DCU	19.1	11
36	Beckerman	RSL	19.2	12
37	Zusi	SKC	19.2	12
38	LaBrocca	Chivas	19.4	14
39	Gavin	Chivas	19.6	3
40	Mapp	Montreal	19.6	7
41	Duka	Columbus	19.7	5
42	Gaven	Columbus	19.7	6
43	Stephenson	San Jose	20.0	9
44	Marquez	New York	20.0	5
45	Jacobson	Dallas	20.1	6
46	Gil	RSL	20.1	2
47	Ballouchy	New York	20.3	3
48	Thompson	Colorado	20.6	6
49	Juninho	LA	20.8	6
50	Lahoud	Chivas	21.0	4
51	M. Farfan	Philadelphia	21.5	5
52	Larentowicz	Colorado	21.6	8
53	Joseph	New England	21.7	9
54	Zemanski	Chivas	21.9	6
55	Gardner	Montreal	22.1	4
56	Tierney	New England	22.8	6
57	Hernandez	Dallas	22.8	6
58	Chara	Portland	23.1	6
59	Alhassan	Portland	23.1	6
60	McCarty	New York	23.3	6
61	Alonso	Seattle	23.3	6
62	Salinas	San Jose	23.5	4
63	Convey	SKC	25.6	3
64	Kitchen	DCU	26.5	1
65	Espinosa	SKC	26.7	4
66	Ekpo	Columbus	26.9	3

As with the forwards, there are some players (Ochoa, Fagundez) near the top who simply won't get the playing time needed to be effective options. There are also a few players who have been reclassified this year that will hurt their value (Franklin, Harris).

There are a bunch more players owned at over 10% at the time of writing: DeRosario (76.9%), Donovan (56.1%), Lindpere (50.1%), Davis (48.1%), LaBrocca (38.3%), Shea (28.6%), Richards (25.9%), Jewsbury (23.0%), Beckham (21.4%), and Franklin (16.1%). Honestly, most of these guys would be fine picks. DeRo and Donovan are no-brainers that should be owned by everyone. Franklin is the only player that I would absolutely avoid since he spends a lot of his time along the back-line.

Injury watch
There are a few players I'm monitoring closely as they (or their teammates) recover from injury.

Ferreira - He was huge for fantasy managers in 2010 when he had a full season. Last season, his season was cut down by injury, but he managed to rank 7th in minutes per point earned last season during his short time on the field.

Morales - Morales has experienced a set back in his recovery. Not only that, but RSL has so many injuries, I'd be worried about owning anyone from their squad to start the season. He ranked 16th last season in minutes per point and was, like Ferreira, a key fantasy option in 2010.

Davis - Reports say he's on track to return for the season opener. He hasn't featured in either of Houston's pre-season matches. I'm not sure I'd pick him from the start of the season, but certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Zakuani - He won't be ready to start the season. Even if he were, I still wouldn't give him a go before seeing how much his horrifying injury effects not only his pace and touch, but also the mental aspect. As someone who's experienced a lengthy time on the bench due to injury, it really can mess with someone's confidence and aggression.

Ochoa - Ochoa isn't injured, but Eddie Johnson pulled up holding his hamstring in a preseason game today. It remains to be seen how serious it was, but Ochoa would be favorite to take over that role partnering with Montero. This would be a huge boost for fantasy owners paying attention. If Johnson doesn't recover soon, watch for Seattle's line up against Santos in the CCL to see if Ochoa starts. If he does, he'll be playing out of position and ranked first out of all players in minutes per point last season, though he only played 100 minutes, making the sample size extremely small.

New signings and transfers
Montreal - Mapp, Sanna Nyassi, Arnaud, and Fucito should all be starters. Fucito should probably start up front with Braun but he is classified as a midfielder. This would be a much better pairing for Fucito and he should produce more than he did in Seattle.

Songo'o - He's been good in preseason. He's been setting up a lot of Portland's attacking play. He's got La Liga experience with Zaragaza. Probably not worth a spot yet, but should Portland's new-look attack be more potent than last year's, Songo'o seems to be a part of that improvement.

Castillon - I honestly don't know much about him other than his Wikipedia page, but he seems to be a goal-scoring midfielder and has 29 caps with Colombia. Might we actually see a less-defensive formation from Colorado this year?

Mirošević - He was scoring in 42% of games at this last club. That stat alone is making me consider him. As with all new signings, I tend to wait a few games to see how they are being used with their new club and with how they mesh, but an attacking midfielder could score well in Columbus.

Players I'm actually considering for my own team
There are some players who automatically go into my squad and should go into just about everyone's: DeRosario and Donovan.

Now for some of the second-tier choices. Shea, Davis, Rosales, Grazzini, Chiumiento, Ferreira, Morales, and Jewsbury. Injury doubt precludes Ferreira, Davis, and Morales for me at this point. Shea seemed to run out of steam last season due to simply being overplayed, he should be a fine choice to start this season. Jewsbury is on set pieces, but plays a bit too deep for my taste in open play. Rosales and Grazzini ranked very high in minutes per point last season and I expect both Seattle and Chicago to be high-scoring teams again this season - both are currently in my squad. Chiumiento is my dark-horse pick in the middle. He ranked 15th last season in minutes per point earned and Vancouver has improved their attack (on paper at least).