Challenge Cup Overreaction Edition
The NWSL starts this Friday, which means it is GO TIME for fantasy managers. Importantly, we've had an actual match — the Challenge Cup, where the Washington Spirit got a little bit of revenge on the Orlando Pride for last year's playoff final.
It's no surprise that one bit of "hard data" is going to sway fantasy managers. It's so hard to get good information about the league that a lot of our work is guessing. This week will be dedicated to finding any team and league previews that I can. I'll try to collate them and post a collection of them here.
But for now, how did my fantasy team change from the first draft? Let's see.
Sophia Wilson to Barbra Banda
Wilson is out for the season with an ankle injury she suffered in... wait, what?!
Just kidding. Mazel tov to the Wilsons on their pregnancy. I said last week that I might, "shift her to Banda (easy and who could argue)" and I've done that here. Banda didn't score in the Challenge Cup, and I'm a little concerned that we won't see first-half of the 2024 season Banda again. For now, this is an easy move. However, I reserve the right to move her to Trinity Rodman when she's fit or gut this position to get money for another move.
Speaking of gutting this position to get money for another move...
Jaedyn Shaw to Leicy Santos
Another Challenge Cup-influenced move. Santos looks to be the Spirit's 10 and set-piece taker. At least until Croix Bethune returns. Shaw may take some time acclimate to her new team/role(s). With a $200,000 difference in price between the two, I'm going to make the move.
Claudia Zonorza to Ally Sentnor
Another change I telegraphed last week. I still think Zonorza is going to be a fantasy beast this season, but Sentnor scored in the Royals' last preseason game and we're overreacting to the preseason. She's also $50,000 cheaper. Which continues to boggle my mind. Anyway, let's go USA!
Now, the question becomes what to do with all the money I'm saving.
Isabella Obaze to Tara McKeown
McKeown was a fantasy monster last season. (For those of you keeping track at home, a fantasy monster is better than a fantasy beast.) Like Sentnor, she had a great summer with the US women's national team. The Spirit are going to challenge (See what I did there?) for the Shield and the playoff championship. They have internationals (at least former internationals, sigh) across the backline and destroyers in midfield. (Why so many parentheticals here?) I never had McKeown in my team last season after relying on her in 2023. This year, I'm correcting that mistake.
Meanwhile, Portland is a mess and there are other cheap players that I can roster. So Obaze drops out.
Ana María Guzmán to the bench
This isn't a transfer, but a change. In adding McKeown to the XI, I've decided to bench Guzman. I'm still excited for her as a fantasy prospect (lower than a monster or beast) but have the luxury of waiting and seeing first.
Riley Jackson to Gia Corley
What I'm not looking forward to is this Wave season, but for fantasy purposes I'm happy to gamble on Corley over Jackson. Corley is more attacking than Jackson, and I have a better sense that she'll be a starter. Jackson could make me regret this at some point, but I do like having at least one Wave player on my team. It feels right, even if my expectations are low.
Claudia Dickey to Laurel Ivory
Where did all that money I was saving go? After making all the above moves, I was $25,000 over my budget. That's super frustrating, but also inevitable. So rather than going with a cheap staring keeper as my backup to Lorena, I've decided to go with her backup. That removes the option to chop and change keepers based on the matchups, but honestly that's probably for the best. I'll just have the Current's keeper that week, even if Lorena doesn't play for whatever reason.
...
With all that done, here's what the team looks like now.
What do you think? Am I making progress or just rearranging deck chairs? Let me know in the comments, or over on BlueSky at jeremyspitzberg.com. And if you are on BlueSky, be sure to join our private league. The code to join is 3t4h9g.
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