Hashing Out the List

My posting has grown a bit sparse of late, and I'm sorry for that. Sadly, I'll be on the road again this weekend, but I'll try to catch a replay of the Houston match when I get in late Sunday and post a few thoughts. In the meantime, I thought we might follow on from the roster poll of a few weeks ago by doing a protected list poll.

I haven't seen any rules yet, so I'm going to establish a framework based upon previous editions of the expansion draft. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any of these so we can update the rules in time for the next poll (probably at the end of the season).

(1) Select eleven names from the list below.

(2) I'm assuming nobody knows if Boskovic has a no-trade clause in his DP contract, thus requiring us to protect him. Since we don't know if that's so, he's available for selection (or not).

(3) While Generation Adidas players could "graduate" from that status, my reading of the "home grown" player rules is that you can add two players per year to the list (pending fulfillment of other requirements) and that players remain on the list once selected. Since home grown players do not have to be protected, Najar, Hamid, and Shanosky, all designated as home grown on the playing roster, do not appear.

(4) Developmental players (marked [d] below) who are selected in the draft will need to be offered senior contracts by the team that selects them. Keep that in mind.

(4) Your protected list must include three foreign players (marked [f] below) since we have more that four senior internationals on the roster.

Have at it, and don't hesitate to use the comments as a soapbox to stump for your candidates...

8 comments:

  1. Interesting - whoever voted first agreed with me entirely except I protected King instead of Simms. And let me say that picking 11 to protect wasn't easy - lots of deadwood on this roster.

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  2. I would find this a lot easier if I could protect 13 -- would like to protect both Morsink and Graye, but couldn't squeeze them into 11. (I really don't understand why (2 out of 4) people aren't protecting Perkins -- even if you don't want to keep him, he's far too tradeable an asset to let someone take him for free.)

    On the "plus" side, with United being so shit this year, I'd be surprised if anyone is taken.

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  3. Moreno is retiring, so why is he on the list?

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  4. I think Graye qualifies as a homegrown player under the new rules.

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  5. @Anonymous #1

    Per the rules from previous years, a team can protect a retiring player. If they choose not to do so, they lose right of first refusal if that player later decides to return to active playing status.

    @Anonymous #2

    Nope. Even if he was eligible, United didn't place him on the list, which they're only allowed to do with two players per season...

    2009 - Hamid
    2010 - Najar, Shanosky

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  6. I'm surprised I'm the first one to vote to protect Barklage. When healthy, he's been dynamic (by MLS standards, anyway). He's due to be healthy for a full year, too, right? ;)

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  7. I assume that everyone else had a similarly difficult time actually picking 11 players. Once you get past the easy ones (James, Jakovic, Pontius, Wallace, Hernandez, Simms, Quaranta - all of whom are at 90% or above at the time of my vote) it's hard to muster up the enthusiasm for anyone else to say "we can build off of this player next year."

    Beyond the aforementioned 7 players, I voted for Perkins, King, Boskovic, and Graye.

    With Perkins, I feel like his play this season may well have been a bizarre aberration. He'll have to take a pay cut, though ($275K is way too much for a guy battling an academy grad for PT).

    King has been steady enough, though his utter lack of confidence in his shooting ability is troubling. For the money he makes, he's good value in central midfield. The fact that he did a half-decent job as a defensive midfielder behind Boskovic a couple of times increases his value.

    Speaking of Branko, I can't help but think of David Ferreira whenever Boskovic comes up. Ferreira struggled in his first 15 games with FC Dallas before something seemed to click for him. He just suddenly "got" MLS, and only a season later he's an MVP candidate. Boskovic hasn't had a half-season, and he also hasn't had the full preseason with his club like Ferreira did. I think Boskovic has the potential to figure MLS out in a similar manner, though obviously you can only be so patient. I say we give him another year, this time with what would have to be a better supporting cast and more stability off the field.

    My final choice was Graye. Obviously he's been prone to disastrous decisions, but it's not like he is making those mistakes all the time. They're usually just one bad moment that ruins an otherwise reasonable game. I like his overall athleticism and his willingness to get forward. He's a young player, so the mental errors will get better. I think we should take a chance on his continued development.

    The kicker with all of these arguments is that I could just as easily pick them apart (e.g. Why protect Graye when the odds of him being taken are pretty long?).

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  8. I matched you Chest, except for I kept Zayner over Graye, and for 2 reasons.
    1. I don't think anyone would take graye really as a Senior spot player...
    2. We traded a 2nd round draft pick for Zayner(and King). Hence we better have intentions of keeping them beyond a partial season.

    No one else that wasn't protected has a chance of getting picked up due to various reasons like salary or lack or skill except for maybe Devon. His versatility could land him somewhere else. If not he can be great role depth off the bench for his career.

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