I can understand protecting Charlie Davies if you’ve got a rumor of trade interest that you think might enable you to significantly improve the team1. I can even plunge past the mystifying decision to protect a well-past-it Simms if a pay-cut or trade are on the horizon.
But Korb and Woolard?
This is the core you’re building around? Fullbacks who are maybe within spitting distance of the wrong side of adequate?
Sigh…
On the bright side, it looks like the pickings available from other rosters might be much more exciting to L’Impact…oh wait. There’s a reason for that, isn’t there? Certainly is. The reason is that the FO’s vision of our “core” team going forward contains Korb and Woolard manning the defensive flanks. It’s no wonder that even the needlessly-exposed bits of our roster are significantly less tempting targets.
I’m sure there’s a plan in place for the off-season, and that the FO is convinced that they’re building a better mousetrap. But if this is the first step in that plan, I’m preparing to be appalled by what manner of wheezing, chunking, clap-trap assemblage of has-beens, cast-offs, and never-will-be’s gets defecated on the training fields at RFK2 come pre-season.
(PS: Landru beat me to the punch saying essentially the same things with a tad more invective.)
Thanks for the link love. In fairness, I did follow and approve of your earlier work at sorting the expansion draft chaff. It's really stunning how rational people like us can quickly arrive at very similar conclusions, while Our Club's bosses so thoroughly screw the pooch.
ReplyDeleteSo if the team claims "Back to the Mean," perhaps the FO gets "Occupy the Kennel"?
ReplyDeleteSorry. Poor taste.
Greetings from China,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, but I'm even more dumbfounded with the protection of Wolff and the barely proven back-up keeper of Willis. Wolff is old and while he might provide that much needed "veteran leadership" in the locker room, it's something that DeRo could've taken care of if he was in fact selected. I think, unfortunately, this was Bennie's decision, and a poor one at that.
And Willis? How do I begin to say how mind-boggling this decision was? I'll just say that if Boskovic is taken and we are left with a giant hole in CM, again, I'll put the blame squarely and without hesitation on the FO. I already do, for the Impact will probably select Da Luz or maybe Quaranta. But if they select Bosko, so help me football gods!
I suppose we'll know in a few hours...cheerio.
If you've been reading awhile, you'll know I have little love for what Wolff is bringing to the table, but I did have both he and Willis on my protected list. I thought Willis was excellent in limited action last year, and he *did* consistently beat out Cronin, a veteran who was supposed to challenge Hamid for minutes, to get on the bench as a backup. Given that Hamid is probably Olympics bound, if not in consideration for qualifiers, and is essentially "free" protection-wise when it came to the expansion draft, I put Willis on my list. Wolff was a tougher decision as, like I said, I'm not high on him at all. That said, he's a reasonable player and might pick up valuable minutes when DeRo is away for qualifiers.
ReplyDeleteOf course, my list included the three players you pointed out: Da Luz, Quaranta, and Boskovic, who I thought were worth protecting over the likes of Korb, Woolard, and Simms. In the end, it really didn't matter. Clearly, the Impact weren't impressed by what we had on offer (not that I'm hugely surprised). I found it interesting that we choose to protect Korb and Woolard when Seattle had their two starting fullbacks (Riley and Gonzalez) exposed. Either says something about the relative quality of rosters or the value of fullbacks (or, more likely, both).
I'm almost dreading what we do in the Re-entry Draft now...
I can't find a list of available players for the re-entry draft - does one exist?
ReplyDeleteYou can try to put one together given the news of players waived, but I think the official list is out Nov. 30.
ReplyDelete