Sweet, I love the Big Board. EARLY prediction... 1. Toronto -- Andrew Farrell CB -- TFC let in the most goals this season (62). 2. Chivas -- J.J. Johnson F -- Who knows what Chivas will do, but Angel is old, Agudelo could be making a move, and they were dead last in goals scored, by far. 3. Portland -- Walker Zimmerman CB -- POR also needs defensive help. 4. New England -- Mikey Lopez M -- the Revs are quietly assembling a dangerous team, and just added 2 midfielders. Their website says "reinforcements are expected along the back line." Still, Lopez is too tempting to leave on the board for someone else. 5. Vancouver -- Dillon Powers M -- pro-ready box-to-box prospect to deepen Vancouver's midfield. 6. Colorado -- Patrick Mullins F -- Clinical finisher with the ability of playing wide as well as at forward. He fits even if we do get Kevin Rozo and/or Dillon Serna. I know everyone wants us to get CB's, but I don't think we should use the #6 pick to reach way down the draft board for the next CB, ranked #18 by Ives, when there should be several CB's available at #25. Get the best player available at #6 (that fits with the system).
I guess I agree with that sentiment. We need a good CB now, and I think the Rapids are willing to pay (meaning experienced plyer). Taking a #18 rank at pick #6 probably won't get us the "now" part of that. I don't know enough about Mullins to judge his short or long term contributions, but the RFO did mention developing young players. Go with higher rank.
Portland took a CB in first round last year, GA at that (Andrew Jean-Baptiste). They most likely will not draft another CB with first pick again. Word is they are looking for a #10 for move to new style (Like ours). CARLOS ALVAREZ is also a highly rated (with Mikey Lopez) #10 player projected to go in top 10 that could go to Chivas or Portland.
Good point. And Porter's gonna know a lot of these guys a lot better than Ives and probably have an entirely different ranking. Lopez is only a sophomore. If Portland picks a #10, Zimmerman goes to New England, which wants back line help. We'd still get Mullins or Johnson if that's what we want, or Lopez & Alvarez might be available if we want another CAM behind Rivero, rather than Hill.
New England is stacked at midfield and in need of a keeper. They could go forward instead of CB since Darrius Barnes and AJ Soares are both under 25, but defense depth is a need. Anyone else know their d-mid McCarthy is 6'5", also one of those picks big chill talked about 24th in 2011.
Considering this isn't the NFL where basically all new players come through the draft, there are the very rare exceptions, my first goal with SuperDraft picks wouldn't be "fill an immediate need." I would first draft who you think is the best player on the board. I would be looking for people with talent/skill for their position and not who can plug a hole immediately. The transfer market is where I would focus on getting guys to fill immediate holes. If you think two players are equal and you know you need some depth at a position, okay take the guy that fills it, but don't reach to fill a position. This is more important the higher the pick too. I would rather have the player be causing a problem of pushing a current player for their starting position rather than having to start a draft pick because we felt we had to get X and he was the best that was left at X. Remember Jordan was picked #3. Or look at the Broncos and their pick of Von Miller at #2. Not many people saw that coming because the team really needed a DT and already had Elvis Dumervil. They didn't care though because they recognized that Miller was something special. Now they have one of the best young defenders in the game. (You can argue in the 2012 draft they failed to follow this plan though, which goes to show, nobody is perfect.)
Scouting in other sports outside of baseball is much better, so it is not easy to get a solid ranking order even this high up in draft. Maybe Mel kipper will cross over and get soccer organized like football. But you point out the dilemma of most bad teams, draft for need or talent. Maybe we should start a pole. I just find it hard to accept if rapids take say a #10, when they have Rivero (just 23) and hill for those spots. Given the "quick" success recently of the top CB, I favor that choice over taking a top forward who might be start worth in 3-4 years. I would fill forward with international signing to hopefully get a quick boost. But in the end it all hinges on the rapids ability to scout, not sure Cascio proves we have it because most teams down rated him as a winger because he doesn't have winger quickness/ speed and he fell to us. He might end up as a better CF due to this.
Baseball doesn't have issues because they don't scout well or aren't organized. Baseball scouting is intensive and teams have had networks of scouts since before the NFL existed. The issue is that it's difficult to project a kid from an amateur league to MLB--the leap is huge. So there may be some similarities there with soccer. MLB teams used to be biased towards drafting kids out of high school as they were seen as more moldable and thus had a higher ceiling because you could get these kids in your farm systems earlier for development. That sounds a little like the trend of pushing academies and home grown signings over college participation. The Moneyball era swung the pendulum to drafting college kids because they were closer to being contributing MLB players. It seems to have evened out now.
Think you can just about lock this one in with Toronto trading Maund (Last years first rnd pick) to RSL.
Both of these guys should be available in 2nd round from what I am seeing. Although agreat performance at MLS Combine could change that easily.
Dave Dir is quoted several times in this piece about scouting college players. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...s-share-blueprint-scouting-next-college-stars Kind of makes it sound like perhaps a big reason he is here is to help with college scouting since he says he knows so many of the coaches.
Twitter world saying GA will be small group this year, no more then 6 (with 6 even being highly unlikely). Will have articles out later today. Some saying its part of HGP taking over, lots of highly rated players will not be draft eligible unless team decide not to sign them. NE Rev's, Columbus Crew and LA Galaxy leading the way.
Hooligan blog is going with 6-8 GA's http://wvhooligan.com/2012/12/10/15191/projecting-the-2013-generation-adidas-class/ - Mikey Lopez (UNC) "Consensus lock" - Walker Zimmerman (Furman) "Consensus lock" - Eriq Zavaleta (Indiana) - Andre Blake (UConn) - Andrew Ferrell (Louisville) "Nearly a lock" - Patrick Mullins (Maryland) - J.J. Johnson (VCU) MLS is also taking a step back on handing out a lot of GA contracts like they have in years past. The last few classes have been fairly large with last years having nine, 2011 have 11 and 2010 having 13. The numbers just keep going down. I’d be willing to bet that the HGP list of players signed this winter will be larger than the GA pool in this draft as well. It is just where the resources are going these days. The league and teams are putting more resources in the HGP area. MLS has realized that the last couple of years that they have been spending more than they should have on GA deals with many young players not living up to their potential. MLS is wanting to basically spend their money a little wiser on the GA deals from here on out according to one source.
Senior player combine invites out. GA's still to be decided in next 2-3 weeks. http://www.soccerbyives.net/2012/12...line-list-seniors-invited-to-mls-combine.html
Looks like Zimmerman is in, or going to Europe: @thewalkerzim: Hello #MLS, Last day at furman. Can't believe it's already over but so thankful for all the friends and memories here
GA's shaping up, I don't think I have seen Manneh on any list yet so far but somehow "signed" now. Ahh, Manneh is in High School and skipping to MLS. http://www.3rddegree.net/2012/12/13/2013-mls-generation-adidas-preliminary-list/ Generation adidas Deshorn Brown (contract to be extended) Andrew Farrell (contract offered but not accepted as of this date) Jason Johnson (contract to be extended) Mikey Lopez (contract offered but not accepted as of this date) Kekutah Manneh (contract signed) Andrew Zimmerman (contract offered but not accepted as of this date) College Seniors: Pre-Draft Signings Carlos Alvarez Ryan Finley Dillon Powers John Stertzer
Toronto is shoping #1 overall pick, I would be all for Rapids trading into slot for D Zimmerman. Even if we have to give up both 2nd rounders (Maybe JL straight up for it), the depth just isn't there in this draft to hope for much from these picks.
Ives Draft Board 3.0 http://www.soccerbyives.net/2012/12/2013-mls-draft-big-board-version-3-0.html Don't see Rapids drafting a D-Mid even if he is best available at #6. TopDrawer Mock Draft 2.0 http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2013-mls-superdraft-mock-draft-v-20_aid28251 6 Mikey Lopez * North Carolina MF 5-8 160Get Lopez in the right situation and he’ll flourish. This is what would happen if he ends up with Oscar Pareja and the Rapids, as the holding midfielder still needs time to transition to the next level but is likely to develop into a top-level player under Pareja in Colorado.
Ives does it again, gives us 5th pick (By mistake) 5- COLORADO RAPIDS *DeShorn Brown, Central Florida, Forward http://www.soccerbyives.net/2012/12/sbi-2013-mls-mock-draft-version-1-0.html
Ives is an idiot. Maybe when it comes to other teams he has some insights, but when it comes to the Rapids he has never shown half a clue.
I'm responding to COMtnGuy's comments from the announcement thread because really that discussion belongs here. With this draft being considered so weak, but next year's being predicted to be very deep, rather than trying to move up in this year's draft would it maybe be better to try to get more picks for next year? This might be really tough to do because teams know this and I don't think I have seen a trade recently that included a draft pick for next year. But, on draft day, if a team really wants a player and thinks they need to move to #6 to get them, maybe we can arrange to swap first round picks 2013, and we get their first rounder in 2014.
Another Mock, no clue on this guy. 6. Colorado Rapids – *J.J. Johnson (VCU) Johnson could land in Toronto at three or slide down to Colorado at six. It all depends on a few different factors but either way if Colorado sees him available here they’ll be hard pressed to not take him. With Oscar Pareja lining up to get his 4-3-3 formation for 2013, getting a speedy option like Johnson will go along nicely with Omar Cummings and Edson Buddle. Other possibilities: Deshorn Brown*, Jose Gomez http://wvhooligan.com/2012/12/17/15252/2013-mls-superdraft-mock-draft-1/
If I were the one making the pick at #6, I'd use it on a CB or outside back with the goal of him playing roughly 1/3rd to 1/2 of next year and starting in 2014. Presumably Cascio should grow into the "1st off the bench clutch young guy" role with a year under his belt already, so I don't see what drafting another forward would accomplish. And if we're looking for another starter at forward, I'd rather see us trade for a guy who's already proven he can start. I don't know what our midfield is going to look like next year or in future years (I know Thomas, Rivero, and JL/Castrillon figure to be the starting pieces, but whether we're playing a 3 man mid with one d-mid, two-dmids, a 4 man midfield with an empty bucket...all that uncertainty says stay away from drafting mids till the later rounds.
Understandably, a team with all of the needs of the Rapids, particularly CB & FB would not gravitate towards a striker on draft day. However, the only 2 legitimate MLS CB's, Farrell & Zimmerman, will be gone by #6 and no other is worth such a lofty draft status. Other CB/FB players are similar, no real standout, therefore, I would hope to get one of that bunch at #25 & another at # 30. Surely, I do not want to see a # 15-# 20 taken at # 6 hoping to fill a need. Although, Manneh is a risk & a project he is a very, very high potential pick. Manneh would be a best pick available choice not a need one. For me the generic choices are easy CB/FB at # 25 & #30 after Manneh is taken at # 6. Fortunately, I have the combine to firm or change my choices. Then I expect to have specific favorites at CB/FB.