1. Im not sure yet if teams can protect two US allocations or have to expose one US allocation. It only makes a difference for KS & Seattle but if u believe Cox and A-Rod were allocated for protection then the second way makes sense. 2. Im starting to think Houston gets to take 10 players included the two allocated ones. Not sure yet if each team must lose a player. 3. It's likely if it is 10 player (ie more than one per team) that teams will be allowed to protect 2 additional players if they lose a player. 4. Likely a team can not lose more than 2 players. 5. Because there r still empty allocations slots it seems fair that team will get to protect up to ten players including allocated players but must leave at least one US allocated player exposed. This kinda makes up for empty allocations. Of course this is total speculation on my part.
I loved "It's potentially starting to leak out." What better way to start a rumor with a lot of people not realizing that's what's happening. WPS_Movement must have spent hours figuring out the exact wording!
And Averbuch in her recent video said that she was being allocated. So I assume the newer players had already been told. But maybe not where.
He/she has a way with doing that, starting a rumor as it is already being widely speculated. A recent comment on league expansion had statements with the word "could", like "could expand in '15". When I question one of the candidates (Philadelphia), WPS admitted it when just his speculation. Or once admitted that it was just a "feeling" what someone or a team will do.
Remember, Loyden is taking care of her late sister's son, she is from south Jersey, so asking her to move for the season may be too much. If so, O'Hara is left unprotected, as well as Cameron? Unless Houston can trust her ankle, O'Hara is left undrafted.
That would be exactly the reason why she is not protected. Remember, each team apart from WNY have to leave atleast 1 US allocated player unprotected. However, there will also be the rule that Houston probably can't just draft allocated players only and will probably be limited to just 2. In this case, 2/8 teams will still have all their allocated players in tact. Therefore in Lloyden case, if Houston knows that she prefers to stay in Jersey, they will probably not risk picking her, and thus, SBFC will benefit more by using the spot to protect another player. They could also use similar logic and leave Rampone unprotected if they do not want to take the risk with Lloyden. I can not fathom Houston having the guts to pry away Rampone from Jersey.
So much read today. Is it that the 2 allocated players are picked as part of the expansion draft or separately? Some in NJ would say it would be hard to pry her from New Jersey, but not from SB.
I would hope it would be part of the expansion draft. Why hold a separate draft just so Houston can pick two players? We do know there is an expansion draft Jan 10 and my guess is the allocated players will be part of that draft and than the following friday there is the college draft
I asked because as far as I know, the league has not said anything about how the draft will work. All or most of the prior speculation had the teams including all their allocated players in the protected pool for the draft. If there is the US allocated picks first, then the normal expansion draft includes protecting all the remaining allocated players.
The last quote I saw from the league was they were still working out the details and that was last night.
Does anyone think it was more than just a coincidence that the two teams (Seattle and KC)with 4 allocated US players were given solid Mexican back ups for the players most likely to be given up? Seriously, the league saying "we're sorry" so here is Romero to replace Cox and Santago to replace Barnhart.
Yeah, I agree. I think what happened was the US said they wouldn't force changes through the allocation process, though decided "oh, wait, we kinda want to give these players to Houston...." and thus gave those two teams an "extra" US allocation so that they could use the expansion draft as an excuse to "move" those players.
So are there rules for protection of players, etc. Or is that to be determined yet? How many players can be protected per team? Wouldn't you think the teams would protect all their allocated players? I would. They are free.
I think it was even more contrived than that. I think they talked with each team and tried to set up the allocation to best help them with the expansion draft. There is just no other reason to allocate Seattle a fourth player. I could see allocating Cox if she filled an empty spot but why deliberately give Seattle an extra one. It also played into leaving WNY with empty slots which hopefully equates to protecting more key players.
I don't have any insider info, I'm just going off logic which isn't necessarily the leagues strongest suit. To me it makes no sense for teams with only 3 allocated US players to loose 1 to Houston when Seattle and KC have 4. Ideally, Seattle and KC could protect all their allocations but then, where do Houston's other two come from? But I have no idea what the rules of the expansion draft will be but to me allowing each team to protect 3 US players is the most fair.
Following the line of thoughts here about the 4th allocations; is it then assumed here that the drafted US players by Houston will be Cox and Barnhart? The two teams Seattle and KC have agreed to this? And have the players also? I can understand why for Cox, the only way she gets allocated, but why would Barnhart? Could it be moving Sauerbrunn?
My thought is that KC will protect Barnie, and Waldrum will try to get Henninger, who he knows and I believe he likes. He started her over Franch when they were called up for the U-23s. I think it was four nations, but can't remember. Henninger was injured there and it seems like there has been a lot of difficulty getting over that, but after her stint at Bayern Munich, she might be ready to go. Even if Waldrum has his eye on another GK, Henninger might try to find a #1 GK job somewhere else, rather than spending another season as #2, now that she has a year of pro soccer under belt. It makes sense that KC would try to find a talented back-up who is young enough to stay around for a bit.
If not Barnhart, then KC leaves someone else unprotected as part of a grand scheme? If or when, Dunn gets drafted by Spirit, does she eventually becomes the 27th US allocated and Wash has 4 US allocated?
Again...this is my biggest complaint about the league. If I owned a team in this league and was asked to vote on whether to let Houston in or not, my first questions would be how does it effect the college draft, how does it effect allocation and how will the expansion draft effect my team? The idea that anyone voted on the Houston expansion when the league wasnt prepared to answer any of those questions is absurd beyond the telling.
I think that's pretty short term thinking. The larger question is how you get a sustainable healthy league if you are an owner. I think it's healthier to think in terms of it being an entertainment product. Parity helps that and having teams with good attendance does also.
If Houston is denied admission, then the other MLS franchises that are intrigued about coming into the league in 2015 (or later) may lose interest. The league had to make the statement, "We are interested in you MLS". And statements are made more clearly by their actions, as actions speak louder than words. The league acted in this statement by their acceptance.