So we traded three picks to get the pick to get the New Mexico forward? We must not be impressed with what will be left in the Supplemental Draft. Welcome Mr. Sandoval.
Devon Sandoval (F - New Mexico) is RSL's pick after trading Philly to move up two spots. And there's your fourth striker.
Just found out that no allocation money changed hands as part of that trade with Philly - it was a straight pick-for-pick swap. RSL gave up its second-rounder and two supplemental draft picks.
i agree #2 will come from somewhere else but is it out of the question that RSL rosters 5 fwds this year?
Definitely not out of the question. Garth told me yesterday that he expected RSL to add "at least" two more forwards. Not sure if Sandoval counts. If he does, that leaves at least one more to add, and I strongly believe that player is not an MLS player. If they are going to add two more strikers, I think one will be from outside MLS and one will be one of those "MLS retreads" some of you so despise.
hallelujah. I thought you said a while back RSL was looking to get one forawrd from mls and one from abroad. I'm glad I was wrong.
Bottom line: If they add one more, I'd bet a large sum that he's an international. If they add two more, I think one is an international and one is from within MLS (but I think the lion's share of money would be spent on the international, not the MLS guy...that probably rules out this Hassli rumor).
Scouting report on Sandoval...I like these because they are balanced (hitting both the player's negatives and positives)" "Target player. Back to goal ... A young man that knows what he's good at and does it as good as anybody ... Never see him try to beat guys on the dribble or do scissors moves. He holds the ball, gets shots off in tight spaces, wins headers ... Physically extremely, extremely strong ... You're not going to see a stronger person ... Throw-ins and goal kicks and everyrthing runs off of him back to goal. Can hold the ball up against anybody ... He does not turn the ball over ... Makes everyone around him better ... First year he was OK, identified what he needed to work on and was tremendous the last two years … Stepped it up in 2012 with his commitment. Can hold the ball and bring guys into the game … Intelligent with his positioning ... Great target at 6-foot-2, 190-pounds ... Moves well, very fit and great feet ... Unique player ... Good in the air, not dominant and can finish with both feet ... One thing he does have that I have not seen in anybody since Billy Schuler is his ability to play back to goal. Good at it. Lays ball off ... Strong and good in the air ... Not the most mobile guy. If he's the one guy up there he'll never play behind defenses ... Good feet, good size … Could be a Stephen Lenhart-type … Clever with a good first touch and nose for goal … Shows for the ball well ... A little bit one-dimensional ... Step slow but quite good."
So decent soccer foundation with the potential to become a douche. I guess you can't expect miracles out of the second round.
Interesting tidbit - the final pick of the draft is the only one who's photo showed up on the draft tracker. Is this to make him feel better about being picked last? Link
Apparently Sam asked him about this assessment after the draft. He gave a good politically-correct answer: I respect Lenhart but I want to forge my own identity as a player. I get the feeling this kid is super driven. I hope that means he's going to work hard and it doesn't mean he's going to go all John Wayne on the pitch and pick up red cards or break legs.
This is one of the most repetitive and confusing "scouting reports" that I've read... Back to the goal... yeah after the 4th time I get it! Wins headers/Good in the air... check that (like 3 times) Holds the ball... with as much talk about holding the ball it makes me wonder if he could pass it... Plus, this scouting report mentions that he "moves well" and has "great feet" yet at the end they mention he'd never get behind defenses, not the most mobile guy, and that he is a step slow. HUH?!?! This should be called "a not so well thought out hodge-podge of words". Perhaps it's easier to just call it a scouting report.
That's one of the hopes. Plus having a similar style player to sub for Sabo means we don't have to change style entirely when Sabo is out (e.g. WCF). The write-up of Saboval - er - Sandoval just sounds so much like Sabo.
I have no idea if this is true, but when I read this one (and a few others) I assumed that it was a compilation of comments by various scouts. Hence, the repetition and sometimes inconsistent assessments.
What they do is have the scouts from every team make written evaluations of every player at the combine. These reports are a collection of all comments made about the player. That's why many of them say the same thing, and also why some of them are contradictory. As an aside: If professional scouts look at the same player and see completely opposite things (read Stertzer's scouting report), I guess fans should be cut a bit of slack when they see complete opposites as well.
So for me the best news of this day was Morales. He will again pull the strings for RSL and at 33 I think he will do it well. Have really no clue about our signings today, can only hope at least one of the two can be as promising as Valazquez. Now we wait for the real news, will our club spend what it takes to bring in that No. 1 striker we desperately need?