Superdraft Thread

[ChrisE]

The 2004 draft doesn't look as thin on talent as the lacklustre 2002 crop, but the opening day presence was very similar...
Starters: Parke, Sullivan (both due to injury)
Subs: Dempsey, Gros, Sutton, and Adu


What a difference expansion makes. This year:

Starters (7): Brad Guzan, Aaron Lopez, Bobby Boswell, Hunter Freeman, Guy Melamed, Danny O'rourke, Michael Parkhurst

Subs (9): Luke Kreamalmeyer, Knox Cameron, Domenic Mediate, Ryan Kelly, Mubarike Chisoni, Scott Sealy, Chad Barrett, Chris Rolfe, James Riley

Plus MLS debuts for Michael Bradley, David Wagenfuhr, and Clyde Simms.

[mellon002]

You ain't lying. Bobby Boswell had no business being a starter. He looked pretty good yesterday, but Ezra Hendrickson would definately be starting over Boswell if he was still playing with DC.

[ChrisE]

You ain't lying. Bobby Boswell had no business being a starter. He looked pretty good yesterday, but Ezra Hendrickson would definately be starting over Boswell if he was still playing with DC.

An interesting point, mellon - how many of these players were directly impacted by expansion?

Brad Guzan - plays for expansion team
Aaron Lopez - plays for expansion team
Bobby Boswell - Ezra Hendrickson
Hunter Freeman - de la Torre, Jeff Stewart
Guy Melamed - de la Torre, Jeff Stewart
Danny O'rourke - nothing
Michael Parkhurst - Rusty Pierce, (Brian Kamler)
Luke Kreamalmeyer - plays for expansion team
Knox Cameron - marginal (Erick Scott)
Domenic Mediate - nothing
Ryan Kelly - Nelson Akwari
Mubarike Chisoni - Arturo Torres
Scott Sealy - Matt Taylor
Chris Rolfe - Dipsy Selolwane (trade)
Chad Barrett - Dipsy Selolwane (trade)
James Riley - Pierce, Kamler

So, by that count, at least 11 of the 16 rookies who played yesterday benefited from the expansion. If I didn't make my position clear earlier, I think this is great - Bobby Boswell may not have been great on Saturday, but he's likely got a far more productive MLS career ahead of him than EZ does at present, and the same thing goes for most of these players and their respective expansion casualties.

[swedcrip34]

An interesting point, mellon - how many of these players were directly impacted by expansion?

Brad Guzan - plays for expansion team
Aaron Lopez - plays for expansion team
Bobby Boswell - Ezra Hendrickson
Hunter Freeman - de la Torre, Jeff Stewart
Guy Melamed - de la Torre, Jeff Stewart
Danny O'rourke - nothing
Michael Parkhurst - Rusty Pierce, (Brian Kamler)
Luke Kreamalmeyer - plays for expansion team
Knox Cameron - marginal (Erick Scott)
Domenic Mediate - nothing
Ryan Kelly - Nelson Akwari
Mubarike Chisoni - Arturo Torres
Scott Sealy - Matt Taylor
Chris Rolfe - Dipsy Selolwane (trade)
Chad Barrett - Dipsy Selolwane (trade)
James Riley - Pierce, Kamler

So, by that count, at least 11 of the 16 rookies who played yesterday benefited from the expansion. If I didn't make my position clear earlier, I think this is great - Bobby Boswell may not have been great on Saturday, but he's likely got a far more productive MLS career ahead of him than EZ does at present, and the same thing goes for most of these players and their respective expansion casualties.

Freeman would start anyways. Maybe not if Crawford was healthy recently. But de la Torre sucks (now in USL) and Stewart is still hurt. One of Rolfe/Barrett probably wouldv'e got minutes. The u20 time away is actually hurting the chances of some guys getting playing time.

It amazes me teas went through 80 draft picks and noone grabs Boswell and now he starts for the defending champs?



I was just about to stop by here and post this (I can never get Excel to paste good here)

Name Team Status Drafted by:

Round 1
Besagno, Nikolas RSL adidGEN RSL
Guzan, Brad CDC adidGEN CDC
Barrett, Chad CHI adidGEN CHI
O'Rourke, Danny SJ SNR SJ (f DAL)
Ihemelu, Ugochukweu LA SNR LA (f SJ)
Moor, Drew DAL adidGEN DAL (f MET t LA t SJ)
Freeman, Hunter COL adidGEN COL
Roberts, Troy LA SNR LA (f CLB)
Parkhurst, Michael NE adidGEN NE
Stewart, Jack CHI SNR CHI (f LA)
Sealy, Scott KC SNR/YI KC
Ward, Tim MET adidGEN MET (f DC t MET t DAL)


Round 2
Watson, Jamie RSL adidGEN RSL
Jimenez,Christian CDC adidGEN CDC
Enfield, Michael LA SNR LA (f CHI t DAL t KC)
Pore, Ryan KC adidGEN KC (f DAL t COL)
Goldthwaite, Kevin SJ DEV SJ
John, Will CHI adidGEN CHI (f MET)
Van Sicklen, Nick DC SNR DC (f COL)
Storey, Marcus CLB DEV CLB (f CLB t COL)
Riley, James NE SNR NE
Nolly, Jay RSL DEV RSL (f LA)
Mediate, Domenic CLB DEV CLB (f KC)
Sawyer, Christopher didn't report? (finishing school/?soccer anymore) KC (f DC)


Round 3
Corcoran, Chris MET DEV MET (f RSL t CHI t DC)
Lopez, Aaron CDC SNR CDC
Marshall, Winston didn't report? (finishing school/? MLS future-Canadian) DAL (f CHI)
Gomez, Chris DAL DEV DAL
Rolfe, Chris CHI DEV CHI (f SJ t DAL)
Arbelaez, Victor CDC DEV SJ (f MET)
Ramirez, Orlando SJ DEV SJ (f COL)
Klaas, Craig (CJ) Seattle;USL1(also finishing school UW) SJ (f CLB)
Lochead, Tony trialing Belgium? (? injured now) NE (f NE t KC t COL)
Kirk, Quavas LA adidGEN LA
Segares, Gonzalo CHI DEV/YI CHI (f KC)
Khumalo, Thabiso (Boyzzz) Charleston;USL1(? signed, was in CHI camp and cut) CHI (f DC t KC t COL)


Round 4
Kreamalmeyer, Luke RSL SNR RSL
Arias, Estaban CDC DEV CDC
Deitz, Karim returned to school (? playing college soccer again, didn't report) CHI
Nash, Julian SJ DEV DAL
Jallow, Antouman signed in Sweden (was in SJ camp, wouldv'e been signed DEV at least) SJ (f SJ t COL)
Twellman, James SJ DEV SJ (f MET)
Melamed, Guy COL SNR/SI COL
Cameron, Knox CLB DEV CLB
Lowery, Amir COL DEV COL (f NE)
Chisoni, Mubarike LA DEV/YI LA
Minagawa-Webster, John KC DEV KC
Merritt, Tim DC DEV DC (f DC t SJ)



current destination for super draft picks. Almost none this year cut from MLS to USL (as opposed to most years). Expanded rosters behind this (a little bit expansion too). Only YI Khumalo came to camp and didn't get offered a MLS deal somewhere as far as I can tell.

[swedcrip34]

here are the supplemental picks

Rhyne, Steven cut by RSL, ? drafted Atl, USL1 RSL
Barragan, Javier CDC DEV CDC
Cook, Justin not signed by CHI (in camp) CHI
Wilson, Kevin not signed by DAL & SJ (in camp) DAL (f DAL t DC)
Rodriguez, Brett SJ DEV SJ
Hernandez, Jason MET DEV MET
Gotsmanov, Sasha not signed by COL (in camp) COL
Oliver, Matt finishing school CLB
Gaudette, Bill CLB DEV CLB (f NE)
Benditson, Benjamin LA DEV LA
Ruiz, Edwin cut by KC (in camp, would be SNR) KC
Nickell, Matthew DC DEV DC



Lookingland, Michael RSL DEV RSL
Matute, Helmis trialing in Iceland? CDC
Mahoney, David CHI DEV CHI
Thompson, Abe DAL DEV DAL
Holmes, Jamie NE DEV NE (f SJ)
Fulton, Robby SJ DEV SJ (f MET)
McCarthy, Drew Puerto Rico; USL1 (? never in LA camp) LA (f COL)
Vasquez, Eric CLB DEV CLB
Latham, Ryan NE DEV NE
Kovar, Matt not signed (? in camp or not) LA
Pitchkolan, Aaron DAL DEV DAL (f KC)
Cavanagh, Drew Charleston;USL1 (declined DAL-DEV) DAL (f DC)



Palmer, Noah RSL DEV RSL
Munoz, Mike CDC DEV CDC
Karcz, Chris not signed by COL (in camp) CHI
Schwarze, Chris cut by DAL (in camp) DAL
Merl, Noah not signed by SJ (was in camp but injured) SJ
Hannigan, Pat not signed (think was in camp?) MET
Sepuya, Eugene COL DEV/YI COL
Kelly, Ryan CLB DEV CLB
Wilson, Easton NE DEV NE
Shaw, Ryan not signed (? in camp or not) LA
Lascody, Doug KC DEV KC
Terris, Andrew DC DEV DC



Knowles, Cameron RSL DEV/YI RSL
Kennedy, Dan MET DEV (at least I think so per MLSNET roster) CDC
Donaldson, Hollis Ryan CHI DEV CHI
Tamporello, Sammy cut by DAL (in camp) DAL
Wondolowski,Chris SJ DEV SJ
Vazquez, Usiel signed with Charleston? (was in MET camp) MET
Gargan, Dan COL DEV COL
Lee, Chris finishing school CLB
Larentowicz, Jeff NE DEV NE
Gallegos, Jeremiah not signed (? in camp or not) LA
Caugherty, Ryan signed in Denmarks 2nd division (don't think was in camp) KC
Kuykendall, Shawn DC DEV DC

[swedcrip34]

here's the guys in the draft pool, undrafted, that signed with MLS

Boswell, Bobby (DC DEV)
Dobson, Daniel (KC DEV)
McGinnis, Pat (KC DEV - unconfirmed, but on MLSNET roster)
Raybould, Ryan (KC DEV)
Romaneiro, Marcos (NE DEV/YI)

Terris above was a MLS pool GK last year. Barragan finished school after the 2003 season and I think was in PDL. Eric Vasquez didn't return to school though not finished with 4 years in 2004.

Milton Blanco (Chivas DEV) was in NAIA and didn't go through the draft process.

Will Johnson (CHI DEV/GC) was a discovery out of high school?

Ramon Bailey (MET DEV/GC) also a discovery out of community college

Mario Torres 9Dallas DEV/?dual citizen) was a discovery out of the local Hispanic leagues.

I think that about covers all the amateur players joining MLS so far this year right out of school. I think the # this year is much higher than any previous year.

Kenny Cutler (RSL DEV) was in the 04 draft pool, went undrafted and trained with the Rapids. I think Kevin Novak (RSL DEV) should have been in the 2004 draft pool but was injured (don't think he has pro experience). Josh Elbaum (COL DEV comes out of MISL). Michael Cardenas (COL DEV) played in the Czech Repulbic and USL2. Sergio Flores (RSL DEV) played in South America.

[numerista]

Thought it might be interesting to track the impact of Project-40's and other early entries on future drafts

Updating ...

2005 (11)
D. Barclay
R. Clark
R. Cochrane
S. Cronin
C. Dempsey
J. Gardner
C. Goodson
N. Grabavoy
E. Johnson
S. Quaranta
M. Saavedra

2006 (8)
C. Capano
H. Freeman
J. Mapp
D. Moor
C. Marshall
M. Parkhurst
R. Pore
J. Stone

2007 (15)
A. Alvarez
C. Barrett
E. Gaven
G. González
B. Guzan
P. Ianni
W. John
S. Kljestan
M. Magee
R. Nuñez
J. Peterson
W. Simms
J. Watson
J. Zayner
B. Feilhaber (Europe)

2008 (9)
F. Adu
M. Bradley
C. Jimenez
K. Kamara
D. McCarty
N. Sturgis
D. Szetela
T. Ward
M. Wynne

2009 (2)
N. Besagno
L. Nguyen (Europe)

2010 (4?)
J. Altidore (finishing HS this year?)
Q. Kirk (stayed in HS through fall, iirc)
B. Wagner
P. Zimmerman (Europe)

[numerista]

What a difference expansion makes. This year:

Starters (7): Brad Guzan, Aaron Lopez, Bobby Boswell, Hunter Freeman, Guy Melamed, Danny O'rourke, Michael Parkhurst

Subs (9): Luke Kreamalmeyer, Knox Cameron, Domenic Mediate, Ryan Kelly, Mubarike Chisoni, Scott Sealy, Chad Barrett, Chris Rolfe, James Riley

Above are the 2005 rookies who appeared on opening day. Relative to prior years, the number is unusually high -- In 2004, there were only 2 starters and 4 subs; in 2003, 7 starters and 3 subs; in 2002, 2 starters and 4 subs (names are listed near the start of this thread).

This year, the opening day rookie presence is strong again ... the lingering effect of expansion is probably playing a role, but I suspect that good young talent is a factor, too.

Starters (9): Marvell Wynne, Mehdi Ballouchy, Sacha Kljestan, Kei Kamara, Nathan Sturgis, Brandon Moss, Matt Groenwald, Jonathan Bornstein, Lawson Vaughn

Subs (6): Jason Garey, Calen Carr, Ryan Johnson, Kyle Brown, Drew Helm, Floyd Franks

[numerista]

Opening Day Rookies

Starters/Subs Year STARTER NAMES; Sub Names

3/4 1996 McKEON, RALSTON, SILVERA; Ed.Lewis, D.Gutierrez, Cozier, M.Joseph

3/3 1997 A.LEWIS, PARRA, DUHANEY(?); Jolley, T.Suarez, S.Klein

5/3 1998 CULLEN, KOTSCHAU, J.TORRES, TALLEY, J.KELLER; Mathis, B.Olsen, Franchino

3/3 1999 ROCHA, Jam.CLARK, S.BOWER; Mulrooney, Broome, Aldrich

6/5 2000 SHAK, A.BROWN, R.PIERCE, Jus.EVANS, KEY, DiMARIA; A.Woods, Convey, Kovalenko, Schell, Korol

2/2 2001 CURTIS, HERDSMAN; Buddle, D.Barclay (VACA?)

2/4 2002 JEF.STEWART, S.FORKO; Twellman, K.Gray, Martino, Glinton

7/3 2003 R.CLARK, MAGEE, DUNIVANT, PAUSE, CRAWFORD, LeBLANC, C.SCHMIDT; Jaqua, Noonan, Ralph

2/4 2004 G.SULLIVAN, PARKE; Adu, Dempsey, Jam.Sutton, Gros

7/9 2005 GUZAN, O'ROURKE, H.FREEMAN, PARKHURST, A.LOPEZ, B.BOSWELL, MELAMED; C.Barrett, Sealy, Riley, Mediate, Rolfe, Kreamalmeyer, Cameron, Chisoni, R.Kelly

9/6 2006 WYNNE, BALLOUCHY, KLJESTAN, KAMARA, STURGIS, MOSS, GROENWALD, BORNSTEIN, VAUGHN; Garey, C.Carr, R.Johnson, K.Brown, Helm, Franks

I find it noteworthy that the rookies who were opening day starters didn't pan out as well as the subs. For instance, there have been 8 US cap-winners among opening-day starters, 16 among the subs, plus Kovalenko and Ralph. It appears that a rookie starter is usually a guy a coach needs to use, while a rookie sub is a guy he wants to use.