This signing is completely in line with my expectations. We needed a 4th/5th string CB. However, signing ANY 4th/5th string CB is going to be underwhelming. Similar to signing a 3rd setting GK or a 12th man to an NBA team. Those two aspects of my reaction are not mutually exclusive.
Uh.... ok? Speaking of 3rd string GK, anybody in the college draft we should be looking at for that? I'm completely out of the know for the draft and what talent (if any) is there
Interesting compilation of information on the 2017 SuperDraft from MLSSoccer.com here. 42 of 81 players selected made MLS rosters; 27 appeared in at least 1 MLS game; 27 remain on MLS rosters (including three from the fourth round). Lots more detail in there.
I've wondered too. According to SBI mock draft, the only goalkeeper worth much is someone named Jeff Caldwell, who I've never heard of. They project him going 18th, but if we decide we need a keeper, he's probably the guy.
A rookie to be third behind Sparrow seems . . . well, it would sure indicate we think the world of Sparrow.
I mean, he had a hell of a season with the Monarchs, so why not give him a chance? Seems like a risk worth taking and then if, come summer, we need to make a move we go find a lower division GK or make a trade within the league to find a backup
man, that is a pretty bad list from a "is the draft worthwhile" perspective That said, I didn't realize that the guy who finished 3rd in rookie of the year voting was picked in the 4th round. Who did RSL pick in the 4th round? Pass? Who is this Mr Pass... oh we passed. Wait, no, WE PASSED IN ROUND 3 SO WERE REMOVED FROM DRAFTING LATER. Seriously - sell all the picks for amazon gift cards
All this tells me is what I already knew, from a statistical perspective the MLS draft is quite literally a coin flip, half the time you won't get anything (50/50), getting a player in the draft that sticks around more than a year is like getting heads twice in a row (50% * 50% = 25%). The draft is a completely pointless waste of everyone's time, effort, and money, it needs to go away. Save the money that would have been spent on putting on such a pointless dog and pony show, give it to teams to scout, recruit, and develop academies/youth. Odds are if you're coming out of college (especially as a senior/21-22 year old) you're not going to be a difference maker anyways, for the vast majority of the kids you're going to be a roster filler who gets spot time due to injuries. Let teams scout and recruit these kids as they see fit as they come out of college.
It's particularly interesting when compared to each team's best draft pick: Some of the best pics have been #1. Tony Beltran was 3rd, Roldan was 16th Geoff Cameron was a 42nd in 2008 when the Dynamo drafted him.
Time out goes RSL. We trade 10th pick to Chicago for $85k in allocation money. Welcome, allocation money!
I like what Petke had to say about trading away the pick. The 2 HG signings that we have, RSL considers to be 1st round pick type guys. They wanted 2 guys, neither fell to them so they picked up some money. I do wonder if the money was enough. You go from picks going for 150k or so at #5 and drops to almost half of that at 10. But still better than drafting a guy who will not be on the team still next year.
that's a good deal. Instead of potentially signing a draft player we are going to be able to cut someone's cap hit by a good chunk.Hell, you could turn that 85K into a decent USL level GK real quick. What we needed (backup GK, MF depth) wasn't available in the draft and the "best available" player just wasn't worth taking. So instead we got cash to get one of those things essentially for zero cap hit. Well done, Craig
That said, FuKC - who are known to draft pretty well - picked up a GK from Butler with the 13th pick. Curious to see if that kid turns into anything
We may think one of the second or third round guys is worth it compared to what is on the board now at first round prices.
Current Depth Chart (without double listing players) GK (2): Nicky*, Sparrow LB (2): Acosta, Phillips CB (5): Glad, MSilva, Horst, Peay, Barry RB (3): Beltran^, Herrera, Henley CM (4): KB, Luke, Sunny, Besler LW (2): Plata, Saucedo AM (3): Rusnak, Hernandez, Baird# RW (3): Savarino, Lennon, Allen FW (3): Ortuno, LSilva, Yura *TBA (hopefully) ^Injured for majority of 2018 #No clue where Baird fits on the depth chart GK depth is a must. Which are suddenly getting taken off the draft board frequently. Though, I understand the club wanting a guy with more experience than a college grad. We essentially have that in Sparrow. I expect an older player (28ish) to be picked The drop at AM is the most drastic of any position. Hard to have a quality backup in that role, though. The more I look at that, the more surprising Vela going back to the Monarchs instead of getting promoted is. Left Wing will be interesting to watch this year, too. Granted, we can rotate players more but in a pure "best spot" setup, we are shallow there.
If the money is there I wouldn't mind dropping it on a relatively expensive AM. It's an important position and the team would be devastated if something happened to Rusnak.
thats a hard sale to a player. This club (rightfully) thinks the world of Rusnak. Convincing a guy to come in, even with a decent amount of money, to try and displace him or even find any minutes is going to be difficult. Velasquez would have been ideal. He's not a top player, but I think he's better suited for the role than Hernandez. I would love the club to be ambitious in this and get another TAM type AM, but I'm not sure how you pull that off with the cap and other (Yura/Nicky) issues that need to be dealt with.
No cash trade with our second pick (33rd overall) instead we drafted Ricky Lopez-Espin (FW) from Creighton
It couldn't hurt to have both play together a number of games. Two creative midfielders could be nice if at least one is willing to drop back and help in defense when asked. Finding the money for this is definitely the holdup though.