2017 Expansion Draft for Atlanta United FC and Minnesota United FC When: Tuesday December 13, 2016 Important Rules: 1. Each MLS club can only lose one unprotected player 2. Only 5 rounds will be conducted 3. Teams can protect 11 players plus current Generation Addias and Home grown players http://www.rsl.com/post/2016/09/13/2017-mls-expansion-draft-details-announced MLS Cup is December 10th. So the offseason roster adjustments are going to start quickly. Glad to see only 5 rounds in the expansion draft. In years past there were like ten or eleven rounds which allowed up to two players being removed from a squads' roster. That really depleted the quality of depth for that team, but those players didn't always transition into starters or fit the system that the expansion team was looking for. So who would you protect and who do you think qualifies for exemption under GA/HG? As a reference, here is DCU's salary numbers from the MLS Player Salaries released in September: Club Last Name First Name Pos Base Salary Compensation DC Acosta Luciano M-F 327,272.76 $ 429,272.76 $ DC Aguilar Miguel M 63,000.00 $ 63,000.00 $ DC Arnaud Davy M 212,500.00 $ 212,500.00 $ DC Birnbaum Steven D 86,350.00 $ 116,350.00 $ DC Boswell Bobby D 260,000.00 $ 260,000.00 $ DC Buescher Julian M 70,000.00 $ 84,700.00 $ DC DeLeon Nick M 235,000.00 $ 235,000.00 $ DC Durkin Chris D-M 51,504.00 $ 60,670.67 $ DC Dykstra Andrew GK 75,000.00 $ 85,700.00 $ DC Franklin Sean D 225,000.00 $ 256,666.67 $ DC Hamid Bill GK 325,000.00 $ 370,500.00 $ DC Horton Charlie GK 69,999.96 $ 76,166.63 $ DC Igboananike Kennedy F 800,000.00 $ 901,666.67 $ DC Jeffrey Jared M 71,662.50 $ 77,862.50 $ DC Kamara Alhaji F 51,500.04 $ 59,750.04 $ DC Kemp Taylor D 100,000.00 $ 100,000.00 $ DC Korb Chris D 108,900.00 $ 116,379.83 $ DC Mancini Andrea F 82,500.00 $ 82,500.00 $ DC Martin Collin M 75,000.00 $ 89,166.67 $ DC Mishu Luke D 62,500.00 $ 62,500.00 $ DC Mullins Patrick F 96,250.00 $ 126,250.00 $ DC Neagle Lamar M-F 185,000.00 $ 187,833.33 $ DC Nyarko Patrick F-M 210,000.00 $ 225,750.00 $ DC Opare Kofi D 90,000.00 $ 105,000.00 $ DC Robinson Jalen D 75,000.00 $ 87,000.00 $ DC Rolfe Chris F 257,500.00 $ 272,500.00 $ DC Saborio Alvaro F 420,000.00 $ 535,500.00 $ DC Sam Lloyd M-F 230,000.00 $ 240,000.00 $ DC Sarvas Marcelo M 360,000.00 $ 425,000.00 $ DC Vincent Rob M-F 62,508.00 $ 62,508.00 $ DC Worra Travis GK 53,472.00 $ 53,472.00
One way to look at this is who out the starting XI (or top XIV or whatever) would not be missed. I'm gonna throw out a name there: Nick DeLeon. He's often a fan favorite for his constant hustle, but I see that as mostly mindless running around on the flanks or inane passing in the center. It was only when he got switched to Right Defense that he seemed to be OK. But that play on the corner nailed this selection: The first dictum of any defender is Kick The Ball To The Outside! When trapped deep in the corner, you can tease the opponents with turning to the inside but you're really setting up turning back to the outside to make the clear (or maybe setting up a Central Defender deeper to make the clear). But sadly, no, he doesn't inherently grasp that 1st/2nd grade concept. And Andy Najar he ain't going down the flanks from his Right Defender spot).
Birnbaum Buescher Jeffrey Kamara Kemp Korb Mullins Neagle Nyarko Opare Sam Assuming Acosta won't need to be protected since we don't own him? Hamid/Robinson/Marting/Durkin are homegrowns. Is Buescher GA?
Here's my 11, assuming Acosta and Birnbaum stay. Acosta Birnbaum Hamid Jeffrey Kamara Kemp Mullins Neagle Nyarko Robinson Sam
A thought from Minnesota... There's a difference in my mind about the two Uniteds...Atlanta is building a roster from scratch. We (MNUFC) are upgrading one that already exists. My guess is that there will be a completely different way each approaches the draft...the Super Draft as well, for that matter. We need an upgrade at GK very very badly. Sammy Ndjock can be brilliant one moment, and amazingly inept the next. Plus he has a very bad habit of blaming his teammates for his mistakes, to the point where he's had to be separated from teammates before things came to blows on at least two occasions during games. The other slot we badly need is a strike partner for Christian Ramirez.
Good list, but you probably have to protect another international or two. Vincent over Jeffrey would work.
If I remember correctly, when the sounders moved to MLS from usl they only carried over a handful of players
Amos Magee reportedly going to MN united staff. I presume this increases the chances that we lose a player to them. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
Possibly. But there is a small period of free agency before the expansion draft. MN could sign an unrestricted free agent like Sean Franklin. All depends on their needs.
They could do that AND take a dc player in the draft too. There isn't much connection between the two of you ask me.
I think it decreases the chances, out of respect for the opportunity United gave Magee. To go and take players from the team that just paid you seems like a bad look.
I think that we're going to lose DeLeon, Korb or Franklin, depending upon which of them is exposed. Certainly, we stand to lose two of the three if all three of them are exposed. My guess is that one of either Vincent or Jeffrey will be the next most likely players to be taken depending upon which of them is protected and which of them is exposed. Boswell might be a good pickup in the sense that he might have a good year or two left and that United might be willing to trade allocation money or draft picks to get him back. I don't think that we have anybody else that an expansion team might want aside from Worra or Dykstra. I assume that Charlie Horton is a Generation Adidas player, right? We're really top heavy with keepers right now. We're going to have to trim a keeper so at least one of those three guys is likely to be trade-bait or gone. Those are my thoughts as of right now.
Can only lose one player in this expansion draft. There are also only 5 picks per expansion team, so half of the current MLS teams won't lose a player at all. And Horton is not a GA player. He would have been ineligible anyway since he already played with professional teams in England (Peterborough, Cardiff City, and Leeds) prior to signing with MLS.
Also Franklin is out of contract per Goff, not sure how that factors in to this. maybe we would just lose his rights? but there's a chance we let him go to the re entry draft anyway
More to stop the expansion draft from screwing over established teams and to maintain continuity within organizations that develop players. The success rate for expansion draft picks is remarkably low with most never factoring significant or even nominal minutes with the team that selects them, so it's not a big loss for them anyway. In addition, expansion teams are getting more allocation money this year, so they'll be in a better position to sign or trade for players.
Narrow ing the expansion draft to just 5 rounds seems appropriate. With all the different ways clubs have to build a roster, stealing my another squad's depth usually is not a winning formula in MLS.
Does Bill Hamid still count as a home grown in this instance or does his new contract void that exemption?
He's no longer under a Homegrown contract, so no longer exempt and would have to be protected. Martin, Robinson, and Durkin would be protected Homegrowns, though.
Here's my best guess as to our roster status: Exemptions: Home Grown: Martin, Robinson, Durkin Generation Addias: Buescher My Protected List 1. Acosta Luciano M-F 2. Birnbaum Steven D 3. Boswell Bobby D 4. DeLeon Nick M 5. Hamid Bill GK 6. Kemp Taylor D 7. Mullins Patrick F 8. Neagle Lamar M-F 9. Nyarko Patrick F-M 10. Sam Lloyd M-F 11. Sarvas Marcelo M Solid Roster Spot: Jeffrey Jared, Opare Kofi, Vincent Rob, Dykstra Andrew, Martin Collin Can Earn Roster Spot: Aguilar Miguel, Worra Travis, Horton Charlie, Kamara Alhaji, Korb Chris, Mishu Luke Taking Coaching Role: Arnaud Davy M, Rolfe Chris(Probably) Out of Contract/Unknown status: Franklin Sean D Not returning: Igboananike Kennedy F, Mancini Andrea F, Saborio Alvaro F Note: Per @MLSist Pablo Maurer who is in Columbus covering the USMNT, DCU and Birnbaum in contract negotiations. Pablo Maurer @MLSist 2h2 hours ago Chatted w/Steve Birnbaum here in CLB. Tells me his ppl & #DCU are talking contract extension- I've heard elsewhere 2 sides are far apart on$
I think I would take the risk of exposing Boswell and DeLeon in favor of protecting Vincent and Jeffrey. I suppose a vet like Boswell could be valuable for the first year of two of an expansion team, and DeLeon might be attractive to some teams, but Boswell is in his waning years and I doubt other teams see DeLeon as an automatic starter, whereas Vincent and Jeffrey are relatively young and would be good, affordable roster additions to a number of teams. I would value them over Bos and Nick, looking forward.
Smart. I think that Bobby is gone if we expose him and, in an expansion draft, we should only be thinking of the season ahead and nothing else. Opare or Robinson can be replaced, if necessary. But, isn't Marcelo gone?