Until 2014 teams in the Expansion Draft took 10 players, which was down from 12 in 1997. Seems like the franchises have been complaining about losing players, and the league has tweaked the rules to appease them. I tend to be on the side of the franchises, but I also understand the need for the expansion draft. It's a sticky wicket.
New franchises get a whole bunch of Garber Bucks to accomplish buying all the things you listed above. It’s how you use those dollars that can largely determine your initial success. Our southern rivals are a good example of a team that used them a lot and over paid a lot and now already face a rebuild type of scenario. The league is getting more and more sophisticated and the teams that half ass on things will get even more exposed.
So, if I am reading the rules right: 1) We can protect 12 2) We can only lose 1 3) Keita & Crognale (HGs 25 & under) & Opoku & JJ Williams (non-graduated GA's) should be auto-protected. 4) Teams with 4+ INT players must protect at least 3. We have 5: Santos, Diaz, Room, Mokhtar, & Sosa (plus maybe Valenzuela & Cadden). 5) No idea if Cadden needs to be protected or not. For me, from top to bottom: 1) Santos, 2) Zardes, 3) Diaz, 4) Valenzuela, 5) Trapp, 6) Mensah, 7) Room, 8) Jimenez, 9) Artur, 10) Argudo, 11) Cadden (if need to), 12) Pipa (if he wants to play) If we have 1-2 more spots open: R. Williams & Afful. Maybe Mokhtar or Abubakar depending on how the rest of the season goes for them. If we think JJ is doing well, Romario makes less sense.
I can't see any reason to protect Pipa. A DP level player in his mid-30s coming off of a serious knee injury. Maybe he retires, maybe not. But even if he does try to play again (1) there's no guarantee he, physically, still has it in him and (2) he's almost certainly at the very end of his career. Why an expansion club would be interested in such a player/gamble is lost on me.
Exactly this. He is more valuable to us than any other team simply because of his leadership/mentorship qualities with players for whom he already has a relationship.
I think Abubakar is being undervalued in the lists I'm seeing fans make. Auto Protected: Keita, Crognale, JJ, Opoku List (alphabetically order according to the roster) 1. Abubakar 2. Argudo 3. Cadden (if he needs protected) 4. Artur 5. Diaz 6. Mensah 7. Mokhtar (would be first off if pressed to swap) 8. Room 9. Santos 10. Trapp 11. Valenzuela 12. Zardes That leaves Accam (not ours and also probably protection that Nashville isn't taking a player from us), Afful (on the decline), Clark (old), Francis (back up piece, would consider swapping him for Cadden if he doesn't need protected), Guzman (please pick him Miami), Hamilton (???), Higuain (old, injured, big contract), Jimenez (another consideration if Cadden is safe), Kempin (meh), Lundgaard (unknown to meh), Maloney (back up piece), Sosa (another consideration piece for the last spot but doesn't seem to be in the team's future), Josh Williams (old), Romario Williams (another consideration for the last spot). I might consider leaving Zardes off as there's stuff that don't make him a smart pick for the expansion teams. But I don't really feel like there's anyone else worth saving to take that chance. If I were as handsome as Bez, those 12 would be the ones I'd send in.
That's pretty much my list too. I also see value in Abubakar, Colorado sure does, so protecting him so that we can hold on to the asset to either play or trade seems like good business. I tinker with leaving Santos unprotected and daring someone to take him off our hands. But since you didn't really leave anyone off that I'd be desperate to keep, might as well hang on to him.
You are probably right. I just think that IF he wants to return, and if we want him back, he gets protected. It is more about respect than wisdom. Like Kobe's last contract. It makes zero sense on a logical level, but is more about the relationship with the player & how the organization wants to be viewed. I kind of envision us making a deal with Colorado for Abubakar before the draft.
Cadden explains it all: Worth a full read, but the bullet is that the Crew wanted him right away and were trying to trade a player to land an international spot. When they couldn't get it done, Caddens agent pulled Oxford into the deal. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport...s/chris-cadden-details-truth-painful-20136447
Kid sounds excited - will be glad to have him here next year! So when do we think his loan ends? At the end of the winter window so he can get over here and start training with the club for pre-season?
Yeah, I don't get this part either. That said, maybe they're hoping to rig it so that when Austin comes into the league next time, they can make the Crew exempt from the draft.
Anybody want Diego Valeri? Valeri may not be back for Portland and an Eastern Conference team is interested. https://t.co/kEWuLNKoHf pic.twitter.com/nVM93715Wj— Patrick Guldan (@GuldanMR) September 25, 2019
Valeri was the best player in the league 5 years ago. If he's expendable now in Portland that should be enough for everyone to know that he's not a player any good team needs. I'd still take Nagbe over any of our current central midfielders. But that is more of an indictment of our current players than it is a compliment to Nagbe.
I would have happily taken Nagbe four months ago. But going forward I hope we can do better. The best argument I can think of for Valeri would be so that when we play Portland he can make a fool of Steve Clark again like he did when he - and a dead blind official - cost us the Cup in 15.
Seems like an odd choice because from all I can tell Porter doesn’t make these decisions like GB did. He doesn’t fit the profile of the players we have said we are looking at.
Completely spitballing here... Valeri to Chicago? Schweinsteiger is at the end of his 3rd season with the Fire, a typical MLS contract length before options. Valeri 2019 salary - 2.4MM Pigsticker 2019 salary - 5.6MM Cut your salary costs and still keep a name player to attract folks for the 'new' Fire?
Last year i would have took him because we were so bad but I like who we have and he might be better than Higuaín but he is also a huge injury risk and unless it’s a 1yr deal for a under DP salary I wouldn’t even consider it. However we absolutely don’t need a aging player in our Youth movement. He certainly does not fit what Bez is looking for . I think Chicago or even Cincinnati should consider him so they can keep doing dumb stuff
I hope they are dumb enough to go for that. Valeri is still a good player but at his age, not a guy I want to build my team around.