It's not a bad list, I'd quibble with protecting Bunbury, and I think we run a fair risk of losing Woodberry.
Why protect Koffie? isn't his contract up in Dec? he is making 260k. that is a lot to back up Kouassi. Teal's production dropped and is effectiveness is questionable. At 250k he is way over priced. Bah bye
Since they exercised the option on Cropper, it seems like they might protect him and leave the other keepers exposed, or at least that's what I hope they'll do. They may have viewed Koffie as a "rent-a-player" all along, but he's been pretty good. If we left him exposed, surely he'd get taken. As far as the other guys go, I wouldn't want to lose Femi, as he seems like he has a good upside. The question is, since only 10 players total are going to be taken league-wide, is he among the best options for the new teams? Obviously it depends on who else is out there, but assuming other teams will have similarly tough choices, I can see someone with more hype from a more glamourous (playoff) team being taken before any of the guys we leave exposed. Unless they are stupid and leave Cropper out...
I think Seth did a good job of outlining the case for protecting Koffie in the article -- basically that he's recently made noises that he'd like to stay, and if so, he's worth keeping (I think he has one of the best quality of play to salary ratio's on the squad). Agree on Teal that the salary is way out of line for the production.
I think Koffie was frequently our best player this past season. $260k/year is a good deal, and a diamond midfield with Koffie, Kouassi, Caldwell and Rowe/Nguyen would be great.
We could find a way to make it work. Kouassi and Koffee at dmid, find a more advanced role for Caldwell when all three are available. Or, maybe Kouassi can play a more attacking role, with Caldwell and Koffee behind him ...?
I was not sold on Koffie as much as others were. I long for the days when Shalrie roamed the midfield and just reeked havoc. Maybe Kouassi will be our new Shalrie of one better. If there are no plans of upgrading the back line then yes I can see the need to protect Koffie and play with two DMids. Maybe a 3-5-2? ..................................Cropper Farrell..........................CB...........................LB ................Kouassi.................Koffie Rowe........................ Nguyen....................Fagundez ....................Kamara.............Agudelo
This is where Heaps' tactical and strategic acumen (or lack thereof) comes into play. A good manager will find a way to make it work where he has 3 better-than-average players at his disposal, instead of sitting one and letting a lesser player get PT at another position. Nicol realized early on that he had to find a way to get Dempsey on the field, so he sacraficed a back from the 4-4-2 in order to do it. Is Heaps capable of seeing what needs to be done and actually implementing it? Considering how hard it was for him to realize what he had to do when Kamara joined the team, and he wasted 2 months on autopilot, I have my doubts.
So this who I would protect: Kamara Agudelo Rowe Fagundez Farrell Nguyen Kouassi Tierney Caldwell Herivaux Cropper Koffie JoGo I considered placing Watson or Femi on the list instead of JoGo, but the risk of them getting taken seems less likely. If we lose any of the other guys (like one of the keepers), I can live with it.
The cynic in me still believes that part of the deal to sign Cropper was a clause promising him that he would not be protected in the expansion draft.
Yes, I can easily see a scenario like that. And it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see the Revs agree to it, in return for something like the cost of buying an opponent's away leg in the CCL. Just once I would like to see them prove me wrong. Protect Cropper and let the chips fall where they may. Shuttleworth and Knighton will never be more than slightly above average. Expansion teams don't need any extra advantages. Just having a semi-ambitious owner is enough of an advanatage that we will never have.
According to MLS, this year's expansion teams will only choose 5 players each instead of the usual ten, and no team can lose more than one player.
MLS Expansion Draft 101: Everything you need to know November 28, 2016, 11:18AM EST Dave Zeitlin SMH...
I'm not sure I'd protect Tierney. He's always been a flawed player and he's not getting any faster now that he's in his 30s. My take is the Revs already got his prime. Possibly a moot point since the Revs strike me as a team that might not have anyone taken. Funny bit from the article where it claimed the Revs gave up "a lot" to get Kamara. No, they didn't. They gave up a 1st round and 2nd round pick and I've got Steve Neumann and Jordan McCrary as exhibits on why the team should trade every draft it owns from here to eternity. The allocation money and international slot may be missed at some point in the future, but it's entirely possible the Revs never intended to use any of that.
Sure, Tierney's probably past his peak, but who would you protect instead of him? I get the sense that he is more highly rated around the league than he is on these boards, but overall, he's still OK, despite his flaws. We're a mediocre-at-best team, and while we do have some better than average players, a lot of our guys are in the "nothing special" category. Not like we're leavign Leonel Messi exposed to protect Tierney. Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to give up a lot to get Kamara. I figued we'd have to give up someone like Rowe or someone else who could be useful. I'm fine with trading draft picks for Monopoly money, unless we have a top-5 pick who could end up being a good player. Oh, and we got a lot of those non-player assets back in the Davies trade, so it was basically Kamara-for-Davies.
I was mainly speaking from the standpoint of not treating Tierney like a lock. As I look at the roster, I have a hard time getting to 11 guys I think have to be protected. Who would you get to replace Tierney? You've got three months to figure it out. I'm not arguing with "he's still OK," just noting that the team might be able to do better than OK. For instance, Woodberry's youth and versatility along the back line might be more valuable to a team that needs to remake its defense.
There was some discussion of the expansion draft beginning around 9/18 in the roster thread. I posted the following quoted stuff in that thread about Tierney and other things at the time. Today I wonder how much of a leader is Tierney? How much of a presence does he have in the locker room? Those might be reasons to protect him as well, but his staying or leaving will have little if any long term impact (positive or negative) on any team. He is a fine player who plays a position that might be difficult to fill, but he is very replaceable and will need to be replaced in two years time. These days it makes me laugh that I considered protecting McCrary on potential alone. Also, I would protect Cropper at this point. I am also trying to think of who might be worth protecting from the standpoint of trade value? Why let somebody go for free if you could possibly trade them and get something in return? Cropper? Bunbury? Others?
You clarified my main concern with Tierney: when he goes, he'll go fast (due to his lack of foot speed). His value is in getting forward and providing width, but getting back and handling quicksilver attackers is going to be where he struggles as he ages. It's also where he struggled in his youth. Just piecing through the roster, here's what I come up with for a protected list: Caldwell and Herivaux get HGP protection. For some reason Diego doesn't. Maybe it's because he's been in the league for a while. Yet Caldwell's three years into the league as well and he's four years older than Diego. I'm hoping Bent Musket has this wrong and Diego gets HGP protection. Yet let's say Diego doesn't qualify. These would be my automatics (in no particular order): 1. Kei Kamara 2. Juan Agudelo 3. Diego Fagundez 4. Lee Nguyen 5. Kelyn Rowe 6. Xavier Kousassi 7. Andrew Farrell 8. Cody Cropper That leaves three spots for Tierney, Woodberry, Bunbury, Watson, Knighton, Shuttleworth and (if they re-sign him) Koffie. I don't know if they can delay officially signing Koffie until after the draft (MLS signing rules/deadlines is arcana I try not to know by rote). Don't even know if they're looking to bring back Koffie, though I was impressed with his play, so hopefully they do. They'd better not be bringing back JoGo. Thanks for your service, but time to find a younger, better option to anchor the defense. You make a good case for keeping Tierney - why lose an asset with trade value for free? So let's thrown him onto the protected list. I'm not too worried about Bunbury. He's a decent MLS bench player. Brings some pace as a late substitute, not bad as a spot starter or injury replacement. Yet it's hard to believe an expansion club is going to want Teal to play a bigger role. Woodberry is young, tall, quick and versatile. I could see an expansion club picking him to fill a role in the back line, especially when you don't know who else is going to be in the mix. Knighton probably would be one of the better keepers in the draft if he's unprotected. I doubt Shuttleworth will be with the team in 2017 if Cropper's staying. Watson's a seasoned pro who might provide some stability and leadership to a young team. So I'd probably protect Woodberry and Knighton as my 10th and 11th guys. At least, that's what I do if Koffie doesn't have to be protected.