I was thinking that each iteration of the expansion draft seems less beneficial to the team being added to the league. With all the additional TAM, DP's, increased salary cap, etc., I'm surprised they haven't done away with it. That being said, here's the list: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/12/10/2017-mls-expansion-draft-protected-and-unprotected-lists What would you do if you were LAFC GM?
I'd ask other MLS club GM's which players they want and start making deals for cash. There really aren't any names on that list that jump out to me as players that could contribute.
I look at the list and every name I recognize seems to have strings attached. Hamid: rumored to be going to England in January. Beltran and Alonso: nagging injuries. Several Atl players on loan and projected to return to Argentina/UK. You get the idea. On the other hand, Movsisyan, what a steal! (Just in case anyone from LAFC reads this).
I really wish someone would publish this list with the players cap hit from at least 2017 included (and expected 2018 if possible).
Sometimes I think "Wow, what could we have done with these rules in place instead of what we had in our expansion draft!" And then I remember our brain trust, and I wonder instead what sort of permanent trouble we could have gotten into with Pastorino and Ellinger pulling the strings. Other teams would be like:
There's some solid pieces here. Some good keepers (Attinella, Gleeson, Mccarthy, Klenofsky with a minimum contract), a couple good veteran attackers like Urena or Arturo Alvarez. Romario Williams is on a tiny contract, and spent the year dominating USL on loan - may be a low-risk kind of move. I'm really surprised to see Raheem Edwards there - he's got a minimum contract, just had a terrific year for Toronto, and is only 22. He'd be my number one pick.
Trying to imagine how that would work. An obligation each year to acquire international players and then gift them to other teams, perhaps...
Tyler Miller, Latif Blessing, Marco Urena, Jukka Raitala, and Raheem Edwards. I half predicted a couple of them. What I'm reading is that LA will keep Edwards, but the others may all be traded. I wouldn't be all that interested in any of the others on RSL - maybe Miller.
Sad we didn't appear to work a deal for them to take Yura and/or get them to pick us up a player (Salaam) through the draft.