Nobody's done an official thread yet and this is vaguely important in case we stumble on someone good. I've got my own ongoing analysis here, but the best people to follow about this are SBI, Top Drawer Soccer, MLS guy Matt Doyle, former TDS guy Will Parchman, and Matt Ralph from The Brotherly Game. And if you're wondering who our Jack Harrison is this season, we don't have a high enough pick to throw away that kind of talent. Though, there is one player who I will instantly make a nut-rider thread for if we draft him. Fire's Picks: Round 1, 15th overall Round 2, 38th overall Round 4, 84th overall I expect us to attempt (and fail) to shake-up the fvcking soccer world again, so don't expect those to be our final picks.
@Jiggly_333, as much as we tease about your obsession with the draft, I appreciate that you take the time to do the analysis and appreciate your (almost) endless optimism. We will see if we find a useful player in any round and we have as "good" of a chance as finding a useful player at 38th as we will at 15th.
I discovered, to my distress, Malort does that to you when you drink enough to actually get drunk from it.
Speaking of crapshoot, if they were in this year's draft the Fire's 4 major homegrown prospects (Gutman, Lillard, Lindley, & Pineda) would likely be top 10 picks. Only one of them is signed. All of them are ready to play professionally. Another year of college soccer may HURT their development, not help. Worst of all, the prospect pipeline slows to a trickle until U-17 prospect Damian Las. Some ominous news re: Lindley: Confirmation from Rodriguez that Lindley has been offered a homegrown deal....calls Schwesinteiger signing "very close" #cf97 https://t.co/TldaaiHeCO— Guillermo Rivera (@FireConf) January 12, 2018 Guillermo Rivera @FireConf Confirmation from Rodriguez that Lindley has been offered a homegrown deal....calls Schwesinteiger signing "very close" #cf97 https://twitter.com/samstejskal/status/951906192288337920 … 2:08 PM - Jan 12, 2018 Apparently, Lindley also has a Euro passport option available. However, . . . : Not sure it's about Europe at this point. Wants to determine where he plays. He'll have a choice to make when he does come out.— Guillermo Rivera (@FireConf) January 12, 2018 Guillermo Rivera @FireConf Not sure it's about Europe at this point. Wants to determine where he plays. He'll have a choice to make when he does come out. 2:45 PM - Jan 12, 2018 It seems Cam has cold feet at the prospect of playing for the Fire. Can anyone blame him, even with the prospect of learning from Schweinsteiger? Unless there's some deeply personal reason to play elsewhere THIS is the ultimate indictment of Hauptman's stewardship of the Fire.
As I just reported on my Periscope: Sources tell me Chicago Fire have agreed in principle to a trade sending HG rights for Cam Lindley to Orlando City in exchange for Rafa Ramos and allocation money. #MLS #OCSC #cf97— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) January 13, 2018 Paul Tenorio @PaulTenorio As I just reported on my Periscope: Sources tell me Chicago Fire have agreed in principle to a trade sending HG rights for Cam Lindley to Orlando City in exchange for Rafa Ramos and allocation money. #MLS #OCSC #cf97 12:34 PM - 13 Jan 2018 The festering pus of the Andell era oozes into sight. #HauptmanOut #cf97— Trancendental Willy (@SkywayWilly) January 13, 2018 Skyway Willy @SkywayWilly The festering pus of the Andell era oozes into sight. #HauptmanOut #cf97 12:50 PM - Jan 13, 2018
There have been 511* picks in total from 2010-2017, so that is slightly less than 1% of the picks total in the past 8 years have made the Best XI. Sounds about right. ...for a crapshoot! *64-2010 54 38 38 77 84 75 81-2017
Along that line I want to keep an eye on Brandon Bye. Comes from some good youth programs and absolutely lit up at western michigan. Now we see he's ranking as one of best all around athletes in combine. Can play either as a forward or as right back, so could see where he develops. But a guy with this sort of leap and pace could help the depth chart. (Personally I like the notion of a new right back who can maybe free Matt Polster to move back into holding mid. Some might disagree, but IMHO it's still his most impactful position. With him as a stopper/destroyer in front of a guy like Campbell or Kappelhof we could have Dax (and maybe Basti if returns) staying higher and linked to the attack - rather than dropping back so deep. )
I love Polster playing as as CDM and Dax with his engine a little higher up will stop problems all over the field. That being said...I would rather have Polster at RB unless we have a RB that actually IS better.
Polster is a liability in the middle because he’s 100% right footed. He’s MLS good but not MLS Best 11 good.
Also, shouldn't we sign players not to fill gaps but to compete for starting spots? Shouldn't the Fire sign someone that can push Dax to be even better or someone that can push Nikolic to be more efficient in front of goal? I don't want players to just fill gaps or to know week in or week out that a player is going to be starting because we don't have another player behind them because they are not starting material, I want players that will fight for starting spots whether they be a rookie or a world cup winner.
Polster is also one of the most dangerous RBs in MLS. The Fire would have to spend big $$ to find a guy who brings what he does. And no, I'm not saying he is one of the best at RB- that's a speculative debate.
Yes, yes we do. I guess "need" is a strong term, but it certainly helps if you are going to have a great team to have great players. The Fire have had 15 individual Best XI players in their history (23 times total a Fire player, with Nowak, Kubik, Armas, Bocanegra, selected each more than once). See if you find a pattern here: 16 were from 2003 or earlier. (4 in 1998, 2 in 1999, 3 in 2000, 2 in 2001, 1 in 2002 and 4 in 2003) 21 were from 2009 or earlier. The only since then? Magee Nikolic Since the last of of our first batch, we have made the playoffs twice and and have not won a playoff game. So, yes, we need Best XI-calibre players. It sure as heck looks like that won't be through the draft. We have gaps and need quality players. It is a crapshoot whether or not, we receive "quality players" through the draft. Of our "quality players" last season (I will generously classify those players as: McCarty, Kappelhoff, Miera, Campbell, Vincent, Polster, McCarty, Bastian, Alvarez, Juninho, Nikolic, Accam) Alvarez (2003) McCarty (2006) Polster (2014) Campbell (2016) Vincent (2016) are the only ones who came via the draft, by any team. No, of course not. However, we should strive to have the best players possible on the field. By the way, of the 15 individual players MLS Best XI players (23 times) for the Fire: Magee (NY-2003) Soumare (CHI-2007) Mapp (DC-2002) Bocanegra (CHI-2000) were drafted into MLS Razov (LAG-1996) Armas (LAG-1996) Thornton (NY-1996) were drafted at the formation of the league Busch was undrafted Beasley signed and was allocated to LAG and traded to the Fire Nikolic, Conde, Blanco, Stoitchkov, Nowak, Kubik were all internationals. Basically, we have had TWO players that we drafted who became Best XI for the Fire. I am not going to go through how many players total the Fire have drafted, but I would estimate it at 70-100. Yes, and we are not possibly able to fill all of those through the draft...and you are including four of the players I called "quality" players in your analysis.
The Nutmeg News @TheNutmegNews 16m Fans Ready To Welcome Players From The Superdraft To Their USL Affiliates For 1 To 2 Years thenutmegnews.com/current/2018/1