ColoradoRapids.com conducted an exclusive interview this morning with Antonio de la Torre ahead of today's MLS Expansion Draft. Take a second to check out Antonio's thoughts both on this past season and the future, as he awaits today's Expanision Draft at 2pm: http://www.coloradorapids.com/News/newsdetails.asp?ID=800
"DLT- “No. The team explained to me the rules that were set by the League in regards to the draft and I understood the repercussions of those rules. I know that I’m not being placed on that list because the team doesn’t want me, but it’s more because of the fact that they probably had to protect some players that without the specific rules from MLS they wouldn’t have protected." In other words, 'the Rapids had to protect wastes of space like Zizi Roberts, Delgado, etc.' I still can't believe we exposed him, if only because he would seem to have some trade value. On the other hand, it seems possible that Chivas USA will be a proving ground for the big club in Mexico, and thus Chivas may quietly be working on obtaining scores of green cards for players in its organization.
I will be shocked if DLT does not go to Chivas today. He is a freebie for them since he already has the green card and I think one of his relatives works for Chivas, maybe an uncle or something. I think I remember some relation like that. There is no reason for Chivas not to take DLT.
They did. Only one SI could be left unprotected. We apparently have four. Was Powell the right SI to leave unprotected? That can be questioned, but they couldn't put all the SI's, Zizi, Delgado, Rey Martinez, and Powell, on the list even if they wanted to.
The fact they left Powell unprotected is at least a little inspiring because he is one of the most expensive SI's in the league and doesn't play much. If they put Delgado out there I would have questioned the reasoning more because he's cheap and worthless while Powell is expensive and seemingly worthless.
I know this is just a technicality, but I think DLT has dual citizenship, not a green card. In fact, I think I remember him saying that he would be open to playing for the US if he was ever given the opportunity.
Nobody will take Powell and his salary. Hell, why would they take him at the league minimum? BTW, what a list of SI's. Sheesh. Oh my gawd!! I wonder why Hanki and Counce are gone. Could these guys, plus Grimandi and boring defensive shells as tactics reflect poor judgement? Just a thought. That list of senior internationals has to be the biggest train wreck in the history of MLS.
Think about what? Pow Pow's contribution to the team? How he compares to guy like Gomez who signed with DC and actually made a contribution on the offensive side of things where we needed it most? Yeah, sucks.
Exactly what I was talking about. When you put it in that perspective there should be no one defending the firings of Hankinson and Counce.
Not too many sane people are defending them. Only crazies! Well, we're all in support of their sacking. I defend them being fired.
Kinda makes me think of an off-shore oil spill. Just a totally disgusting mess and it's gonna take a while to clean it all up.
I can only imagine that Powell has one more year on his MLS contract, and by leaving him unprotected the Rapids were hoping that someone would take his salary off their hands. Now if the Rapids want to drop him, they've got to petition MLS to work a deal where they buy out the rest of his contract in such a manner that it's not counted against their salary cap. Again, that's assuming Powell is not out of contract with the league. If he IS out of contract, leaving him unprotected seems silly as it would have been a chance to dump one of the others that still are.
When I talked to DLT he told me that he really wanted to stay and not make the move, but this is all over now. From my under standing, he has no close famaly in chivas.