I doubt this will happen, simply because MLS teams seem to eschew any kind of risky trades these days, but this is a great opportunity for some of the teams without many foreigners to leverage that advantage. Columbus has, by my count, one SI - they could offer to take Diego Walsh off Kansas City's hands for, say, a second round pick (and send Testo or Herdsman back to KC). Likewise the Galaxy, who according to MLS, only have one SI on their roster (Marshall and Moreno, swedcrip?), and San Jose (who have one spot free).
That's certainly interesting after watching Sampson leave him on the bench for the semifinal, a game in which both Wizards goals came from unforgivable breakdowns on the Galaxy backline. But I'll believe the Euro stuff when it happens ... it's starting to smell as if Suárez will return to LA, albeit in red and white stripes.
Next week? Make that one day. MLS has said the trading window is just on Monday. Could be exciting. My guess is that most trades are already or close to being in place now.
Moreno actually got a Green Card. Ruiz is the only SI. Dan Loney just stated Zotinca would be the USMNT RB. So doesn't that mean he HAS to be protected. He is probably a good cap value though I don't recall his salary off the top of my head.
McDLT isn't that expensive, from what I've heard, and he's good trade bait with Chivas USA, so he's worth keeping protected. I'd rather see Roberts unprotected (Second highest salary on the team behind the retiring Spencer) and hope ReAL takes him off our hands for us.
Like has been said by a few others, I doubt we would protect Bo, he's only a year younger then Tony, which doesn't make him extremely young. Then you have the fact that Tony is making the max, and neither of the expansion teams would pick him up when there will be an abundence of quality goalkeepers available for the expansion draft. Preki will more then likely retire before he would leave KC. Therefore, teams would most likely know this and not take him, meaning that another player on KC you can take off the list. So in place of both Bo and Preki, place Guti and Burciaga.
There's a quote from Ellinger somewhere (please don't make me find it) in which he says he wants to go with young players.
Zotinca??? he's from Romania and has a green card, but he is not a US citizen. http://kc.wizards.mlsnet.com/MLS/players/bio.jsp?team=kcw&player=zotinca_a&playerId=zot296636
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150147 I had mentioned this before, but if you are an MLS player making something less than maximum salary and your idea of "nightlife" is watching a Wiggles video; then you might ask to be left unprotected. Housing is cheap here (not the cheapest in the league, but close) and if you have to read "Goodnight Moon" a couple dozen times a night; who cares if our bars (private clubs) close at 1 AM?
Wow that TI's who turn 25 in 2005 are now SIs and only being able to expose 1 SI is really going to throw a wrench into some teams plans.
That's also why Loney thinks he can get away with such an over-statement. Incidentally, Zotinca will be eligible for citizenship next year ... if Arena wanted, he could get him processed with plenty of time to prepare for Germany.
This is a neat idea, and I think it deserves to be re-stated. Every team has one Get out of Jail Free Card: permission to remove one SI from roster protection. Some teams have no use for this, while others (assuming the no-waiver rule) would like to have more than one. As in Chris's example above, this could create the following situation: Kansas City trades: Diego Walsh and a draft pick In exchange for: nothing (or next-to-nothing) In essence, the Wizards would be paying another team to put up with Diego Walsh for a few days ... it'll be interesting to see whether this actually happens.
It is time for DC United to cut loose Santino Quaranta. I'd much rather keep Brian Namoff than Tino, who has contributed close to ZIPPY for United. The guy is also injury prone, so let's get rid of him so he can start over with another squad.
Chivas picks first http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20041114&content_id=19076&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp says T-I's are exempt. not sure if that's really true. that'll change some of the projections (especially Metrostars). maybe they meant the dev/t-i's. affected players: Quintanilla, Thomas, Ngwenya, Saragosa, Glen, Vaca, Boucicaut, Scott, and Brenes only the two LA players and maybe Glen & Brenes were really projected protected anyway. I had Quintanilla but most didn't. So the main affect will be to protect a couple more LA & MET players and prevent 9 players from being available. almost funny that the three teams involved in protecting more players than I predicted are LA/DC/MET, the 3 traditionally "favored" teams. Though KC, Columbus, and CHI don't stand to lose 1 player each.
Actually, considering the staggering number of counterattack goals that Dallas gave up while it was pressing forward in a vain effort to try and score goals, I would say that it needs more help on the attacking end.
I think all the really interesting picks will be made by CD Chivas USA. If they pick all latinos....BS heads will roll..not mine..but many. I just wonder what stud player will be left unprotected..there has to be one big surprise coming.
but another announcement indicates TI's next year will be "less than 24", current 24 y/o's are TI's. So the players I listed might be SI's next year. Possibly the same for Khari Stephenson. Clarification is needed!
hell no. I'd rather see Dema go (and I'm NOT saying that because of the redcard). he has way too much talent for us to let him go after he has FINALLY gotten healthy.
DC's likely list per Goff http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52699-2004Nov15.html I'm pretty sure he actually knows the list with his sources but phrases it like a guess/assumption
actually reading it again, he goes out of his way to credit United officials for being "mum", but assumes protected: Rimando, Namoff, Olsen, Carroll, Kovalenko, Gros, Gomez, Moreno, Eskandarian, Quaranta, Nelsen, Petke developmental: Adu, Kuffour, JThompson, Stokes exposed: Perkins, Prideaux, Hendrickson, Quintanilla, Martins doesn't mention but also would be exposed: Lawson, Ara, Stewart (leaving) not sure if Stewart will carry an allocation upon leaving at least your best expert prediction. after watching Namoff in the final, I'd agree with protecting him over Quintanilla (a total unknown to me). For salary reasons I'd still protect Perkins instead, but Rimando played pretty well down the stretch, so it's really a toss-up to me. A position that could be upgraded, but doesn't have to be.
If they don't protect Burciaga, Chivas would be right out of their skull if he wasn't their first pick. Which is irrelevant since they will protect him.
Boston Herald Revs speculation http://sports.bostonherald.com/soccer/view.bg?articleid=54272 doubt Pierce would be unprotected even if his contract is up some speculation about Cancela but why on earth would they expose him instead of Howey unless they really want him gone. they could decline his option on his contract anyway later. howey retiring would be helpful as would clarifying Baker's status for next year. Heaps looks to be borderline. I think he'd be a steal (i'm biased). Coach K called him the "one of the great athletes ever to play sports here". This includes Grant Hill, Elton Brand, etc. He's probably not the perfect fit to build a championship squad around, but could have a solid year on an expansion team.
1. This is not about protecting your 12 best players. Cap issues greatly figure into it. For instance, the expansion teams get extra allocations and extra discoveries. You have to assume allocations and discoveries are not MLS minimum salaries or close to it. Ruiz is a freak example (cap-wise, I won't venture into others areas). So figure each of those expansion teams has 3-4-5 players making at or near the MLS max salary. That means the great bulk of the rest of their team can NOT be players making $70k-$90K a year. Thus, Dema Kovalenko ($175K in 2005) and Mike Petke ($150K) to name just two examples, are not attractive to the expansion teams. But Bryan Namoff ($50K) and Brandon Prideaux ($70K) are very attractive. DJ Countess (who lost P-40 status) would be less attractive than Troy Perkins (who makes MLS minimum). there are exceptions--Ellinger might grab Countess b/c he's coached him before and feels he can get the best out of him. But, bottom line, the expansion teams can't afford to choose more than 1 or 2 players making more than $100K--unless they are going for budget players with their allocations OR they intend to cut a lot of high priced players. 2. I think almost everyone is over-valuing the talent on their rosters (fan-wise). In MLS, in order to get better you need to clear cap room. Every team in MLS will let some good players leave b/c it frees cap room and roster space to allow new guys to come in. For instance, I'd be highly surprised if more than half of the players on LA's current senior roster (excluding Hong and Herzog who are retiring) return for the starting game in 2005. Sampson will seek to build the kind of team he wants. I'd not be shocked to see major changes with the entire roster there. There were rumors of Metro trying to acquire Razov, Thorton and Armas. Won't be the first time Bradley remade his roster--when he first joined that team he pared the roster down to 7 players at one point in the preseason. 3. The SI thing is really going to hit some teams hard. Waivers won't help. As I understand it, the way the language reads, it says teams may protect only 12 senior roster players to include graduated P-40 players from their rosters by the end of the season. So, if NE has several SI's on the roster at the end of the regular season, they can't cut one in order to be able to expose another. It's not really about who you expose, it's about who you protect. And if you designate 12 to protect, than out of the list of those exposed (which would include any you waive), there'd better not be more than one SI. So waiving someone doesn't help you at all.