NEG- J.Cancela(good playmaker) lol , He wasnt really good when he was in Uruguay league, but he's all around a fighter and has some decent skill (has been in great form in the last 2 years with the Revs). God Im so excited about this right now.
Wow, I don't think I ever seen any lineup call for both Williams and Cancela, reserved forwards at best, to play up top. Or were you really thinking to have them both play pushed-up as mids?
I absolutely agree about Gonzalez and Lopez...I would not pass up the opportunity to nab two of the more exciting American prospects...they might not help this team be mediocre next year like the other players would, but very soon they could add a lot of flair and excitement to the midfield, a prospect that none of the other options even remotely offer. Its not too hard to come by a lot of the pedestrian players that are available, but it is hard to get your hands on such talent...
I just did an article for the http://www.redpatchboys.ca website entitled The expansion draft and imminent signing announcements that lists the players available along with salaries and nationalities. I don't doubt I made a few slips but I think it helps illustrate what the teams have done with their protected lists and makes it easier to try to work out what TFC should do.
Best players available from each team: Chicago: CJ Brown, Plotkin, Carr, Jaqua (except he's a free agent who will likely move to Europe) Chivas: Burpo, Regan, O'Brien (except he's about as sturdy as a glass house and very expensive) Colorado: Kirovski, Petke, Mathis all good choices. Columbus: Rosental might be a fun choice, but unlikely, since he's an S-I and not that good. Rest of the choices suck. DC: Simms, Walker or Dyachenko are all good choices. Dallas: Vanney or Valakari. Houston: Serioux. Period. KC: Van Den Bergh (but S-I). LA: Martino (but going abroad), Josh Gardner could be a solid pick-up. NE: Larentowicz, Hernandez. NY: Buddle. Have to take this kid. RSL: Andy Williams. Period. So here are the definites in my opinion: Serioux, Williams and Buddle. and then 7 others of those listed.
Here is my best guess on who Toronto will pick. Of course I will probablybe way off. 1. Andy Williams-M (RSL) salary=$110K Born in Toronto, so I assume he will not count as SI. 2. Edson Buddle-F (NYRB) salary=$108K 6 goals more than most forward in the draft. 3. Nate Jaqua-F (Chicago) Salary=$51K 8 goals for 51K aint bad 4. Tim Regan-D (Chivas) Salary=$36K started nearly every game for Chivas in 2006. 5.Brandon Moss-M (CLB) Salary=$30K 20 games as a rookie YI 6. Roberto Mina-F (FCD) Salary=$80K YI 7. Adrian Serioux-M (HOU) Salary=$90K Mo traded him from RBNY while he was coach there, but now he needs Canadians 8. Kyle Veris-D (LA) Salary=$16.5K YI 9. Any of the GK that are young (YI) and Cheap to act as a backup to Greg Sutton 10. Matt Groenwald-D (KC) Salary=$28K Total Salary form these 10 would be approx $600K I saw someone mention Jaqua was a free agent, I thought anyone not under contract are unavailable in the expansion draft?
I thought about putting Donovan and Robinho up front supporting Buddle. But the salary cap got in the way and the other guy thinks he's too good for the MLS. Cancela and Williams would be solid forwards for an MLS expansion team. They would be starting forwards unless TFC gets J.Peters, P.Bernier and I.Hume. Like I said before, I'm not that familiar with all the "talent" available in the expansion draft. So if you know anyone better and affordable then let me know. Maybe pick up Jaqua then move Buddle to RF/LF and Cancela to CM? The one time I did see him play with the Revs(against CHI OR CLB) he played well and was probably the best forward(centre-mid to be exact) on the pitch for the revs for the first half. Cancela's decent skill makes him a good playmaker in the MLS, in my opinion. Considering the "talent" available to TFC he would be a good option.
FYI on Dallas players ... Mina's name has been thrown around on this thread. Most Dallas fans really like him ... but the down side is that he is coming back from almost a full season injured, he isn't owned by MLS but on loan, which may or may not be renewed. Valakari was mentioned in someone's line up as RM in a 4-3-3. Simo is a defensive mid, a destroyer. He rarely attacks. RM would not be the position for him in a 4-3-3. He has been our captain but he is getting old and many Dallas fans have questioned his effectiveness this past year. Saragosa and Mulrooney can both play his position so losing Simo would not be a big loss for us.
my choices: Chicago Fire: Nate Jaqua (will be sold to team in Scandinavia) Chivas USA: John O'Brien Colorado Rapids: Alan Nkong Columbus Crew: Chris Leitch D.C. United: Clyde Simms FC Dallas: Roberto Mina Houston Dynamo: Adrian Serioux Kansas City Wizards: n/a Los Angeles Galaxy: Paulo Nagamura New England Revolution: Joe Franchino New York Red Bulls: Edson Buddle Real Salt Lake: Andy Williams i then say they go out and purchase the contract of GK Josh Wagenaar from ADO Den Haag...
I hope you will take Buddle off our hands. He's been a cancer for our team. Have you guys given consideration to who your MLS rival will be? I would recommend either Columbus (closest by distance, I think) or New England (could set up a Scots colonists vs. English colonists rivalry.)
So much talk about the MLS expansion draft, I would imagine Mo is looking at other places for possible Canadian players. Does anybody know if Toronto FC is looking for players from: Montreal Impact, Toronto Lynx, & Vancouver whitecaps, as well as the Canadian National Youth teams? just wondering... I sure miss the Quakes.... IOWA007
His contract expires Dec. 31. After that he's no longer an MLS player, unless he agrees to a new contract with the league. Supposedly, he's on trial with Rosenberg, but will probably try out for a few more european clubs if he doesn't catch on there. TFC could pick him and hope he doesn't sign overseas or hope that if he does, he flames out (TFC would have his rights for two years, so if he returns, they would have first dibs on him).
I thought you guys might like this. US Player's Association website did a Mock Draft. here is the link: http://ussoccerplayers.com/latest_soccer_news/529292.html Here are their teams (theres 2): Connolly Dave van den Bergh (Kansas City Wizards) Adrian Serioux (Houston Dynamo) Danny O'Rourke (New York Red Bulls) Calen Carr (Chicago Fire) James Riley (New England Revolution) Justin Moore (FC Dallas) Matt Crawford (Colorado Rapids) Nick Rimando (D.C. United) Tim Regan (Chivas USA) Andy Williams (Real Salt Lake) Hutcherson Zach Thornton (Chicago Fire) Adrian Serioux (Houston Dynamo) Joe Franchino (New England Revolution) John O'Brien (Chivas USA) Eric Denton (Colorado Rapids) Justin Moore (FC Dallas) Michael Enfield (Los Angeles Galaxy) Jacob Besagno (Real Salt Lake) Danny O'Rourke (New York Red Bulls) Waived
Considering that TFC has Brennan and most likely Reda, Braz, Pozniak and Sutton, here are my picks: 1) Serioux (Houston)(D/M)(Domestic)($100,000) - for obvious reasons 2) Williams (RSL)(M/F)($110,000) - born in Toronto so will most likely be a "domestic". He also played very well for RSL at the end of last year. One of the few good players available for RSL. Has tons of MLS experience. 3) Brown (Chicago)(D)(SIUSA)(101,325) - Chicago has lots of options. Chose Brown because of vast MLS experience; quality defender; can play centre back or right in a 3 man back line; salary is reasonable for a player of his experience and quality. Better choice than Sanneh ($$- 365,000)(age)(injury prone), Gutierrez (age), Johnson (unproven). 4) Gbandi (Dallas)(D)(SIUSA)($68,750) - Dallas has the most quality players available. After 2006 is an established LB. Excellent trade bait for Jazic. Not too expensive. No need for CBs Vanney ($$- 241,667)(SIUSA), Goodson, Yi(unproven) because of Serioux, Reda and Brown. 5) Larentowicz (Revolution)(D/M)(YI)($16,500) - Lots of quality with NE to choose from. Can play dmid or centre back in a pinch. I would suspect he could play anywhere in the back in a 3 back formation. Probably has as much upside as any player in the draft. Born in 1983 - could be YI for 2 years. Good low salary. Better choice than Cancela ($$ -126,000)(SI)(already have Williams), Franchino ($$ - 107,500)(SIUSA)(Gbandi is better), Hernandez ($$ - 156,250)(already have O'Rourke, Serioux, Reda, Brown). 6) O'Rourke (Red Bulls)(M)(YI)($39,125) - Good centre mid. Very little to choose from in NY. Has huge upside as he is still quite young (1983). Better O'Rourke than Valakari (SI)($$ - 186,250)(age) and Simms (SIUSA)(DC quality of available players). 7) Noel (Colorado)(F)(YI)($28,000) - Born in 1985 so he has a potential lengthy life as a YI. Showed some real potential as a speedy super sub. Kirovski ($150,000), Petke($120,000) and Mathis($410,000) are too expensive. Need forwards and not more defenders (Gargan and Crawford). 8) Moss (Columbus)(M)(YI)($28,000) - Another YI (born 1984). Has ability to be a solid holding midfielder. Will not start but it is great to have this quality on the bench. Also, Crew has very little to offer. Hendrickson not worth a SI slot; already have defenders; too old. 9) Donnet (DC United)(M)(SI)($??? - probably ~150,000) - Quality winger for DC. One of the few good players in the draft who can play wing. Well worth using 1 of the SI (non-USA) slots as he will likely be as good or better than any other SIs who TFC might pick up. No need for Simms with O'Rourke; plus Simms is a SIUSA and not a YI. 10) Gordon (Galaxy)(F)(SIUSA)($29,400) - Decent forward who can start if necessary (hopefully will not be necessary). Reasonable salary. Very few forwards available in the draft. Gardner may be an equally good pick. No need for Nagamura with O'Rourke; plus I am not sold on Nagamura ($85,000). No need for Veris with the defenders already chosen and incoming domestics. With these picks and the aforementioned players, Johnston could play the following 4-5-1 and be competitive: Sutton Braz Serioux Reda Gbandi Donnet O'Rourke Larentowicz Brennan Williams Gordon Bear in mind that TFC will still have 3 SIs, the Superdraft and presumably more domestics coming their way.
FYI, Goff (beat writer for DC United) said yesterday in a chat that Donnet was $200k. He may be a little too expensive for Mo's taste.
Even at $200,000 I will stick with Donnet. The total value of the picks is a little over $700,000. This is not too much in my opinion.
700k is a relative number. Review the salaries of the current MLS clubs and you will see that 7-10 players are paid between $11,700 and $16,500. These are obviously the young developmental players. These are the types of players TFC will pick up in the Superdraft and as discovery picks. If you subtract the total dollar value of these types of players from salary cap you are still left with a significant chunk of change to sign the remaining players. Expansion draft players = ~700,000 Brennan, Sutton, Braz, Reda, Pozniak (guess 5 x~100,000 average) = 500,000 8 developmental player (~14,000 each) = 112,000 TOTAL = 1.312 million for 23 players. What is the salary cap? Garber said it was increased. Estimate 2 to 2.4million. This leaves approximately $688,000 to $1,088,000 to sign the remaining players. I hope that would be enough.
I didn't think DC had that deep of an available (average/mid-level) value list to be honest. Outside of Simms and Donnet (& maybe Dyachenko), I was struggling to add people to my "think about" list....Definately not like DAL, NE, and even CHI, LAC, though I admittedly know less about their (& KCs) DEVs/reserves compared to the rest of the league. I would still pickup one from here, but DC is not going to be a priority right away.
You left out Prideaux, Walker, and Rimando, who have combined for 5 MLS Cup trophies. Rimando is the best gk available, while Prideaux is a suitable starter. Walker is about as solid a sub forward as any available, plus he's cheap.
I actually added Prideaux borderline to my list above, but I don't think Toronto needs to many defenders already, so I left him out of the recent comment. That said, there are better, or just-as-good options in Kotshau, Brown, John, Goodson, Yi, Petke, etc), so I'd rather take someone else from DC. Some may argue that Rimando may be the best play-know GK, though I'd argue Burpo instead (who is also decently cheap). Even still, maybe I should have put him on the list, especially if they are looking to pickup a backup GK, or if Sutton doesn't sign. I only wouldn't pick up Burpo, because I think they have too much young stud talent in Lopez, Sanchez, etc to pass on. Additionally, TFC may have a bunch of players that can play back or DMid, so maybe they would pick Rimando. However, I wouldn't start him over Sutton, so I left him off. Additionally, I think Burse will be substantially better in the future than Rimando has been. He may have won some cups, but I think that has had a little more to do with the team in front of him. Walker I though about too, and I guess if the point is to draft subs with less long term potential I could have added him on there. Yes, he's an excellent sub, and spot-starter, but this draft is a considerably better expansion draft than last time in terms of talent available, in probably decent play-now talent & especially long-term potential talent, so I'd look elsewhere. I put DC's group just above Columbus & Colorado. There are a lot of decent names and servicable players, but you can find better, younger options with more potential, that are only exposed because of the very low limit of players allowed to be protected. Just my opinion.
TFC should not draft any of the currently available keepers. Wasting a SI, SIUSA or YI slot on a backup keeper makes no sense at all. You have to believe that there will be an adequate Canadian backup out there somewhere.