GersMan, Topdrawersoccer.com is a fantastic site -- congratulations on the successful launch! I hope the "hits" keep on coming. Jamie Trecker (DOH!) did a write-up on the Combine with his own... unique... spin on players: http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/news/mlsdraft.html Care to take issue with any of them?
That's a pretty base assesment of the players available. Seems like there is going to be a lot of moving around this year.
maverick - thanks very much. You may have seen my final recap of the Combine where I rated the players in tiers based on discussions with MLS and other coaches (Lord knows I've plugged it on here enough we try to go by that more than my own imperfect observations). As far as what Trecker says - well I'm very intrigued by the trade talk and the west coast midfielder thing (Gonzalez at #1 to the Galaxy). He's right that some of the college seniors didn't do all that well. Noonan was described as hot and cold and Levesque really didn't stand out, but I'm thinking these coaches aren't going to go JUST on the Combine. If a player did well for four years in college I would think he would get the benefit of a doubt re three days in the off season with unfamiliar teammates. Also, he should know that if a coach wants to take a player, with say, a late first-round pick, he's not going to start gushing all over about him. After the draft, I have some funny stories to share about coaches trying to downplay some of the players. Definitely agree that Walsh looked quite good, although head and shoulders above the rest is a bit much. But this is getting to be quite a science, figuring out this draft.
This may be the first Jamie Trecker article I have read in which he wasn't overly negative. I don't know whether he is right or wrong on the players in the combine--but it was good analysis. I wish we'd see more articles like this from him...
Speculation The trade talk is the most interesting of all the draft speculation, I find. Memo to L.A. at #1 is fascinating stuff, since it would leave the Metros free to take Esky at #2 to back up Moreno and Mathis (if what everyone is whispering is true, namely that Alecko is the best player in the draft, sort of destined to be "Twellman, the 2003 version"). I'm not sure why the Galaxy aren't talking to D.C. about #5, though, since I'm fairly confident that Memo will still be available in that slot. Strangely enough, I have strong reservations at passing up Clark at #2 even if Esky is available. He strikes me as a man-child, sort of Armas mixed with Pablo... I feel the team that picks Esky over Clark will eventually have "Sam Bowie" remorse (given that none other than Michael Jordan was drafted after Bowie!). Sure, Gaven, Memo and Magee are real talents, but would they help my beloved Metros soon enough? Probably not. Using the Metros' third round pick on one Freddy Adu, on the other hand? I would... I hear you keep player signing rights for two years. I think it's even money he would otherwise enter next year's draft, anyway.
Heck, DC and Metros have been tanking for years, just on the possibility that someone worth taking first in the draft might show up. I don't think we have to worry about this being a possibility, more that it will be a certainty
Things get "curiouser and curiouser," as they say. Nevertheless, makes perfect sense to me. Say you've got between the 20th and 30th pick. No more P-40s to pick from, the Shavar Thomases and Pat Noonans of the draft are gone. You see the glimmer of hope on the horizon, Freddy, "the next Landon," if you will. Suddenly, the thought of investing a pick in a 14 year-old doesn't seem that far-fetched, given the upside potential. Can you imagine the frenzy, possibly even the lawsuits (child labor laws being what they are)? He could even go somewhere in the second round. Maybe Freddy's mom says "no mas" to MLS the way she did to Lazio... the whole thing blows up in MLS' face. A "no Adu" mandate would go a long way to reducing the sleepless nights of many a GM. My $0.02...
I don't hate Jamie Trekker like a lot people here do but I certainly think he opens himself up for criticism, doubt and ridicule by often being sloppy and wrong. To wit - could fall to the MetroStars or Dalals Burn. - Where is Dalals? Is that where the Burn are paying since they've moved from the Cotton Bowl? There also is speculation that the top overall pick could be involved in a complex three-way swap that will see D.C. take a defender from a third team for relief in the back since Ivan McKinley is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. - I won't be at all surprised if United makes a trade with the top pick, but with the new Bulgarian, Petke, Reyes, Nelsen and Prideaux, I doubt they're looking for a back. More likely is a defensive midfielder. The Chicago Fire hold the third pick and could swap 36-year-old Hristo Stoitchkov, a player for whom United already are clearing locker space. But sources with both teams confirm that D.C. will trade the No. 5 pick instead as Chicago has to move Stoitchkov for cap reasons. - Again, he's only half right. It appears a done deal that United is going to acquire Hristo. But, they aren't going to give up the No. 5 pick for a broke-down, expensive, 37-year old part-time player. That just makes no sense. I mean, it's not like if they don't give that pick to the Fire that Chicago has other options to get something more appealing. Realistically, the Fire will take whatever they can get for "Kreesto" and be happy to have him off their books. Whatever they get for him will be nominal. The top college player in the draft, ironically, is unlikely to be a top-five pick. That would be Southern Methodist's Diego Walsh, a 23-year-old Brazilian. Because of his international status, any team selecting him would get just one year of his services before having to count him as a full senior international. - Again, Jamie hasn't done his homework. It has been widely reported, including in Soccer America and the Dallas Morning News, that Walsh is very close to getting a Green Card and may even have it by the start of the season. If not, he should likely have it by the start of next season, making his nationality a moot point. As for the others, it's a mixed bag. This may be the richest draft in years in terms of talent, but virtually none of it comes from the college ranks - it is the U-20s and Project-40 kids who will be picked, Just where the hell, exactly, does he think most of the P40 players come from? Are Eskandairan, Clark and Thomas, who could go 1-3 in the draft, not from colleges? What about Stokes, Lewis and Jaqua, not to mention Carroll, Pause, Jason Thompson and LeBlanc. I'm pretty sure they were all in the "college ranks" last year. But recent P-40 signing Shavar Thomas, a Connecticut sophmore - For the record, Thomas did NOT sign a P40 deal. He's a Transitional International because of his age but he counts against the roster and cap. And Pat Noonan, another P-40 signing from Indiana, did not distinguish himself this week. - Uh, Jamie, Noonan played 4 seasons of college ball at IU - he is also NOT a P40 player. For the record, I'm glad that Trekker covers soccer and I don't mind that he doesn't always have a rosie outlook of the game. A little cycicism is often needed to keep us all grounded. But by being so sloppy, mistake-ridden and flat-out wrong only hurts his credibility. I mean, if he doesn't even know if Noonan and Thomas are P40s or not, are we supposed to believe him about some of these trades he's talking about? Maybe I'm being pedantic, but I don't think so.
Don't bring that crap to Business and Media. You'll get slaughtered. My biggest problem with Jamie also hasn't been his negativity even though it drives me batty. Everything is speculation and rumor and very little fact. That's just lazy.
Just saw that flick on TMC a couple nights ago. What a performance by Duval. "Is everyone alright? Lance, are you ok?"
"If I say it's safe to surf this beach it is safe to surf this beach!" Maybe I'll slip the DVD in sometime this weekend. At about 4 and a half hours long, though...