...given that it's now the only thing left for us in this abortion of a season. So last year we knew we were going to lose at least one quality player. We had too many starters or players of starter-quality to fit on our protected list, and Hyndman in his infinite wisdom, decided it'd be Dax and Atiba to take the fall (how much would we all have enjoyed Atiba's minimal production but 110% workrate over Santos' non-existant production and Jackson's 1-out-of-every-5-games workrate this year?) This year, a few of us were talking about the protection list and were all struggling to come up with 11 players worth protecting. Speaks volumes for the way Hyndman has gutted the championship-worthy team of last year through mismanagement and knee-jerk trades. Here's what I got: Automatically protected 1) Moises Hernandez (HG) 2) Josh Lambo (GA)* 3) Bryan Leyva (HG) 4) Ruben Luna (HG) 5) Richard Sanchez (HG) 6) Jonathan Top (HG) 7) Victor Ulloa (HG) 8) Andrew Wiedeman (GA)* Protected List 1) David Ferreira 2) Brek Shea 3) Zach Loyd 4) Kevin Hartman 5) George John** 6) Fabian Castillo 7) Marvin Chavez 8) Ugo Ihemelu 9) Andrew Jacobson 10) Jair Benitez 11) Daniel Cruz*** Unprotected 1) Edson Edward 2) Maykel Galindo 3) Jackson Goncalves*** 4) Bruno Guarda 5) Jeremy Hall 6) Daniel Hernandez 7) Maicon Santos 8) Chris Seitz 9) Jack Stewart 10) Ricardo Villar 11) Bobby Warshaw *If either Lambo or Wiedeman are graduated, they would not go on the protected list. ** Assuming John's contract is not up this year (in which case just Goodson him - one way or another he's off to Europe as soon as he can get there). *** To me, Jackson is a liability. Sure, once in every 5 games he'll do something spectacular, but in 3 of the other 4 he'll do something really stupid, and the other one he just won't show up at all. Cruz has shown similar flashes to Ferreira's first season and deserves a chance to make the same progression our former MVP did. In addition, I'd look to get any possible trade value, even if it's just a 3rd round draft pick, for Hall, Santos, and maybe Villar. Edward would have already been gone were it not for the season-ending injury, and frankly Galindo should never have been here in the first place. Next year is going to take some serious rebuilding of the depth of this team. Obviously we desperately need at least one striker, but we also need some shrewd, Loyd/John/Alexander-style draft picks to get some young, decent, hungry backups into the squad (you know, besides the homegrown players that Hyndman refuses to use). Space for those new players has got to come from somewhere, and if it means cutting the dead weight in pre-season at the latest, then that is what must happen.
Someone can correct me on this, but I believe that since Jackson is here on loan, he has to be protected.
I could live with Jair Benitez unprotected. He doesn't inspire any confidence with his defending and for every good cross he puts in he puts in 20 random blasts to nowhere. I'm curious about your rationale for leaving Daniel Hernandez unprotected. Just too old? Does he have plans to hang it up? His influence has been waning in the second half of this season, but for me he's still borderline. I agree with the Jackson frustrations, but I still think he's a net positive. I think he'd benefit a lot if he could settle down into a single position.
I guess it comes down to the question of rebuilding vs. tinkering. Losing Hernandez (as I think we would if he was left unprotected) would tip the scales in favor of outright rebuilding. I think getting a new starter-quality player for Hernandez' position has to be a lower priority than getting depth in the back, a reliable goalscorer up top, and a replacement for Shea if he goes to Europe. That's a tall enough order without losing Hernandez on top of it, so I'd rather see him protected. Also, Seitz got some positive press for his performance in San Jose. He kept the game from being worse than it was. He could be our starter in a couple of years, so protect him too. Leave out... I don't know, Chavez and Castillo? If Castillo and Villar and Chavez are all unprotected and all taken, though, that would raise new problems unto itself.
I believe you can only lose one player in the expansion draft. There is no way they leave Castillo unprotected.
Fortunately, no team can lose more than one player. http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/2012-expansion-draft-rules EDIT: Thedza beat me to it, but the link has the full rules.
Hernandez is an aging DMid whose knees are kinda shot and only has maybe 1 or 2 seasons left in him. Don't forget he was also left unprotected last season. He may be the captain, but he's really not going to be as big of a draw as other players around the league that will be available in this draft.
Yeah. I kind of get the sense he'd retire if he were selected and not traded back to FCD for peanuts.
And even if he wasn't, I still protect him over Cruz. Are Weideman & Lambo likely to get aged out of GA? If so, they go on the avails list. I think we loose one of: Santos, Warshaw, Hall, or Seitz.
IMO Warshaw is the worst loss here, and even there I wouldn't be concerned. Santos may be making more money than he's really worth, Hall is a backup outside back who can't be counted on and can't play 90 minutes, and I'd like to see Sanchez get some full team time, not worried about losing Seitz.
Totally agree. Santos hasn't distinguished himself, Hall looks to be a long-term project and current backup, Seitz probably deserves to start somewhere and we have capable (?) backups...Warshaw has something about his game that I like and his youth, cost and versatility would make him the biggest loss out of that group imo.
A big question hanging over Dallas head this offseason is what to do with all the homegrown players. If all or most can't push for first team time, I think they need to figure out how to loan them out to get them time. Practice is nice, but at some point these kids need regular games week in and out to develop, and if it's not here, then the club is wasting the kids and their own time. Depth clearly hurt the team this year, and carrying 6 HG kids you don't trust at all is just not going to work in MLS, roster spot exemption or not. Everyone on the roster must be counted on to come into a game and be able to play, otherwise they serve no purpose to the club. I really hope we see heavy doses of the kids in the preseason games, and if they aren't up to par, send them to San Antonio for a stretch. Hopefully when they come back, they are more game ready, and you can use the full roster as intended.
Don't understand why Santos, and especially the defective Cuban got playing time over Luna. To me, we still are looking for Ruiz's replacement. Hard to win when you can't score. I know some are hopped up on Ivo, but does he come in with any more street cred than Guarda did? I'm stilled extremely jazzed up about Akron sophomore Darren Maddox. The Jamaican U-23 NT strikeris the real deal. We desperately need his goals.
Watched Ivo last night against Memphis. Really nice goal beating the offside trap rounding the keeper and finishing from a tight angle...a Ferreira-esqe goal. There was also better service on 90% of the free kicks and corners than anyone on FC Dallas can provide. 6 goals and 8 assists in 16 games this year. 10 goals and 5 assists in 20 games last year...that's consistency that is hard to ignore. More than stats though, in the games I've seen I see a guy that's good with both feet, decent size for a Brazilian #10, really nice weight on most of his passes, good positional sense and free kick specialist. Perhaps my favorite thing is he really looks to make an impact on the game at all times, he doesn't drift in and out like you see from a lot of #10's. That's from 3 times that I've seen him play in person, can't judge Guarda as I didn't see him play in college. By the way, Bruno was quietly putting together a really nice run for about 6 games before he picked up an injury. Generally it takes central midfielders 3 or 4 years to really learn the league and I saw a step forward from Guarda in about June of this year. It look guys like Larentowicz, Beckerman and LaBrocca about 3-4 years before they really started reaching their full potential. Now I'm not saying Bruno will reach that level, I highly doubt it, but I see things in Bruno that suggest he could really do a job for FCD next season and beyond. Way too early, IMO, to declare Bruno a bust simply because Schellas threw him out there way before he was ready.
Right. No-one can accuse me of being a Guarda fan, but there were definitely moments from him, particularly in the last game of the season where he looked to be one of the very few players who actually gave a damn. For a start, he was getting into the box more often than Santos and Galindo combined. I still wouldn't even think about protecting him, but he's not a bad guy to have backing up Hernandez/Jacobson.
Ya, I don't think Guarda is even at risk of getting chosen. Especially when you consider only 10 players out of the 17 teams will be picked.
Here is the official list with some answers on who graduated from GA. http://www.fcdallas.com/news/2011/11/available-player-list-announced-advance-expansion-draft
Maybe Warshaw or Santos, but that'd be about it (to worry about. obviously we'd only lose one player).