Bingo. Kries and (hopefully) Mathis getting fed by Williams = boatloads of goals. And with the Reggae Boyz out of the World Cup, Andy shouldn't get called away very often. (which also makes Ziedie a good possibility) If RSL is pretty sure about Keller, then ignore the keepers (Walker would be the exception, but I expect him to end up at Chivas.). If not, grab one (Meola, if he doesn't retire). After that, draft defense. Get some good young ones, then use SI (and maybe even Discovery) allocations to get some solid vets.
Podbrozny, Kubik and Nowak were not young. Soehn, Razov, Okarah, Klopas, and Campos weren't spring chickens, either. Now they may not have all been aquired by the expansion draft. But the point is that they weren't all a bunch of 20 - 25 yr olds running around the pitch. There needs to be a mix. Bradley's brilliant but he can't coach a team to win it all in '98 if that team doesn't include euro veterans like Kubik, Podbrozny and Nowak.
But he didn't get the old guys in the expansion draft. They were allocations and trades and such. Razov was pretty young (24) but he didn't get him in the draft either. I'm not talking young as in 19, I'm talking young as in 24 or 25. Here's who the Fire took that turned out to be solid players and their ages for the 1998 season: Kevin Hartman - 24, Manny Lagos - 27, Zach Thornton - 25, Diego Gutierrez - 26 That's a good haul, every one has got a cap. Here's Miami's best picks: Jeff Cassar - 24, Ramiro Corrales - 21. Almost everyone 30 and older turned out to be not very useful. Here's a good thread on the topic: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124114&page=1&pp=15
Here is how I see each team's unprotected list - ranked in order of most likely to be drafted to least likely to be drafted. Chicago is the only team that is a lock to have 3 players taken: DC 1. Quintanilla 2. Perkins 3. Hendrickson 4. Martins 5. Nelsen 6. Lawson 7. Ara 8. Stewart CLM 1. Akwari 2. Testo 3. Herdsman 4. Lagos 5. Washington 6. Scott 7. Denton 8. Jordan 9. Massioneuve NY 1. Walker 2. Brenes 3. Vaca 4. Ziadie 5. Regan 6. Wells 7. Galvan Rey NE 1. Pierce 2. Franchino 3. Brown 4. Kamler 5. Llamosa 6. Moore 7. Howey CHI 1. Williams 2. Ring 3. Countess 4. Whitfield 5. Selolwane 6. Perez 7. Buete 8. Boucicaut KC 1. Zotinca 2. Taylor 3. Gomez 4. Simutenkov 5. Meola 6. Preki LA 1. Torres 2. Broome 3 Saragosa 4. Popik SJ 1. Ekelund 2. Walker 3. Roner 4. Agoos 5. Brown 6. Hart 7. Conway COL 1. de la Torre 2. Trembly 3. Digiamarino 4. Stewart 5. Vallow 6. Powell DAL 1. Behncke 2. Sayler 3. Nhleko 4. Pareja 5. Garlick 6. Maurin
I agree with you almost entirely on this. Someone finally thinks like me. I'd rather have Joselito Vaca than almost anyone that is available. I also hope RSL picks up Ziadie, and Brenes would be awesome too but getting those three is impossible unless Chivas is horrible at picking and Metros are horrible at protecting. Guys I'd bump up a spot or two or four on your lists are Powell, Buete, Denton, Selolwane, and Countess. If I were making the picks, I'd also drop down these guys: Trembly, Franchino (never been a fan, but I think Pastorino is), Taylor, Torres, and Roner.