18th Pick: SETH STAMMLER POSITION: Defender COLLEGE: University of Maryland DOB: Sep. 29, 1981 (22) HIGH SCHOOL: Gahanna HT: 5-10 WT: 166 HOMETOWN: Gahanna, Ohio 2003: Named to Diadora Challenge All-Tournament team after strong defensive showing against No. 15 Furman (8/29) and Butler (8/31). College Soccer News Team of the Week (9/1). Earned a spot on Soccer America's Team of the Week after helping the Terps upset No. 1 UCLA and get a win over American. Also earned a spot on the Maryland/adidasClassic all-tournament team. ACC All- Tournament Team 2002: Only player to start all 25 games. Selected as the Maryland/FILA Classic Defensive MVP after anchoring the defense to two one-goal wins and adding two assists. Also selected to the Virginia Soccer Classic all-tournament team. Added five assists this season 2001: Played in 19 games, starting all 19. Scored three goals and added two assists. Scored the game winner vs. American (9/9) in the Maryland/FILA Classic. Scored a goal and added an assist vs. Holy Cross (10/31) and a goal vs. Clemson at the ACC Tournament (11/15) 2000: Finished the year with four goals and two assists USMNT: A three-year letter-winner in soccer, Stammler was a three-time all-league selection at Gahanna . His senior year, he was an all-district and Super 12 selection as well as the team MVP. His career totals were 54 goals and 33 assists for 141 career points. Stammler was also the placekicker for Gahanna's football team his senior year, converting 18 extra points and five field goals PERSONAL: The son of Brad and Loretta Stammler, Seth was born in Columbus, Ohio. One of two children, he has on older brother, Eric (23). Majoring in finance. 21st Pick: ZACH WELLS POSITION: Goalkeeper COLLEGE: UCLA DOB: Feb. 26, 1981 (22) HIGH SCHOOL: Newport Harbor High School HT: 6-2 WT: 187 HOMETOWN: Costa Mesa, Calif. 2003: Sports Illustrated On Campus National Player of the Year. First team All-Pac-10 selection. Set the UCLA school record for single-season goals against average with a 0.52. Set a new school record for career saves with 269. Earned 49 career victories. Second team CoSIDA Academic All-American . First team CoSIDA Academic All-District and Pac-10 All-Academic selection 2002: College Cup Defensive MVP. College Soccer News Honorable Mention All-American. Second team NSCAA All-Far West and All-Pac-10 selection. Also named to the Pac-10's All-Academic second team with a 3.19 GPA. Ranked second in the conference in goals against average (0.76). Ranked amongst the Top 20 in the nation in GAA. Named the Pac-10 Player of the Week twice (Oct. 8 and Oct. 29). His 17 victories ranked tied for fifth on UCLAís single-season charts 2001: Second team All-Pac-10 selection. Set single-season school record with 101 saves. Ranked second amongst Pac-10 starters with a 0.85 goals against average. Earned a Pac-10-high nine shutouts. Held a shutout streak of 541 minutes from Oct. 21-Nov. 11. Held a save percentage of .828. Defensive MVP at the UCLA Pacific Soccer Classic. Named the Pac-10 Player of the Week and selected to Soccer America's Team of the Week for Oct. 30-Nov. 6 2000: Played in four games and earned three shared shutouts 1999: Redshirted due to injury USMNT: Member of the U.S. Under-20 National Team pool. Recorded a 1.00 GAA in two games played with the U-20s PERSONAL: American Literature & Culture major.
36th Pick: MICHAEL BRADLEY POSITION: Forward CLUB TEAM: Chicago Sockers DOB: July 31, 1987 HOMETOWN: Palatine, Ill. HT: 5-8 WT: 130 USMNT: Bradley is enrolled in the USMNT U-17 residency program in Bradenton, Fla.. Played in two games, starting one. Played a total of 75 minutes with the U-17s. Playing for the USMNT U-16 team, Bradley scored two goals on penalty kicks in the team's first round Dallas Cup match vs. the Dallas Texans in April PERSONAL: Son of MetroStars head coach Bob Bradley.
is Olivier officially this year's waste of a draft pick?...i have to admit i'm thrilled he wasn't drafted nearly as high as Shak, Ndiaye, etc...happy with Stammler and Zak, i think it was safe to say we couldnt really improve at forward with our draft picks, and Memo would've been buried in our midfield...a steady defender and capable backup GK would be great out of this draft..
Dam straight...I've never seen Occean play live, but once I followed a SoConn game on the internet and it didn't seem like he did very well. Why do we always screw up?
18 - Seth Stammler d/m 21 - Zach Wells gk 26 - Olivier Occean f 36 - Michael Bradley f/m (pro-40) 46 - Johnny David m 60 - Jeff Parke d Obviously the success of this draft depends largely upon Occean's productivity. It's unlikely Wells or Bradley will have to contribute right away. David is a local kid; I'm not sure about Parke, but if we traded for him Bob must see something of value. Stammler? I guess we won't know until the season starts, but like Regan he could provide cover all over the defensive side of the field. Things won't be interesting for the Metros until we start getting our allocations and discoveries.
Matrim, you seem to have a good grasp of the players who were drafted today, by us and others. Do you think we did a servicable job with the picks? Obviously it's difficult to tell, because the jump from college (or lower levels) to MLS is pretty big. What other teams in your view did a good job for themselves today. I'm dissapointed to see that we again, drafted no left side help. With Edgar gone, we seem to have only one true left sided player in Digi, who has to step up from last year. Also, I watched FSW this morning for a bit, and they are horrendous. Also, the production values of the show are a joke. Why on earth are these kids speaking? John Harkes, like all the other ex-soccer commentators, is not only clueless, but also sounds like a moron. I said this before, but the group of Wynalda, Harkes, Balboa, and to a certain extent Lalas, can't commentate at all. I know Tab did a game for us, but I didn't here how he did.
My gut reaction is to rip the Metropicks. We got a guy - Stammler - who projects as our 3rd d-mid, or a backup defender. We took a keeper at 21 who would have been there at 36. We rolled the dice on a forward at 36. We took a Pro-40 kid who's not going to help us for two years at 36. We took a local kid at 46 when a top-20 talent (Detter) was still on the board. And we traded for Mr. Irrelevant. Our strategy didn't really seem to make sense. But what the hell do I know - Stammler could be the defender we're looking for, Occean could be the next Damani Ralph, and Bradley could make Freddy Adu look like Barry Swift in two years. Whatever. Our real #1 draft pick this year was Eddie Gaven. By that measure, we did real well. Columbus got two immediate starters (Marshall and Wingert) and a third (Haefner) who I thought was the second best keeper in the draft. Sutton provides forward depth, while Crew and Vercollone are physical midfielders - which should be a nice change for the Crew, a team of raging *#*#*#*#*#*#*#. LA comes in second place with Ngwenya, the two Pro-40s and Arzate. Ngwenya and Arzate are starters, IMHO, while Grabavoy and Gardner are non-rostered depth. Well done to fat Sigi and company. Dallas got the guys they need in the trade and with Nunez, and also took a Pro-40 defender with potential. If Wagenfuhr pans out, they did very, very well. Colorado did well - the Rapids got good value at the pick with both Gregorio and Sullivan. San Jose took two good picks in the first round, but I'm not sure about their later picks (Lindon Pecorelli? Are you kidding me?) Kansas City over-reached with Taylor and Hesmer, but they got a young defender in the trade and great value with thier last three picks. DC didn't screw up. Ara, in particular, could end up being a starter. I like Gros, too. Chicago was goddamn disastrous. They had, what 35 picks, and only two of them are possible starters? If I were a Fire fan I'd be screaming mad right now. But then again, they did pull some surprises from last year's draft, so who know. On the face of it, though, trading up for Buete was the biggest WTF? moment of the day. I don't know if Edgar is officially gone. We'll see. As I've said previous, our real movement will come with our allocations and discoveries. Soy del Metro
And who do you think you are, Haig, actually doing research on what positions these guys play...man, the nerve of some people. We didn't pick until 21...outside of trading Ricardo Clark for a first round pick (face it, no one wants Digi, Ziadie or any of our dead weight), we were not going to have a big draft today. As far as the UCLA keeper, wanna bet he's competing with about four A-Leaguers for the job? Seriously, I'll put up big money on that one. If Wingert were such an OBVIOUS MLS starter, I really wonder how he slipped so far. The guy's the freaking Hermann winner for gawd's sake. If Stammler, Occean or any of the late round guys is even on our roster come Opening Day, then boffo. We've already got enough kids on the team. On to the discoveries and allocations!!!
Seth Stammler (Maryland): Versatile defender, playing at right and center back. Gets forward well and good passer. Better suited for right back in MLS. this was TopDrawer's report on Seth after the combine...he was actually projected to go higher in the draft, and honestly, our most consistent wingback last year was probably Chris Leitch...if he really does get forward well and pass the ball well, hes a perfect fit in the 3-5-2 bradley plays...dont think its too much to ask to be at least as good as Chris Leitch, haha...i think (at least hope) that we see a lot of Stammler this year...
Personally, I thought Leitch was a decent find last year. He's got some jets. I viewed him as an upgrade on Ziadie. The report I get on Stammler is that he could make Richie even more expendable.
certainly not knocking Leitch, i thought the problem with the alternatives on our roster (like Ziadie) was that they were far too inconsistent and we needed guys that could at least be dependable playing with Eddie back there...Leitch ultimately best provided that for us last season, but i just dont think he should be starting in MLS...im pretty sure he comes cheap, and would love for him to continue coming off the bench or playing as a spot-starter if injuries, etc set in...i did also hear that Stammler could lead to Richie's departure (which would be nothing short of a big relief)...maybe Bob thinks Rico can be more of a holding midfielder between guevara and a defensive mid (Stammler??) behind him, i dont know...it seems though the 3-5-2 is what he wants to play, and whether or not he continues to play the 3 backs centrally (i personally think he may only have played them that way because of the personnel available), if the scouting report on Stammler is accurate, he should be a great fit for Bob's style of defense..
Matrim, I mean this with all due respect, you're drunk if you think that all those guys you mentioned are really MLS starters. Arzate and Ara are going to be starters? Time for a dose of reality. This draft was weak as could be, with barely six or seven real difference making players. I also found it funny how everyone was begging for Detter even as he dropped down the draft. Did it occur to anybody that the kid was freefalling for a reason? Calling Detter a top 20 talent even after he fell so far sounds like somebody really thinks they're MLS GM of the year, only without a team. People need to realize that this draft will be like every draft before it. Nearly half of the picks in the first round won't do jack in 04 and a third will never do jack ever. As someone said so well before, this draft produced Eddie Gaven and he's better than anybody else available except Freddy, so that makes it a success, even if Wells never emerges and Bradley's kid never develops. All this talk about Occean being the key to the draft is ridiculous. Who was the best third rounder taken last year? Logan Pause? Before that? Chris Roner? Relax people (although Buddle and Curtin were 3rd rounders in '01 ;-). What will make this draft a success is if Stammler serves as a better defensive reserve than Addo-Forchetti-Arena were last year, if Wells wins the back-up job and if David and Occean make the team. If those things happen then Bob did well. Even if they don't make the team you still have Gaven to be thankful for. That kid will be an all-star this year.
JerzyRebel...you nailed it man...would anyone here even want the #2 overall pick for this year's draft over Gaven?...every year the draft is going to get worse (sure there are going to be finds, but a lot of that luck, meaning the value of future draft picks will continue to lessen)...anyways, here's more on our boy Seth from MatchNight (who apparently didnt have the best Combine and may have led him sliding into our hands)... Seth Stammler Senior 5-10, 166 Maryland Hard-working, tenacious defender … has played mostly center back at Maryland, but would probably be moved to left back in MLS and he could also probably play right back ... very active, disruptive player ... reliable, tough, and composed … outstanding long-ball passer … able to play balls into space with a great deal of precision … very dangerous when he gets a chance to start a counter attack … solid tackler ... terrific leader and the prototypical team player … fantastic competitor … has slightly better speed and quickness than Chris Wingert ... good man marker ... a bit of an overachiever … has had to work extremely hard to get where he is … may already be about as good as he’s ever going to be … should be able to play left back, but that's not a given.
Leitch has got to be one of the faster players in the league... I remember a game from last season when Leitch was in a foot race with another player(I dont remember who it was), who is considered to be one of MLS' fastest players, and he beat the guy to the ball with some suprising speed. Does anyone have any idea what im talking about? I think that player might of been Beasley or maybe even Donovan.
I believe it was Donovan. Leitch does have great wheels and to me the fastest Metro other than Rico though I would like to see 40 yrd times like football on these soccer players to get an idea just how fast, or slow some of these guys are. Rico Leitch Edgar this appears to me to be top 3 in order but strictly subjective view of watching them in games.
Here's your answer to why we traded for Mr. Irrelevant: Bob Bradley: "Jeff Parke played at Drexel for Lew Meehl who is a friend of mine. Lew felt that there were similarities between Jeff and Jimmy Curtin. That's a very tall order. But he was planning on coming in to train with us, and now it just means that if things work out we already have his rights."
From Ives' story on the draft - quote from Johnny David: "Some players dream of playing for teams like Manchester United," said David, a Hillside native. "My dream was to play for the MetroStars." http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.ph...lRUV5eTY0NzY3NzgmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2
I guess we're going to have to disagree. From what I saw of Ara in (admittedly low-level) Ivy League games, he projects as a MLS starter at defensive midfield or perhaps center back. Think Ryan Nelsen without the funny accent. And though I only saw Arzate once, I'm high on his ability simply because he's an exquisite passer of the ball. He creates chances from midfield, something LA hasn't had since Cienfuegos circa 2001, and frankly I think he's got a pretty damn good shot at the starting spot. He's more skillful than Memo Gonzales for one, but his athleticism may be wanting. Yeah - he probably had a lousy combine. But I saw him play probably 15-18 games over the past four years and have liked what I've seen. A bigger, stronger Bobby Rhine with a better nose for goal. That's kind of what the draft is all about, isn't it? Anyway, I stand by my evaluation: Top 20 talent in this draft. It was actually me who said that. Thanks for your magnanimity. 1: How could Stammler possibly be worse backup than Addo-Forchetti-Arena were last year? 2: I'm taking it as a given that Wells will make the team. It hadn't even occured to me he wouldn't. My fault for jumping the gun. 3: David's going to be on a developmental contract, so the smart money says he sticks. 4: Occean is the key, because even if the other guys are what we think they'll be (serviceable MLS squad players), Occean is the one with the potential to be much, much more. He was a stud in the PDL with Vermont, a stud with SCSU and a member of the Canadian Olympic Team Pool. If he just makes the team, our draft was "eh". If he doesn't make the team, our draft was poor. If he makes the team and is a contributor, then we pulled a fast one on the nine other clubs in MLS for the first freaking time ever. So yes, Occean is the key.
I think this draft was a good one if you consider what was available and the realistic likelihood of us filling our needs in the draft. First, we put a lot of our eggs in last year's basket, so you can't do that every year. Considering the strength of last year's vs. this year's draft, looking back you would have to say that was a very wise decision. Second, the true nature of the job Bob and Nick did during this off season will come from the contribution of the guys we sign with allocations and discovery slots. If they get good guys that can come in as starters, then they did very well. If we have a number of guys who come in and can't contribute, then this off season was a failure. I too liked Chris Lietch, and I think he's a good example of the guys you can find later on in drafts that can turn out to contribute to your team. Not everyone has to turn into the team's leading scorer to contribute, and if some of these guys like Seth "Jaap" Stammler and Zach Wells (down the line) can contribute just a little, if only as giving depth to the bench, it was a good draft. Last year was draft heavy as we had picks but no money because guys like Moreno, Howard with a new contract, Mathis and Jolley were taking up cap space. This year we have cap relief with them gone, but less draft picks. That being said, I think we did well with what we have, let's see who we sign in the next 3 months and then judge the job. You can't take what happened yesterday too seriously. It was a step in the process, not the make or break day where our team was going to turn into champions. Anyone who looks at it that way is being silly.