OK, so it looks like we got Alex Pineda Chacon from New England and our first pick was Guillerm Gonzales. Where's he from, anyway? It looks like we're going to have the Central American Triangle in place - Ruiz, Chacon and Cienfuegos, representing Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, respectively. This should really bring the fans in! But back to the draft, what's the latest?
Here's one bio: http://www.matchnight.com/scouting/player.cfm?ID=1108 Home town boy makes good (I hope). Maybe Cien's heir-apparent. We'll see. This guy is young!
Gonzalez comes in highly touted from the current US U-17's. His age may have pushed him down a few spots since he probably won't contribute right away. But then again they said the same thing about both Convey and Beasley and both stepped right up to the MLS level. He's also local, which will immediately lead to the next great MLS conspiracy theory - how this great talent ended up with the team he most likely wanted to play for while seven other teams passed over him. Don't care, he's ours. Chacon is a nice gamble, I figure, with Cien moving gradually out of the picture. The only issue I have there is what the cap impact will be. I hope we don't have to dump any players to fit him under the cap. Scot Thompson was our next pick after Gonzalez at #16 (which we acquired by trading Brian Mullan). Thompson is a solid defender with nice athletic upside and he was a leader in UCLA's championship winning defense. Next at #19 was Arturo Torres from LMU who I know nothing about. Then with the next pick Ricky Lewis, a member of the current US U-23's. He's also P40, which I think brings our developmental total to six. He's an athletic outside back (left back, if I remember right) who also played some forward. I've heard lots of good things about him. There's a rumor floating around that he recently injured his knee. The other picks are likely throwaways.
Here's the recap of the Galaxy's draft: 1st round pick (8): Guillermo Gonzalez http://63.236.25.230/bios/php/2003/guillermo_gonzalez.php 2nd round pick (16): Scot Thompson http://63.236.25.230/bios/php/2003/scot_thompson.php 2nd round pick (19): Arturo Torres http://63.236.25.230/bios/php/2003/arturo_torres.php 2nd round pick (20): Ricky Lewis http://63.236.25.230/bios/php/2003/eric_lewis.php 4th round pick (40): Hamid Mehreioskouei http://63.236.25.230/bios/php/2003/hamid_mehreioskouei.php 5th round pick (50): Jimmy Frazelle http://63.236.25.230/bios/php/2003/jimmy_frazelle.php 6th round pick (55): Joe Barton
Does anyone else think that Chicago cockblocked us for Ryan Futagaki in the 6th Round? For a MAC Hermann candidate, I think he was drafted late, but I wasn't at the combine, so who knows. As for other local talent, why the hell did we waste one of our 2nd round picks on some unknown (Torres) from a crappy school (Loyola Marymount) as opposed to someone like Tim Pierce (All-American UCLA), who hasn't even been drafted yet, or even a decent goalie? Stuns me, but I am happy with Memo, Lewis, and Thompson. Can't wait for the season to start!!!
Having seen Pierce and Torres play in person, Sigi made a good pick with Torres. I got the College Cup games on tape if you need proof of Pierce being over-rated. Torres has good size can play up front for or on the wing. Has explosive speed and good 1v1 skills, will need to work on his defence. Will be the steal of the draft, you heard it hear first. Great draft for Sigi. Remember he has an accounting backround which is essential for this league it's ideal.
I wouldn't worry about the conspiracy theorists Kyledane. If they had a case, it was destroyed when United bagged Eskandarian (who wanted to go to Jersey.) Be happy you picked up Lewis. I still don't understand why we traded that pick with you guys. It sure wasn't worth Mullan.
Steal in what sense? Steal as in the way Moreno was a steal in last year's draft (YEAH RIGHT)? Regardless of what people think about Moreno's quality or lack thereof (I say cut him and look at Key, Glinton, or CHACON instead), I really doubt Torres will even have as little impact as Moreno had last year, with his 2 assists or whatever it was he did. He'll probably end up being just as famous as that other Torres from NE or whatever. But if he pans out, the bandwagoner in me will probably be praising him along with everyone else. I don't think he'll make the final roster though, unless we get rid of some of the other dudes (Moreno, Albright, Bardales, Bengard, Gomez). Anyway, I'm not picking on your ability to scout, I thought Pierce wasn't too great a player either (I go to UCLA), but if we're gonna waste a decent 2nd round pick, why waste it on an experiment? I gave Pierce as an example because he has credentials, though he probably can't back them up in the professional game. Personally, with that pick I would have gone after a good backup goalie, instead of waiting for the 6th round to do so. It's gonna be an awesome squad next year though, I can say at least that much with confidence!!!
You have to recognize that at this stage, all draft picks are experiments, even the first rounders. Look at last year's second round. Stewart, Glinton and Busch were the only players to receive any noticeable playing time. Most of the other guys are long gone from their teams. Even a couple of the first rounders from last year didn't survive (Ndiaye, Luchi, Sleeth and Kante). So saying that the Galaxy were "experimenting" with their #19 pick this year is not a damning statement. Of course they are experimenting.
Pierce is so overrated. The fact that he was named All-American at the NCAA level just shows you how seriously you should take college soccer.
Maybe if you'd go to college you'd know the difference between a good school and a crappy school. LMU is a good school. I went there and I've been to a few Lions games over the last few years. Torres is a good player from a mid-major. LMU's program is on the rise and he was one of the guys that brought it up. LMU gave UCLA a good game in the second round of the NCAAs. Did you know that, or did you just assume that since you've never heard of Loyola that it must be crap?
UCLA was 1-1 this year against that "crap" school. I don't know if Torres will make any contribution to the team, who can really say at this point. Only 2 of last year's picks are still on the current team, and it already is a solid team from top to bottom. I've been to UCLA, I know people who have gone there, and all I can say is I'm sure glad I decided to go to LMU. It cost a pretty penny but it is definetly worth it.
I just wanted to say i hope the two Iranian players will have better seasons that the past ones, if that is they get the chance to play.
At least some people on the Chicago boards were ticked off that we picked Hamid M. Apparently he played with the Fire reserves last year, and impressed them. My guess - unless something radical happens by way of trade or injury, low round draft choices are not likely to stick anyway.