You mean "go with a USL player" or "go with Pat Onstad?" Because they're not the same thing. I think San Jose went with Pat Onstad more because he was Pat Onstad.
My guess, Guerrero is paid a lot more than Carr. If the Fire lose Guerrero then they will have another large chunk of change to spend on a right midfielder and can move Mapp to his natural position on the left. Guerrero is a fine player and I hope San Jose takes like Busch or Curtin but, if he goes, it won't be so bad.
I'm surprised most at Guerrero being on the unprotected list...and a little bit to see Diego's name there too
Older players are going to end up on these lists, in all sports. I agree that Guerrero is a terrific player. I hope his most recent injury doesn't have lingering negative effects on his career. I wonder if his speed would be minimized on a small field in San Jose (is Buck Shaw a small field?) and if he'd be out of the league by the time their new building is ready.
Oh I don't know about this... I would have protected Ivan at all costs. Seriously I fear seeing Ivan in a different uniform. Blanco was really effective when he has Ivan running the flanks for him as if you go back and watch games he used Ivan as his legs. He had nasty injury but give him the off season to heal and I think he would be back to his old self. I'm sorry but Chad over Ivan is WRONG and I hope they do not pick him up. I hope the only only reason we are protecting Chad is so we can use him as trade bait. I just can not stomach watching him again next year as his whining and complaining and general piss poor attitude make me ill. That being said if they were dead set on keeping Chad they could has exposed Calen instead, that is not a knock on Calen as he is a nice guy and more importantly works hard when he is out on the field but if you were having a game and had to draw up sides who would you go with Calen or Ivan? I'm taking Ivan. When SJ looks at the list of unprotected players on our end... It is apparent they will not take Diego due to age and cost and the same applies to Big Jim although maybe he is the long shot. With Onstad unprotected I'm sure SJ will nab him to bring him home as their GK. Heck I would not be surprised if this was not already arranged so Busch and Noble appear to be safe. That leaves Jordan Russolillo, Mike Banner, Osei Telesford, Daniel Woolard, Ivan Guerrero, Brian Plotkin, John Thorrington, Bruno Menezes and Floyd Franks. Plotkin, Menezes and Russolillo could be the steals here but I doubt in as the others do not really rate or have a long troubled history of injury (in the case of Thorrington). I'm sorry to say it but Ivan appears to be gone as far as my guess goes and I'm bummed about that.
Which old self was that? The So-So self of earlier this season before he went to play with the Hondo NT? The So-So to mediocre season of 2006 or his great 2005 season. As much as I love the way Ivan has played for us, I think he's slowly becoming less of an effective player
My thoughts on who stands the biggest chance of being picked (1=most, 6=least). The rest aren't likely to go anywhere. And I just realized that both Hartman and Onstad are not protected, so Busch is NOT likely to go. Busch, Jon(2) Banner, Michael Curtin, Jeff Curtin, Jim(6) Franks, Floyd Guerrero, Ivan(1) Gutierrez, Diego(5) Marques, Bruno Noble, Nick Plotkin, Brian(3) Russolillo, Jordan Telesford, Osei Thorrington, John(4) Woolard, Daniel
Sorry, thought it was obvious. I'll rephrase. I don't think San Jose picked Onstad because he was a USL player. I think they picked him because he was Pat Onstad (and Canadian, and Frank Yallop likely knew him). Someone said they might go "in the same direction," which I took to mean "taking a USL player over someone who might have MLS experience." Onstad was a USL player, but a very experienced one. He wasn't some 23 year old out of college. I would imagine that "going the same direction" could mean "taking Pat Onstad again, seeing as how he's unprotected" or "going with a kind of unknown keeper instead of someone everyone knows about." That's why I asked.
I think it's pretty clear we're going to lose one player in this draft and that will be Ivan. I'd actually put the ranking a little differently if I were picking: Guerrero, Ivan(1) Thorrington, John(2) Plotkin, Brian(3) Busch, Jon(4) Curtin, Jim(5) Gutierrez, Diego(6) Banner, Michael Curtin, Jeff Franks, Floyd Marques, Bruno Noble, Nick Russolillo, Jordan Telesford, Osei Woolard, Daniel
My highly un-educated prediction of their picks based on the list of folks unprotected at http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20071120&content_id=130425&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp The percentage of unprotected player names that I've never heard of is high, so I'm probably way Fire biased Player Team POS DOB Status MLS Exp Busch, Jon Chicago Fire GK 8/18/1976 5 Petke, Mike Colorado Rapids D 1/30/1976 9 Telesford, Osei Chicago Fire D 11/30/1983 SYI 0 Vanney, Greg D.C. United D 6/11/1974 8 Grabavoy, Ned Columbus Crew M 7/1/1983 3 Gros, Joshua D.C. United M-D 6/25/1982 3 Guerrero, Ivan Chicago Fire M-D 11/30/1977 2 Mathis, Clint LA Galaxy M-F 11/25/1976 8 Dyachenko, Rod D.C. United F 9/22/1983 DEV 1 Virtuoso, Ricardo Columbus Crew F 3/1/1984 SYI 1 There are bigger names available gk, but based on age and probable salary cap hit, I think Busch has the better upside. Or if the Quakes are looking to save money on uniforms, they could go with the "all in the family" roster Player Team POS DOB Status MLS Exp Curtin, Jeff Chicago Fire D 6/23/1979 6 Curtin, Jim Chicago Fire D 7/4/1983 DEV 0 Brown, Chris Real Salt Lake M-F 3/10/1977 8 Brown, Kyle Real Salt Lake F 8/10/1983 DEV 1 Carroll, Brian D.C. United M 7/20/1981 3 Carroll, Jeff D.C. United M-D 1/8/1984 DEV 1 Gbandi, Chris FC Dallas D 4/7/1979 4 Gbandi, Sandy FC Dallas M 7/12/1983 DEV 0 Wondolowski, Chris Houston Dynamo D 8/13/1985 0 Wondolowski, SteveHouston Dynamo F 7/28/1983 DEV 2
They could select a bunch of ex-Fire players. Thornton, Grey, Stewart, Williams, Perez, just to name a few. Oh yeah, Leonard Griffin, too.
NEW YORK -- Major League Soccer held its 2007 Expansion Draft on today for the League's 14th team, the San Jose Earthquakes, with the team selecting 10 players to begin constructing its roster for the 2008 season. The Earthquakes selected one player each from 10 of the 13 MLS teams. The Colorado Rapids, Kansas City Wizards and Real Salt Lake were the three teams that did not have a player selected in the draft. Each of the 13 teams was allowed to protect 11 players, leaving all others unprotected and available for selection by the Earthquakes. Below is the complete list of players selected in the 2007 MLS Expansion Draft. 1. Ryan Cochrane (Houston Dynamo) 2. Clarence Goodson (FC Dallas) 3. Ned Grabavoy (Columbus Crew) 4. James Riley (New England Revolution) 5. Joseph Vide (New York Red Bulls) 6. Ivan Guerrero (Chicago Fire) 7. Brian Carroll (D.C. United) 8. Jason Hernandez (Chivas USA) 9. Gavin Glinton (LA Galaxy) 10. Chris Pozniak (Toronto FC) The San Jose Earthquakes, Major League Soccer's 14th team, will begin play in the Western Conference in the 2008 season at Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University.
Stranger things have happened than a guy being selected in an expansion draft and returning to the team from whence he came. I don't know if that's a possibility here, only that it's 100% certain the Fire won't have Guerrero next year.
I wonder if San Jose checked out this thread and made thier decision based on our rankings... If so, we should of talked up Bruno more...
Had to have been our board, on their board almost all their fans wanted Big Jim, and nobody thought twice about Guerrero.