As the league is adding more teams, and is adding designated players which counts against the Senior International (SI) limit, it is time for the league to add a 5th slot for each team. The reason against doing it is that it might hurt the development of future US National team players. But with more teams being added in the next few years, there will be more slots for US players anyways. I hate to see players like Thiago on the Fire (I am sure other teams have names) being let go when there are clearly many worse players on the team. Some SI's are not expensive (<$60,000 per year) and raise the quality of play in the league. These Americans who are being protected are not top Americans who would go to Europe or play for the Nats, but those who should be playing in the A-League. The standard of play would be raised in the league, without increasing costs, and would in the end, help the better American Players.