OK, let's hear it - who do you think the Revs will lose in the draft? Castro, Smith, Thompson, Phelan and Badilla are the five exposed players with the most minutes played. Will it be one of them, someone else, or will we make it through the draft with our roster intact?
Dang, shouldn't have included Igwe who is apparently still considered a Generation Adidas player. Can a mod remove that choice?
Nope. I guess their GM and Chris Henderson will make the picks. For a team that has done a lot of things right, this seems like a bit of an error. OTOH, expansion teams always seem to go through a lot of turnover at the start, so maybe they are better off with a coach who has no ties to most of his players.
Or waiting to hear on Sigi's status? My guess would be based on their coach. If Mariner was heading up Seattle, there are parts of me that think him and Nicol would have worked out a deal, but if it was Sigi or anyone else, who knows?
Castro? SI + 96k salary Badilla? SI + 138 salary Wells? speed, 33k and nothing else really to offer Phelan? Former first rounder, slow, inexperienced, slow and 33k Smith? Speed, able to beat defenders, hard to defend, 46k, inconsistant, tends to drift out of games and accoding to MLSNET not a SI. Signs point to Khano
They already have two wings in Ljungberg and Nyassi, so I'd bet Khano and Castro are safe. Thompson is safe for this reason and also because I don't think any team would want him that badly. Safe for a similar reason as Thompson would be Phelan, Tyler, Warren, and Knighton. Argenis Fernandes and Badilla are probably safe as they haven't shown much and they salaries aren't yet justifiable. If Seattle takes Paul Mariner all bets are off on Badilla. Also safe due to lack of proven ability at the MLS level are Angulo, Germanese, Flood, and Manzonelli. The last unprotect Rev left would be Tierney, but I really couldn't see Tierney being the best guy for them between all of the Revs unprotected players and the unprotected players from the 4 teams who don't have a guy picked. I guess after doing this little exercise I can see the logical in trading Cristman away for something, rather than lose him for nothing. He's young, has a small salary, and has shown he can score goals at the MLS level even while injured. All that aside, I'll vote for Badilla. They need to start building a defence somewhere.
I think Khano for two reasons. One is as cover for their wings, or as a 60' sub (probably his ideal role). Second is that he probably has the most trade value of any of the players on our list. I think Seattle may be similar in drafting to Toronto -- draft the best values and then trade them for what you really want (picks and role players). I don't think we'll get skipped -- look at how bad (or overpaid) the best player available on some of the other lists is (for instance, DCU, unless they want to take Crayton as trade bait).
Khano might be seen as too much of a loose cannon, and he has overseas ambitions. At least one poster in the Sounders forum is keen on Manzonelli.
It's a good test to see who's really paying attention. I don't think you can pencil Nyassi in as a starter - he doesn't have a minute of play under his belt, and as we've seen with his twin bro, he's likely to be kind of "raw".
They'll just go and find another "Badilla". Last year's business dealings have helped establish working business relationships - that can only help make the acquisition process better. Last year we needed players and Nicol and Mariner went south over the winter scouting and we signed 3 new players. This year, according to reports, they've started even earlier.
Ives is actually predicting Pat Phelan will get picked from the Revs. That's an interesting pick to me.
I wouldn't be surprised if Badilla or even Tierney got picked, Badilla is a capable defender, and Tierney is rapidly improving...as demonstrated by his great performance in the first leg of the Chicago Fire series...plus Seattle is going to have to draft some defense in this expansion draft be it from us or elsewhere because they have midfielders and a striker...but still an entire back line to fill
Badilla's contract and SI status makes him less appealing. Tierney is a DV player so if he is selected he will occupy a senior spot. They wouldn't be able to develop him on the DV roster. I don't think he'll be taken. I think it's either going to be Phelan or Thompson.
We lost Khano. While I happy he's gone from the revs, I'm not happy I'll get to watch him live 15-18 games next year. Just way too in consistent for me.