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Who would you protect from the MLS Expansion Draft?

We are less than two hours away from the deadline for MLS teams to submit their protected roster lists ahead of Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft for Seattle Sounders FC. Teams can protect 11 players, leaving the rest exposed (save for Generation adidas players).

With teams such as Columbus, Houston and Chicago boasting impressive depth, there should be some quality players available in this year's expansion draft as clubs make very tough decisions on who to keep and who to risk losing.

Taking a look at your favorite team's roster, which 11 players would you protect? Who is the best player you see your team leaving exposed?

Share your thoughts and picks below (and go to the jump for a rundown of the rules surrounding the MLS expansion draft):

2008 MLS Expansion Draft Rules

Senior Roster
– Teams may protect 11 players between their Senior and their Developmental Roster.
– If the Player's contract expires at the end of 2008, he will still be considered part of the team's Senior Roster.
– If a team protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player's option. The team may renegotiate a new budget number for the player as in previous years.
– If a player retires, he will not be a part of the Senior Roster, but his team will lose its right of first refusal to him should he ultimately decide to play.

Developmental Roster
– Players on a team's Developmental Roster, other than Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2008 season, will be part of the expansion draft.
– Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2008 season are automatically protected (teams do not have to protect them).
– If Seattle Sounders FC select a Developmental Player they must offer him a Senior Roster position and he must be on Seattle's Senior Roster as of Roster Compliance Date.

International Players
– Teams are restricted in the number of international player(s) that they may make available per the table set forth below.
– For purposes of this expansion process, for U.S.-based teams, any non-domestic U.S. player would count as an International and for Toronto FC, any non-domestic U.S. player or non-domestic Canadian player would count as an International.

Designated Players
– Designated Players do not have to be protected unless the player has a no trade clause in which case he must be protected.

Maximum Player Loss
– Once a player has been claimed from a team's non-protected roster, that team is eliminated from the expansion draft and may not lose any further players.

Right to Renegotiate
– Seattle will have the right to renegotiate a drafted player's salary (either up or down) without having to place such player on waivers or giving his previous Team a right of first refusal.

Priority
– On the first day of the Discovery/Allocation Period, Seattle will have priority over players who played professionally in the USL First or Second Division in 2008, subject to another MLS team's right of first refusal.

Rounds
– The expansion draft will be 10 rounds.

INTERNATIONAL PLAYER PROTECTION REQUIREMENT TABLE:

Teams may make available a number of international players equal to their total number of international players minus 3, provided that if a team has 3 or less international players it may make available not more than 1.

Comments

  1. Brett & Joe, Overall I like your lists, but Joe how did you leave Blanco off? He has to be protected, even if for only 1 more year. I think we can safely expose Busch because Seattle already has Keller and probably won’t take another top keeper. Joe, why on earth have you put Marmol on the list? He wasn’t even strong enough to dress most days. I’d rather protect Prideaux (or Robinson) even if he is getting a bit older, but I also don’t have a clue on salary issues here OR whose contract is up at the end of the year. Also, while I’d love to hang onto Conde, what is his contract status now, isn’t it done at year end? Is he happier now, or will he still want to leave and join JCO? If we aren’t pretty sure of resigning him I’d leave him uprotected and use that spot for someone else like Robinson or even Nyarko.

    Reply
  2. john; seriously…. Protect all 11 starters for NYRB?

    except for Angel VDB Dane Richards

    everybody else must go!! Unprotect the whole team if it were up to me…. And the front office.

    keep osorio, rojas (needs chance)

    leitch woly out

    boyens jimenez out

    goldwaite in

    and you john…. Should be unprotected too for posting that.. Yuk!!

    Reply
  3. G-loff,

    Seitz is a generation adidas player, so he is already protected for RSL.

    To see RSL’s list, head over to their blog, as they have already posted it.

    Reply
  4. New York

    Juan Pablo Angel

    Seth Stammler

    Dave Van Den Bergh

    Dane Richards

    Kevin Goldthwaite

    Danny Cepero

    Jorge Rojas

    Jeff Parke

    Macoumba Kandji

    Sinisa Ubiparipovic

    Jimenez

    Reply
  5. Here’s FCD’s list. A press release was just sent out.

    The 11 FC Dallas protected players:

    Goalkeeper: Dario Sala

    Defenders: Drew Moor, Adrian Serioux, Blake Wagner

    Midfielders: Andre Rocha, Dax McCarty, Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa.

    Forwards: Kenny Cooper, Jeff Cunningham, Dominic Oduro

    Seattle may select a maximum of one player from each of the 14 MLS team’s unprotected player list during the 10-round draft (four teams will not have a player selected). The following 12 FCD players are available for selection:

    Goalkeeper: Ray Burse

    Defenders: Aaron Pitchkolan, Duilio Davino, Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo, David Wagenfuhr, Bobby Rhine.

    Midfielders: Victor Sikora, Spencer Wadsworth, Chase Wileman.

    Forwards: Jamie Watson, Jeff Rowland.

    Reply
  6. @ Jason:

    Why would you protect Marshall? He’s out of contract in a month and will make the move to Europe anyway. I’d move Danny O or Evans into his spot.

    Reply
  7. RSL should protect:

    1 Beckerman

    2 Morales

    3 Movsisyan

    4 Borchers

    5 Findley

    6 Rimando

    7 Wingert

    8 Russel

    9 Johnson

    10 Olave

    11 Espindola

    Reply
  8. I think Rimando gets picked then traded to the Galaxy, possibly for allocation $. A player like Bryan Jordan may also be dealt to Seattle.

    Reply
  9. JL/LDQ-

    re: NE

    As others have said, I think you protect Reis anyway b/c Seattle could grab him and them trade him for value form someone who wants him.

    Manzo does not need protection at this point.

    Badilla looked pretty bad, I don’t mind leaving him unprotected as I’d be surprised to him chosen — and if he is, no big deal.

    I think you protect Parky on the chance he stays, given how good he is. I don’t think it’s 100% certain he’s gone, even if it is more than likely.

    Now what is this trade? Because it says “trade” it sounds like a within-MLS move, but no player jumps to mind. Maybe the Revs traded someone to Seattle for draft picks.

    Reply
  10. RSL also left starting goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Andy Williams unprotected and vulnerable to the expansion draft Wednesday that will help stock the new Seattle Sounders franchise that begins play in MLS next season. The team was allowed to protect only 11 players. It can lose no more than one of them to the Sounders.

    Five others – midfielder Dema Kovalenko, forwards Clint Mathis and Kenny Deuchar, and defenders Ian Joy Dustin Horst – were left unprotected, too, but the big news was the definitive moves.

    Reply
  11. Or am I missing something regarding the internationals? I don’t see a “table” at the end of the post — the text says “Table” but all I see is one sentence? Maybe my firewall is blocking a table…

    In any event, assuming that the RB only have to protect 3 internationals, I’d protect:

    Angel-I (assuming that we think he might come back; otherwise, leave him unprotected)

    Boyens-I

    Kandji-I

    vdBergh (also assuming that we think he might come back)

    Richards

    Stammler

    Ubiparipovic

    Parke

    Leitch

    Goldthwaite

    Sassano

    I see no reason to protect either Cepero or Conway. Since Seattle can only take one of them, if either one of them gets taken, the other has the RBNY position.

    Reply
  12. Per Salt Lake Tribune, RSL has left UNprotected:

    Rimando, Williams, Cutler, Kovalenko, Mathis, Deuchar, Joy and released outright Besagno.

    Reply
  13. “Teams may make available a number of international players equal to their total number of international players minus 3”

    This is confusing. As I read it, it means that teams must protect 3 internationals, but can make all their other internationals available. For example, for the Red Bulls, which have 10 internationals (according to the MLSNet roster), they can make available 7 internationals (10 – 3 = 7).

    Am I wrong?

    Reply
  14. Hey Ives,

    I don’t suppose the league intends to issue a press release on these lists today. Do you expect to have something?

    Reply

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