As the MLS season winds towards the end, the excitement continues to build in Philadelphia. On November 25, the Union will continue to take shape as the expansion draft takes place. The first players in Philadelphia Union history will come off the books of ten other clubs.
MLS released the specific rules that the other MLS clubs must follow when they make players available for Peter Nowak and his staff to select. Here's a look at some of the basics:
- Teams get to protect 11 players, both senior and developmental
- Generation adidas players do not need to be protected
- Designated players only need to be protected if they have a no trade clause
- Teams can only lose one player — after a team has a player selected, they are out
- The expansion draft will last ten rounds
For the 15 other teams in MLS, a November 23, 3pm deadline is in place for the list of players they wish to protect. Five teams will emerge from the draft unaffected due to the ten-round limit.
Who do you think your team will protect? What players will Philadelphia end up with?
Share your thoughts below.
Ahh soo I guess being expansion drafted isn’t the same as being traded. I just felt that a no-trade clause would protect you from being drafted.
I assumed he’ll graduate. Would be bonus for many reasons if he doesn’t.
Thought becks had a trade clause. (haven’t looked at his contract, but its pretty robust I’m sure there is probably a trade clause). I have to look at the actual fine print of these rules as well to see if he still takes a slot. Didn’t realize that you have to keep at least 3 international, that is odd, but doesn’t effect galaxy really cuz there are definitely 3 worth keeping.
i like wondo, but the FO has said they intend to bring in more attacking/midfield talent. hopefully whomever they bring in will be better than wondo, who is always going to be a little further down the depth chart.
Yea I know it gets pretty tough, even with the list out. I think the main thing that dictates who is picked, are trades. For example Gordan form LA could be available, and the Crapids trade Casey to Philly for him. Just an example-not really believing that would happen. I’ll tell you though, if Casey is truly unhappy in Crapidland, he’s welcome to join RSL in place of Yura.
Answering who Philly takes is totally dependent on who is left exposed. Once that list is out you, rank the players by position and consider value vs. salary. This gets pretty complicated pretty quickly. The other complication is that you can’t take more than 1 player from any 1 team. Probably, some team will leave someone exposed they don’t want to lose assuming Philly will take someone else or that the cost is too high. E.g. wasn’t Canon or Onstad left exposed during the Seattle draft? That was a gamble by their team knowing Seattle already had Keller. Yet, if there wasn’t a player from that team that better fit what Seattle needed they could have taken the keeper and traded them for someone likely better than the exposed players. So, this really is pretty convoluted. For my understanding, how long does Philly have to start making their selections?
My understanding was that Conde was out of contract after this season. Am I wrong? If so, considering the problems we have had with him contract-wise (his desire to go to Europe) will he re-sign? If not, obviously we won’t protect him. Also, Blanco, hasn’t he said he won’t play for us (Chicago) again? And isn’t Pappa’s loan done? Or do we have an option to purchase (better take it if we can)? Personally, I would prefer to leave Mapp unprotected. I’d love to lose Mapp’s high salary (for too little productivity). Unfortunately, the management seems to be in love with him and will likely protect him. I think I would also leave CJ unprotected due to age/injury issues. What about protecting Lowry, Woolard, or Robinson? Am I missing someone?
Alright here’s my attempt at Real Salt Lake-
No DP, no worries there
Internationals-
Olave
Morales
Espindola
Remaining 8-
Beckerman
Rimando
Broachers
Johnson
Findley
Beltran ( if not GA)
Seitz
Wingert
If Beltran is GA, then they protect Williams. RSL will lose someone for sure. My guess is Mathis and Williams retire (if they get the cup) and Philly takes Gabavoy, Mathis, Williams, or Alexandre. I wish they would take Horst, or Campos.
Does anyone else have a guess on RSL? Also, which 10 do you guys think Philly takes, and from which teams?
I think due to age, and injuries Arena leaves Kovalenko, and Esky available.
please please please take Justin Mapp. We will even throw in a bag of soccer balls.
Hard to see DCU not protecting Jaime Moreno. He’s the captain and the face and cornerstone of the franchise as well as MLS’s all-time leading scorer (for now). You’re right, he is only a part-time player at this point in his career but he’s still effective and is still more skilled than most young players in the league. Gomez has had an up and down career and it’s been more downs than ups lately so I can see him being unprotected. Benny I’m of two minds about. He’s also a leader and a cornerstone of United but his health has been fragile for a while now and I’m not sure how much longer he can still play. That would be a coup for Union if United left him unprotected and he was picked up. He’s one of the most charismatic veteran leaders in the league (up there with Jimmy Conrad) and one hopes he stays involved with MLS after his playing days.
Let me take a guess for Houston. As Clark and Holden are more than likely to leave, that will at least allow HD to protect more players.
Cameron
Boswell
Davis
Ching
Mullan
Chabala
Oduro
Hainault
Barrett
Landin
Ashe
Personnally, I wish Landin were left unprotected, just in case Union wants to fill its DP slot and help HD get rid of him. Unlikely to happen though.
Isn’t Zakuani Generation Adidas? Don’t think he needs to be protected but I could be wrong.
Who I see the Quakes protecting:
Mandatory 3 international players:
Glen
Sanchez
Luiz
Remaining 8 slots
Alvarez
Cannon
Hernandez
Johnson
Leitch
Salinas
Amarikwa
Wondolowski
Hopefully the salaried paper weight Convey gets his hoped for homecoming.
Most people here seem to be confused. I like the Galaxy fan that thought Beckham was automatically protected so they decided to protect an additional eleven players.
If your DP has a no trade clause, one of the teams 11 protected players must be their DP leaving 10 open protected slots. In addition, if a team has 3 or more international players, they must protect at least three of them.
I read this wrong the first time too. I think the idea is that a team isn’t required to protect their DP unless he has a no-trade clause, i.e. he would have to be protected so he couldn’t be drafted against his will.
Though it would seem really strange to have a team poach amother team’s DP in any case.
I did miss on the 10 players, sorry. I couldn’t find any definitive info whether Cruz was GA or not. I didn’t list Ching as he’s older and an expensive player and probably not the sort of player a new club wants to invest in.
I realize I misread the rule on Landin, sorry, I read that as a DP didn’t need to be protected whereas it was actually stating that a team doesn’t have to protect their DP. Not that I see Philly going after him anyway.
In any case, take off Cruz and add Ching and Landin…11. Other suggestions?
My guess is we’re gonna lose Miglioranzi or Magee.
I would probably leave Alecko unprotected. I doubt anyone is gonna take him with his concussion issues. I feel like he hasn’t played for the Galaxy in ages.
“Designated players only need to be protected if they have a no trade clause”
Am I the only one confused by this? Seems like it should be the other way around to me.