Major League Soccer has released the lists of players protected from Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft, which the expansion Philadelphia Union will use to select ten players from the remaining unprotected players on the league's 15 team rosters.
MLS Cup Final hero Robbie Russell, U.S. national team midfielder Ricardo Clark and former MLS MVP Amado Guevara are among the more high-profile players left off lists who will be available for the Union to select in Wednesday's draft.
Here is a rundown of the protected lists, the lists of available players, the list of Generation adidas graduates, along with some thoughts on the lists:
COMPLETE LIST OF PROTECTED PLAYERS FOR WEDNESDAY’S DRAFT
Chivas USA
Jonathan Bornstein, Justin Braun, Jorge Flores, Padilla, Jesus, Galindo, Maykel, Lahoud, Michael, Kljestan, Sacha, Nagamura, Paulo, Thornton, Zach, Cuesta, Yamith, Santos, Maicon
Chicago Fire
Busch, Jon, Conde, Wilman, Brown, C.J., Mapp, Justin, McBride, Brian, Nyarko, Patrick, Pappa, Marco, Pause, Logan, Thorrington, John, Robinson, Dasan, Ward, Tim
Colorado Rapids
Baudet, Julien, Casey, Conor, Clark, Colin, Cummings, Omar, Gibbs, Cory, Kimura, Kosuke, LaBrocca, Nick, Mastroeni, Pablo, Moor, Drew, Pickens, Matt, Smith, Jamie
Columbus Crew
Brunner, Eric, Carroll, Brian, Ekpo, Emmanuel, Gaven, Eddie, Hesmer, Will (GK), Lenhart, Steven, Marshall, Chad, Moffat, Adam, O'Rourke, Danny, Rogers, Robbie, Schelotto, Guillermo
FC Dallas
Benitez, Jair, Chavez, Marvin, Cunningham, Jeff, Davies, Kyle, Ferreira, David, Harris, Atiba, Hernandez, Daniel, Ihemelu, Ugo, John, George, McCarty, Dax, Pearce, Heath
D.C. United
Burch, Marc, Fred, Jakovic, Dejan, James, Julius, Moreno, Jaime, Namoff, Bryan, Pontius, Chris, Quaranta, Santino, Simms, Clyde, Szetela, Danny, Wallace, Rodney
Houston Dynamo
Ashe, Corey , Boswell, Bobby, Cameron, Geoff, Ching, Brian, Davis, Brad, Hall, Tally, Hainault, Andrew , Holden, Stuart, Mullan, Brian, Oduro, Dominic, Weaver, Cameron
Kansas City Wizards
Arnaud, Davy, Conrad, Jimmy, Harrington, Michael, Hercegfalvi, Zoltan, Jewsbury, Jack, Kamara, Kei, Leathers, Jonathan, Lopez, Claudio, Souter, Kevin, Wolff, Josh, Zusi, Graham
Los Angeles Galaxy
Beckham, David, Berhalter, Gregg, Birchall, Chris, Buddle, Edson, DeLagarza, AJ, Donovan, Landon, Franklin, Sean, Gonzalez, Omar, Kovalenko, Dema, Magee, Mike, Ricketts, Donovan
New England Revolution
Alston, Kevin, Barnes, Darrius, Dube, Kheli, Joseph, Shalrie, Larentowicz, Jeff, Mansally, Kenny, Nyassi, Sainey, Osei, Emmanuel, Ralston, Steve, Reis, Matt, Twellman, Taylor
New York Red Bulls
Angel, Juan Pablo, Borman, Danleigh, Coundoul, Bouna, Goldthwaite, Kevin, Hall, Jeremy, Johnson, Carlos, Kandji, Macoumba, Mendes, Carlos, Obster, Ernst, Richards, Dane, Stammler, Seth
Real Salt Lake
Beckerman, Kyle, Beltran, Tony, Borchers, Nat, Espindola, Fabian, Findley, Robbie, Johnson, Will, Morales, Javier, Olave, Jamison, Rimando, Nick, Seitz, Chris, Wingert, Chris
San Jose Earthquakes
Alvarez, Arturo, Burling, Bobby, Cannon, Joe, Corrales, Ramiro, Glenn, Cornell, Hernandez, Jason, Johnson, Ryan, Leitch, Chris, Moreira, Andre Luiz, Sanchez, Ramon, McDonald, Brandon
Seattle Sounders FC
Alonso, Osvaldo, Evans, Brad, Gonzalez, Leo, Hurtado, Jhon Kennedy, Ianni, Patrick, Jaqua, Nate, Keller, Kasey, Ljungberg, Freddie, Marshall, Tyrone, Montero, Fredy, Zakuani, Steve
Toronto FC
Attakora-Gyan, Nana, Barrett, Chad, Brennan, Jim, Cronin, Sam, de Guzman, Julian, DeRosario, Dwayne, Gomez, Emmanuel, Sanyang, Amadou, Serioux, Adrian, White, O'Brian, Wynne, Marvell
COMPLETE LIST OF PLAYERS AVAILABLE IN EXPANSION DRAFT
Chivas USA
Conway, Jon, Curtin, Jim, Harmse, Kevin, Jazic, Ante, Kennedy, Dan, Lillingston, Eduardo, Marsch, Jesse, Razov, Ante, Saragosa, Marcelo, Stepanovic, Bojan, Suarez, Claudio, Talley, Carey, Thomas, Shavar, Trujillo, Mariano, Victorine, Sasha, Chijindu, Chukwudi, Mayen, Gerson, Parker, Lance
Chicago Fire
Banner, Michael, Blanco, Cuauhtémoc, Carr, Calen, Dimitrov, Stefan, Dykstra, Andrew, Myrie, Dave, Rolfe, Chris, Segares, Gonzalo, Woolard, Daniel, Lowry, Peter, Washington, Austin
Columbus Crew
Garey, Jason, Gruenebaum, Andy, Hejduk, Frankie, Iro, Andy, Moreno, Alejandro, Nyazamba, Stanley, Oughton, Duncan, Padula, Gino, Renteria, Emilio, Schoeni, Kenny, Burns, Kevin, Elenio, Cory, Grendi, Alex
Colorado Rapids
Ballouchy, Mehdi, Burpo, Preston, Dalby, Greg, Diz, Facundo, Harden, Ty, Harvey, Jordan, Noonan, Pat, Palguta, Scott, Peterson, Jacob, Ceus, Steward, Holody, Mike, Schunk, Ross
FC Dallas
Burse, Ray, Purdy, Steve, Ricchetti, Pablo, Rocha, Andre, Sala, Dario, Torres, Daniel, Van Den Bergh, Dave, Wagner, Blake, Wallace, Anthony
D.C. United
Emilio, Luciano, Gomez, Christian, Habarugira, David, Jacobson, Andrew, Janicki, Greg, John, Avery, Khumalo, Thabiso, McTavish, Devon, N'Silu, Ange, Olsen, Ben, Vaughn, Lawson, Wicks, Josh, Allen, Ely, Barklage, Brandon, DiRaimondo, John, Kocic, Milos, Shipalane, Tiyiselani
Houston Dynamo
Barrett, Wade, Chabala, Michael, Clark, Ricardo, Cochrane, Ryan, Landin, Luis, Mulrooney, Richard, Onstad, Pat, Robinson, Eddie, Thompson, Abe, Waibel, Craig, Deric, Tyler, Hayden, John Michael, Ustruck, Erik
Kansas City Wizards
Besler, Matthew, Cristman, Adam, Gomez, Herculez, Hartman, Kevin, Hirsig, Santiago, Hohlbein, Aaron, Kraus, Michael, Kronberg, Eric, McKenzie, Rauwshan, Morsink, Kurt, Watson, Lance, Marquess, Matt, Pardo, Boris
New England Revolution
Albright, Chris, Badilla, Gabriel, Heaps, Jay, Igwe, Amaechi, Jankauskas, Edgaras, Knighton, Brad, Matamoros Castro, Mauricio, Ombiogno, Stephane, Phelan, Pat, Thompson, Wells, Tierney, Chris, Videira, Michael, Shuttleworth, Robert
LA Galaxy
Dunivant, Todd, Eskandarian, Alecko, Gordon, Alan, Griffin, Leonard, Jordan, Bryan, Kirovski, Jovan, Klein, Chris, Lewis, Eddie, Miglioranzi, Stefani, Sanneh, Tony, Saunders, Josh, Valentin, Julian, Marshall, Yohance, Patterson, Kyle
New York Red Bulls
Boyens, Andrew, Cepero, Daniel, Garcia, Walter, Krupnik, Leonid, Patterson, Caleb, Petke, Mike, Rojas, Jorge, Sassano, Luke, Ubiparipovic, Sinisa, Wolyniec, John, Mbuta, Andongcho, Zimmerman, Nick
Real Salt Lake
Alexandre, Jean, Campos, Pablo, El Khalifi, Rachid, Gonzalez, Nelson, Grabavoy, Ned, Horst, David, Mathis, Clint, Movsisyan, Yura, Reynish, Kyle, Russell, Robbie, Williams, Andy, Cox, Raphael, Nunez, Tino
San Jose Earthquakes
Amarikwa, Quincy, Convey, Bobby, Elliott, Simon, Pitchkolan, Aaron, Ribeiro, Antonio, Salinas, Shea, Weber, Andrew, Wondolowski, Chris, Graczyk, Mike, Roberts, Jamil, Zaher, Michael
Seattle Sounders FC
Boss, Terry, Eylander, Chris, Graham, Taylor, King, Stephen, LeToux, Sebastien, Levesque, Roger, Riley, James, Scott, Zacharias, Sturgis, Nathan, Vagenas, Peter, Wahl, Tyson, Brown, Evan, Fucito, Michael, Neagle, Lamar, Nyassi, Sanna
Toronto FC
Edwards, Brian, Fellinga, Lesly, Garcia, Nick, Gerba, Ali, Guevara, Amado, Robinson, Carl, Vitti, Pablo, Gala, Gabe
Generation adidas Graduates (Corrected List)
Alston, Kevin, Beltran, Tony, Gonzalez, Omar, Hall, Jeremy, Igwe, Amaechi, Nyarko, Patrick, Seitz, Chris, Wallace, Anthony, Wallace, Rodney, Zakuani, Steve
————
Keep in mind that players who are still eligible for Generation adidas did not need to be protected. Also, several of the more high-profile players left exposed for the draft, such as Ricardo Clark and Gonzalo Segares, are at the end of their MLS contracts and expected to sign abroad.
Here are some more thoughts:
I'm sticking with my theory that some teams may have handshake deals in place with Philadelphia where they have already agreed on who the Union will take. What would be the benefit of doing that if you're Philly? Teams with too many protectable players could have threatened to deal their surplus away ahead of today's protection list deadline.
It might seem cruel for RSL to leave Robbie Russell unprotected, but Tony Beltran is the better long-term prospect at right back.
It might seem odd for Pat Onstad to be left unprotected, but at his age he's pretty much a (don't pick me or I'll retire) guy.
Another player who is somewhat surprising of an inclusion is Dave Van Den Bergh. As good as he has been the past two years, he's an older player who is set to make more than $200K next season, not exactly the type of player Philadelphia will be looking to build a new team around. Dallas could also be banking on Philadelphia fielding Bobby Convey on the left wing in 2010.
So why did RSL protect Chris Seitz when Nick Rimando is firmly entrenched as the team's starter? Don't be surprised to see Seitz either traded or sold this winter.
According to multiple sources, TFC goalkeeper Stefan Frei has not graduated. How is this the case, when he started 26 matches this season? Your guess is as good as mine.
You can officially call James Riley the king of the expansion draft. This will mark the third straight expansion draft he's been exposed in. The Seattle right back has been selected in the past two mock drafts, first by San Jose in 2008, then by Seattle last season.
——–
What do you think of these lists? What's the most surprising omission? Who would be your first expansion pick (notice I said first, so please save the mock expansion drafts for tomorrow)?
Share your thoughts below.