The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps are ready to make the first selections in the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft.
The Timbers have already begun building their team with the signings of USSF D-2 standouts Ryan Pore Eddie Johnson and Bright Dike, while the Whitecaps recently unveiled U.S. national team defender Jay DeMerit as their first major acquisition.
Both sides will move closer to forming the teams we could see when the 2011 season kicks off next spring.
I will be providing live commentary from the expansion draft so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the draft (Commentary is after the jump):
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FINAL– That's all for now. Feel free to share your thoughts on the expansion draft in the comments section below.
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2:54pm– That's that. Portland started well, but Vancouver finished well and may have had the edge overall. Portland spent two picks on lottery tickets with Findley and Bornstein. If either of those players comes back then you like the Timbers draft. Otherwise, Vancouver wins today.
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2:53pm– Vancouver selects John Thorrington with the final pick. A great pick, a steal really, and Chicago will wind up regretting not protecting him.
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2:52pm– Funny but I think Portland had a much better first half of the draft while Vancouver has had a stronger second half of the draft.
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2:51pm– Portland selects Arturo Alvarez.
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2:50pm– Vancouver selects Jonathan Leathers from KC, who I like MUCH better than Jordan Graye.
Better pick from the Whitecaps.
KC pulls back Eric Kronberg. Why? I have no idea. Guess they REALLY hope someone takes Chance Myers or Jimmy Conrad.
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2:49pm– Vancouver two picks left.
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2:47pm– Portland selects Jordan Graye from D.C. United. Not a fan of that pick at all.
D.C. United pulled back Kurt Morsink. No, really. They did.
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2:45pm– Portland is up. Corey Ashe perhaps?
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2:43pm– Vancouver selects Joe Cannon. Not a surprise. Yes, Pat Onstad would have been a nice nostalgia pick, but Cannon is a solid starter.
San Jose pulls back Tim Ward.
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2:41pm– Portland selects Jonathan Bornstein. Double Wow?
Chivas USA is off the board.
Who's doing their draft, Bob Bradley?
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2:40pm– The Union luck out today. Losing Salinas and Moreno doesn't hurt Philly at all.
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2:38pm– Vancouver selects Alejandro Moreno from Philadelphia.
Union are off the board and get lucky not to lose Brad Knighton. Would love to be in the room for Peter Nowak's first meeting with Knighton.
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2:36pm– Portland selects Peter Lowry from Chicago. Very underrated player, sneaky good goal scorer.
Chicago pulls back Dasan Robinson. Fire got lucky there.
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2:35pm– Portland is up.
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2:32pm– Vancouver selects O'Brian White from Toronto. Still don't get why he wasn't protected.
Whitecaps should give White a chance to play. Toronto pulls back Julian DeGuzman.
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2:31pm– Vancouver is up next.
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2:30pm– Portland selects Robbie Findley. Not that surprising. Findley played college soccer for Oregon State.
Real Salt Lake is off the board.
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2:29pm– Surprises? Philly pulling back Chris Seitz and exposing Brad Knighton. How do you bring him back now? Definitely a vote of no confidence by the Union with that move.
As for who is out there. Doesn't look like either team will be taking Jimmy Conrad, which is a bit surprising. O'Brian White is out there and someone I see Vancouver taking. You also have John Thorrington.
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2:27pm– Halfway through this expansion draft it's tough not to give the edge to Portland. Timbers have grabbed five solid players. Vancouver took three MLS starters first, but Salinas and Gordon are questionable in my book.
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2:25pm– Vancouver selects Alan Gordon. Just don't get that one.
Chivas USA pulls back Mariano Trujillo.
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2:24pm– Vancouver is up now. They have to go centerback eventually.
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2:21pm– Portland selects David Horst from Real Salt Lake. Interesting one. He's a big centerback who Portland surely saw in USSF D-2 play.
Real Salt Lake pulls back Collen Warner. WOW, they got lucky there.
Color me shocked that Portland didn't grab Collen Warner. Timbers will regret that.
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2:20pm– Vancouver takes Shea Salinas from Philadelphia.
Philly pulls back Chris Seitz. WOW.
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2:18pm– Loving the Timbers draft so far, and not just because they've taken three players I had them taking.
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2:17pm– Portland selects Anthony Wallace. Colorado pulls back Wells Thompson.
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2:17pm– Sturgis is a very good player who finally put injury issues behind him. Will Sturgis stay healthy? If he does, Vancouver got a steal. Seattle will miss him.
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2:15pm– Vancouver selects Nathan Sturgis from Seattle.
Sounders are done and Blaise Nkufo stays with Seattle.
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2:12pm– Portland takes Adam Moffatt. Columbus loses Brunner and Moffatt.
That's a good pick for the Timbers. Moffatt can start for you right away.
Columbus will go with Ekpo and probably Danny O'Rourke in central midfield.
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2:10pm– Vancouver selects Atiba Harris. Interesting move there. Harris is a useful player, but the only way he's dangerous is when he tackles people.
No more Dallas players can be taken, including Eric Avila and Kyle Davies. They just lost starters Dax McCarty and Atiba Harris.
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2:10pm– Vancouver up next. Kyle Davies, Blaise Nkufo, O'Brian White are possibilities.
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2:09pm– Columbus pulls back Kevin Burns.
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2:08pm– Portland takes Eric Brunner.
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2:07pm– Is Nyassi the best player available? No, but you have to consider positions as well as the fact that if the other expansion team takes someone from a team, you could lose out on the chance to take someone.
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2:06pm– Patrick Ianni is pulled back by Seattle.
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2:05pm– Sanna Nyassi to Vancouver. The Whitecaps get a winger and hurt arch-rival Seattle.
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2:04pm– Vancouver is up next.
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2:03pm– Dallas pulls back Daniel Hernandez. Surprising. I really don't think Dallas understand expansion draft machinations.
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2pm– PORTLAND-Dax McCarty. No shock. Everyone saw it coming.
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1:58pm– Quincy Amarikwa? What a waste of a pick he would be.
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1:55pm– I agree with Greg Lalas on John Thorrington. He could be a steal here coming off an injury-hit season. Chicago may regret not keeping him.
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1:54pm– I know a lot of people were wondering about the designated players I had go in my Fox Soccer mock expansion draft. I can definitely see NKufo to Vancouver. As for Angel to Portland? That seems unlikely unless there's a trade in place. Schelotto to Vancouver? That one was more a wishful thinking pick on my part. Doubt that marriage would work.
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1:52pm– Listen folks, FC Dallas flat-out dropped the ball in leaving Dax McCarty unprotected. Whether they like Eric Alexander or not, the fact remains they could have traded McCarty for value, perhaps even a first-round pick.
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1:51pm– The expansion draft starts at 2pm. Get your coffee ready and feel free to mute your computers for the next nine minutes.
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1:50pm– When will the actual expansion draft start? Hopefully soon. Really interested to see whether it's Pat Onstad, Joe Cannon or even a Brad Knighton as Vancouver's goalkeeper pick.
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1:47pm– No, the picks haven't started. We'll be forced to listen to some analysis from the MLSSoccer guys. Or you can just wait for me to tell you who the picks are.
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1:30pm– We're about 15 minutes away from the expansion draft. Consensus is that Portland will take Dax McCarty with the first pick, but at least a few think the Timbers may go in a number of directions. I'll go with McCarty.
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Good pick!
hardly
Really don’t get why we exposed Nyassi and protected Jaqua. Jaqua was awful this year and Nyassi was breaking out in a big way.
DUMB Seattle. Really DUMB.
Nyassi is wank, we won’t miss him.
HA!! HA!! Man I didn’t know it was that bad, no wonder my Sounders will be shredding the Chicago fire next year!
Please do not let Nyassi be LeToux part duex.
Original Sounder in expansion draft.
Seattle and Dallas getting dismantled. haha!
Each team can protect a certain number of players who are in the draft pool, once they have two players picked their other players are off the board. It’s got some drawbacks for sure but it isn’t an unreasonable way of doing things.
This may be random but what do you think of the MLS expanding to 10 teams for playoffs? Good because some more major market teams make the playoffs or bad because it makes the regular season seem meaningless? Also there is this talk of the additional two spots are used as a playoff for the right to get the #8 seed? Anyone Know?
Thanks,
these guys are really the most knowledgeable people to lead these MLS chats?
Are they conducting the draft in a bathroom? Audio gets a big thumbs up.
Whats the deal with the MLS extratime radio stream? I bring it up and it says opening in the corner and then says NOT FOUND.
How would it work with one of the expansion teams taking Nfuko considering his DP status?
For the Dynamo I expect to see Ashe taken by Portland and Spencer, don’t see Onstad going to Vancouver though (based on his own statements). Eddie Robinson maybe? He and DeMerit would be a pretty solid backline.
Wikipedia already has Nery Castillo’s 2011 stats.
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
Games: 12
Wikipedia already has McCarty going to the Timbers. Very interesting.
Isn’t McCarty interested in going to Europe? Maybe he gave notice before the draft?
Maybe because I am old, I love the video highlights on the website and find it easy to use. I don’t have Itunes it just started right up for me.
MLS if you are going to have us tune in 15 minutes early at least sell commercials. That is the point of pre-game broadcasts.
This is so screwed up I am complaining about NOT having commercials.
Have her make you a sandwich. That should buy you some time.
Will submit more suggestions upon request.
It isn’t through there podcast… i thought it was too, but go back to the homepage and reload the link and you are set from there. It is pretty easy actually.
A Galaxy Prayer: … God I wish i had some beer….I could be SOOOO drunk right now.
Oh yeah, take mike Magee that guy sucks
I agree. Why are we protecting Jaqua and not Nyassi? Nyassi has a much bigger upside while Jaqua is definitely on the decline.
Can the Sounders unprotect Jacqua at the last minute??? Please?
via iTunes and even then their podcast/radio wasn’t even updated at the stated time.
I’m a loyalist but the MLS OFFICIAL website is the worst in professional sports.
I’d be shocked if RSL doesn’t loose Warner.
here-here!! LOL since it is so true!
Dear Lord God Baby Jesus,
Please let Nate Sturgis be taken in the MLS Expansion Draft. I never want to see him in a Sounders lineup again.
Thank you.
Galaxy fans are praying that at least one person is taken from us. Seems unlikely though given the options out there.
How do you tune into the damn mls radio show from the website? I hate that website so much!
Dear Portland and Vancouver: Take as many Chicago players as you’d like, we’ll overlook the 2 player exemption.
P.S. We’ll throw our manager in too along with his plane ticket if you need. Thanks.
Can anyone tell me why Dallas exposed Dax and Davies?
A Fire prayer:
PLEASE TAKE NERY!!!!
that is all.
Ives,
Does a team get compensated when losing a player to an expansion team or do they just have to bend over and take the loss? It seems odd to me that the owners would collectively just give up club assets without being compensated for them.
(SBI-Jeff, expansion drafts are part of EVERY sports league. Same thing happens all over. It’s part of the business.)
Hopefully RSL won’t lose it’s good reserve players/bench players because were taking the Cup next year for sure and there aint nothin anybody is going to do about it (That means you hottie Seattle Fans.)
So can I, and it bugs the crap outta me! I’m not a Timbers hater; I don’t want to lose Ianni to anyone…
“WITH THE FIRST PICK OF THE 2010 MLS EXPANSION DRAFT, THE VANCOUVER WHITECAPS SELECT .. .. ANDREW SHUE!!”
DC prayer… please, please, please take some of our players!
I don’t really understand the rules of the draft, but it seems like teams can just take players from other teams. How is that ok? How do the players feel about this?
Ives,
Any sense on what NYRB is thinking/expecting right now?
Vancouver can have JDG. What a bust he has been in Toronto.
I could see the Timbers taking Ianni first.
A Union prayer: please not Salinas, but REALLY PLEASE not Knighton. I don’t think I can stand another season of watching Seitz in net.
Hoping Philly can keep Shea Salinas
Gross!
Nothing says “Let me follow my MLS” like a swift backhand.
A Sounders Prayer: Please not N’Kufo. Please not Nyassi. And PLEASE not N’Kufo AND Nyassi. I can deal w/ losing Sturgis, Gonzales and have no idea why we protected Jaqua. Amen.
Ives, are you still thinking Nkufo will be the first Sounder taken? This has big implications since they REALLY need to pull Ianni back. Thoughts?
It will be interesting to see if Nkufo is taken by Vancouver who Seattle pulls back, i think the a lot of the Sounder fans would want Nyassi pulled back, but when you look at his game, Alvaro Fernandez has more understanding of how to play and he can finish where Nyassi can’t. Part of me thinks Nyassi getting hot will actually help Seattle by him moving on. I’d rather see us take back Ianni, like Ives said, or even someone like Seamon or Boss.
I do hope Nkufo isn’t picked but I think he will be.
Old logo, new logo, I still hate them.
I am glad you are doing a live commentary, MLS has it on radio only. A little tough to pull off at work.
Especially for those of us “working” right now at home with the wife in the next room.
Isn’t that the old whitecaps logo?
(SBI-It was. Here I was so worried about picking the wrong Timbers logo that I threw up the old Whitecaps logo. Hopefully it wasn’t changed in the past week.)