2009 Expansion Draft Preview - Eastern Conference

Who will Peter Nowak and the Philadelphia Union take? Who will each team protect? I don't know, but I'll give it my best guess three months before everyone really starts focusing on it. You remember the rules, don't you? I'm assuming they'll stay the same as the past three years: 11 players can be protected, must protect three foreigners, GA players are exempt. Important links: 2008 draft results (& rules) 2007 draft results List of MLS Players (sorted by team) 2009 MLS Salaries Remember, several unknown factors can have a big impact on this: contracts expiring, Generation Adidas status (which players graduate after the year), and salaries (which haven't been updated for mid-season signings). CHICAGO Protected Available Exempt Mike Banner Cuauhtemoc Blanco Baggio Husidic Jon Busch C.J. Brown Wilman Conde Calen Carr Patrick Nyarko Stefan Dimitrov Marco Pappa Andrew Dykstra Logan Pause Peter Lowry Dasan Robinson Justin Mapp Chris Rolfe Brian McBride Gonzalo Segares Brandon Prideaux John Thorrington Bakary Soumare Tim Ward Austin Washington Daniel Woolard The Fire will certainly have an interesting offseason. There's a good chance that many of this year's starters won't be back. Blanco has already said that he won't be, and we know Prideaux is retiring. Will McBride retire? He says he won't make a decision to until December. I doubt he would play for any other team anyway, so he can be left unprotected. Who knows if Conde will stick around or be transferred, and Segares is another guy who could be gone, as his contract expires following the year. Both are still worth protecting, though. Mapp's salary ($220,000/$255,000) makes him unlikely to be picked, but there's always a chance he could be protected instead of Robinson or Thorrington. Maybe even Pappa, who was unprotected last year possibly due to the loan arrangement. I don't know if he deserves it based on his play. Every year a few guys surprise everybody when they're left unprotected, and it's usually because of salary reasons. Mapp could be one of those this year. If the "feud" is settled or a transfer doesn't materialize, Soumare will be one of the 11 for sure. If he stays through the season en route to a January transfer, he's probably still worth keeping just for the transfer fee (and allocation money). Now that would interesting, seeing a team pick someone just for the money. Anyway, if Soumare is protected, I guess Thorrington would then be unprotected. I believe Robinson is ahead of Thorrington on the pecking order because they'll need a defender next year with all the departures. Most likely picks: Carr, Mapp, Woolard Woolard plays LB and could be taken as a cheap option there. COLUMBUS Protected Available Exempt Guillermo Barros Schelotto Kevin Burns Eric Brunner Cory Elenio Brian Carroll Jason Garey Emmanuel Ekpo Eddie Gaven Frankie Hejduk Alex Grendi William Hesmer Andy Gruenebaum Chad Marshall Andy Iro Danny O'Rourke Steven Lenhart Gino Padula Adam Moffat Robbie Rogers Alejandro Moreno Jed Zayner Stanley Nyazamba Duncan Oughton Emilio Renteria The Zolos are going to get somebody good here, that's for sure. First off, let's look at the international players. I have them protecting Schelotto, Ekpo, and Padula, just like last year. Padula would be the most likely of the three to drop out, it seems. Remember, they have to protect at least three, and Moreno doesn't count as he holds a green card. Speaking of Moreno, it seems like he might not make the list this year. He doesn't have a huge salary ($132,300/$137,300), but they have a couple of cheap, talented younger guys in Garey and Lenhart. Another guy who would make sense to leave off (at least on paper) is Hejduk, but that's highly unlikely. Still, will they protect both him and Zayner? You have to figure Zayner's likely gone if they don't protect him. Iro was protected last year, but he's been passed up by Brunner. However, Iro is an international player and therefore might be in competition with Padula. Gaven wasn't protected last year and it would shock me to see him protected this year. Like Mapp, his salary makes him unlikely to be chosen. Most likely picks: Garey, Iro, Lenhart DC UNITED Protected Available Exempt Luciano Emilio Ely Allen Dejan Jakovic Brandon Barklage Julius James Marc Burch Jaime Moreno John DiRaimondo Bryan Namoff Fred Chris Pontius Christian Gomez Santino Quaranta David Habarugira Clyde Simms Andrew Jacobson Danny Szetela Greg Janicki Rodney Wallace Avery John Josh Wicks Thabiso Khumalo Milos Kocic Devon McTavish Ange N'Silu Ben Olsen Which older vets do they protect and which do they leave exposed? Moreno is a DC legend; you can't leave him off. However, Fred and Olsen are easy choices due to the great play of Wallace and the signing of Szetela. Gomez is high in salary and probably wouldn't be picked anyway. You need a third international player after Emilio and Jakovic, so I went with James over Fred and Gomez. He's young, cheap, and has potential. I wonder if they took his status into account when they made the trade? It's too bad Wallace has a green card. BTW, Wallace should graduate from GA since he's already started 18 games. Wicks looks pretty certain to be protected, which is pretty surprising after being waived by the Galaxy. He seems to have brought some stability to the position. Burch, McTavish, and Simms all have been protected for the last two drafts, but something is probably going to give here. Simms is much more expensive than the other two, but I think he's also a much more important part of the team. Most likely picks: Burch, McTavish, Olsen Would Nowak pick one of the 2004 heroes, Gomez or Olsen? Probably not, though Olsen is from Pennsylvania. KANSAS CITY Protected Available Exempt Davy Arnaud Adam Cristman Chance Myers Matt Besler Herculez Gomez Jimmy Conrad Kevin Hartman Roger Espinoza Zoltan Hercegfalvi Michael Harrington Michael Kraus Santiago Hirsig Eric Kronberg Aaron Hohlbein Jonathan Leathers Jack Jewsbury Matt Marquess Claudio Lopez Rauwshan McKenzie Kevin Souter Kurt Morsink Josh Wolff Boris Pardo Abe Thompson Lance Watson Graham Zusi The big question is whether or not Espinoza will graduate from GA? It's definitely borderline. He played 22 games last season, starting 12 and he's played 13, starting 6 this year. If he starts the rest of the season, which is likely considering that they're virtually out of the running, then he will. I think it's more likely that he will graduate than he won't. Playing for Honduras in the Gold Cup can't hurt. Like last year, the Wizards are set to waste a spot protect Souter due to his international status. They only have four at the moment, and Hirsig/Lopez are locks. It's between him and Zoltan, and the latter's first impression was awful. I don't expect Hartman to be protected since he wasn't last year. It seems like 10/11 of the picks are pretty solid. I'm guessing Hohlbein is the last guy. Seems like forwards Cristman and Thompson are likely to be exposed. They could take Watson over him, or maybe Gomez. I suppose Wolff's a candidate to be left off due to age and salary. Most likely picks: Gomez, McKenzie, Watson NEW ENGLAND Protected Available Exempt Kevin Alston Chris Albright Nico Colaluca Darrius Barnes Stephane Assengue Amaechi Igwe Jay Heaps Gabriel Badilla Shalrie Joseph Mauricio Castro Jeff Larentowicz Kheli Dube Kenny Mansally Edgaras Jankauskas Sainey Nyassi Brad Knighton Emmanuel Osei Pat Phelan Steve Ralston Bobby Shuttleworth Matt Reis Wells Thompson Taylor Twellman Chris Tierney Michael Videira The emergence of Alston means Albright is a lock to be exposed. It's hard to believe it's even a possibility, but you have to wonder if Twellman will be exposed as well. He makes around $400,000 and has now struggled with injuries for two straight seasons. The internationals. The Gambian duo of Mansally/Nyassi were protected last year and likely will be again. Who's the most best pick for the third spot: Dube, Jankauskas, or Osei? The Lithuanian striker probably makes decent money, so he may be the least likely. Dube may only be in his second season, but he was an old rookie and is already 26. Will he really get any better? Most likely picks: Dube, Tierney, Videira NEW YORK Protected Available Exempt Juan Pablo Angel Danleigh Borman Albert Celades Andrew Boyens Danny Cepero Bouna Coundoul Kevin Goldthwaite Walter Garcia Jeremy Hall Carlos Johnson Macoumba Kandji Leo Krupnik Ernst Oebster Matthew Mbuta Dane Richards Carlos Mendes Luke Sassano Alfredo Pacheco Seth Stammler Mike Petke Nick Zimmerman Jorge Rojas Sinisa Ubiparipovic John Wolyniec How many of these guys will even be on the roster next year? At least they won't lose anybody good, if Philly even decides to use a pick here. Most of these choices pick themselves. You could argue Coundoul over Cepero, or Ubiparipovic over Zimmerman. That's about it. Maybe a different set of internationals. If Hall doesn't graduate from GA, then there's another open spot. Most likely picks: Borman, Mendes, Ubiparipovic TORONTO Protected Available Exempt Chad Barrett Nana Attakora Fuad Ibrahim Jim Brennan Danny Dichio Sam Cronin Lesly Fellinga Dwayne De Rosario Gabe Gala Stefan Frei Amado Guevara Nick Garcia Brian Edwards Ali Gerba Emmanuel Gomez Carl Robinson Amadou Sanyang Adrian Serioux Pablo Vitti O'Brian White Marvell Wynne One of the harder Eastern conference teams to predict IMO. The kids impressed against DC, does that mean they're worth protecting? Garcia/Serioux or Gomez/Sanyang? Hmm... When players get scouted in Africa and brought in here by Toronto, that makes you think that another coach wouldn't take them in the draft, so maybe they don't need it this year. There are plenty of large salaries who could be safely exposed: Guevara, Robinson, and Vitti all make around $300,000. Dichio's near the end of his career and he should be left exposed as well. If it comes down to Gerba or White, the latter seems like the better choice for almost much every reason: salary, potential, likelihood of being selected. Toronto seems like one of the teams who won't lose a player. Most likely picks: Attakora, Gomez, Sanyang