MLS: Post-Week 28 Notes

1) Shalrie Joseph for MVP? It seems like all the forces are converging and settling on him after his player of the week performance. Today alone, there were three articles touting his candidacy from Ives Galarcep (Soccer By Ives), Ridge Mahoney (Soccer America), and Kyle McCarthy (Goal.com). He has a lot of things going for him. The Revs were supposed to take a step backwards this year, and yet they look like a good bet for the playoffs. Then there's the injuries to Albright, Twellman, and now Ralston. He's unquestionably been the team's leader in the absence of their other stars, playing well no matter where he lines up on the field. Finally, there's the sense that Joseph should've won this award already in a previous year (perhaps 2005). Much like the Grammys have done in recent years, the voters may feel that it's simply time to honor him for his entire career. 2) You may have noticed Joe Cannon was nowhere to be found for San Jose on Sunday. Turns out he was simply rested by Frank Yallop; there's no injury or anything. That's newsworthy because he had played every single minute of the regular season going into the weekend (see the most recent OTFATT update). Now, we're down to only four such remaining players: Barnes, Busch, Hartman, and Onstad. 3) Shouldn't it be about time for Forbes to release their MLS team valuations for 2009? They put out their list last year on September 9th, the first time ever for the league. It's the only ranking of its kind, and I'm looking forward to it again. Are the Galaxy really going to be listed at $100 million again? I just hope that there isn't any real reason for the delay, and that they're actually going to do them on an annual basis. 4) Sporcle, the quiz site which has quickly become one of my favorite places to waste time on the internet, is now letting users design their own quizzes. I've taken the opportunity to create a couple of soccer related ones, so check it out: Can you name the members of every MLS Best XI (1996-2008)? Can you name the FIFA members that aren't countries? Plus, there's already some good ones in their sports category.

Jeff Cunningham's Quest for the MLS Golden Boot

Jeff Cunningham scored two more goals for Dallas to tie Colorado's Conor Casey for the league lead with 15. Actually, he now leads in the race for the golden boot due to the first tiebreaker, assists. He has 7 to Casey's 1, so he'll win any tie between the two men. Not only that, he has an extra game remaining and FCD has been assaulting the nets recently. He has to be the favorite to take home the award. It's amazing how he's come on so strong in the second half of the season. I know he wasn't starting full time, and he was even playing on the wing for a little while. But still, I don't think anyone expected this type of production. That brings us to the next point: Would Cunningham be the worst Golden Boot winner ever? It's hard not to immediately jump to that conclusion. Now, several players have won the award for middling teams (like Jeff Cunningham, 2006). However, I don't recall seeing any of them finish with such a flurry of goals for a team so clearly out of contention. At the halfway point of the season, Dallas was 3-7-5 (14 points) and their season was already over. Cunningham had scored only once. He'd fire in a brace in the 16th game, the 2-1 home victory over New York, and since then he's been on fire. Obviously he plays better without Kenny Cooper (the team was only 3-8-8 when both started over this year and last). So how exactly does Cunningham's stellar second half compare to previous boot winners? 1st 2nd total 1st 2nd 1996 TB Lassiter, Roy 11 16 27 41% 59% 1997 DC Moreno, Jaime 10 6 16 63% 38% 1998 CLB John, Stern 9 17 26 35% 65% 1999 DAL Kreis, Jason 11 7 18 61% 39% 2000 TB Diallo, Mamadou 13 13 26 50% 50% 2001 MIA Pineda Chacon, Alex 8 11 19 42% 58% 2002 LA Ruiz, Carlos 10 14 24 42% 58% 2003 LA Ruiz, Carlos 8 7 15 53% 47% 2004 SJ Ching, Brian 7 5 12 58% 42% 2005 NE Twellman, Taylor 6 11 17 35% 65% 2006 RSL Cunningham, Jeff 7 9 16 44% 56% 2007 DC Emilio, Luciano 10 10 20 50% 50% 2008 LA Donovan, Landon 11 9 20 55% 45% 2009 COL Casey, Conor 8 7 15 53% 47% 2009 DAL Cunningham, Jeff 1 14 15 7% 93% Jeff's current season certainly stands out. I'm a bit surprised at how even most of the previous seasons have been, actually. I also looked at all the 15 goal scorers in league history, and there really isn't a comparable situation to this one. A lot of that is because not every team is going to remain in playoff contention (thank god) as the league expands, whereas previous players didn't have the opportunities to score tons of less meaningful goals. So we can say that: 1) It's not normal for a golden boot winner to have one amazing half where they score the vast majority of their goals. 2) No player has scored this many goals for a team out of playoff contention. Let's talk more about the comparison between Casey and Cunningham. It doesn't take any research to know that Casey's goals have been more important than Cunningham's. Of course, I did it anyway. So let's see how many times each player has tied the game or given their team the lead when scoring: Casey Cunningham tie 5 0 lead 7 8 neither 3 7 Not only have Casey's goals been more important in the context of the entire season, but also in the games themselves. And the number of games scored in is similar: Casey 10, Cunningham 9 (so it's not like there was a disparity in that category). I'd also argue that Casey's goals have been a bit higher quality as well, although that can be subjective. Now, I don't mind if either player wins (even if Casey deserves it more). I don't hate Cunningham, I'm actually enjoying his scoring run. I just find it interesting, especially as he's seemingly become proficient at scoring lots of goals for mediocre teams.

MLS Week 28: Mid-week notes

1) The Columbus Crew's home unbeaten streak in all competitions is over with the CONCACAF Champions League loss to Cruz Azul. You may have heard that they broke the record for the regular season with 19 straight games back in July. However, they also managed to just do enough to break the overall streak as well. They were at 24 games before last night, one better than the 2000-01 Chicago Fire. That included 21 regular season games, plus the two playoff games last year and the Puerto Rico game last month. 2) Let's revisit this post: Top MLS Goalscorers by Season Age. How's 2009 going to change these lists? Well, Guillermo Barros Schelotto has already set a record for an age 36 season, easily eclipsing Preki's season for the awful 1999 Kansas City Wizards. Brian McBride has scored 6 goals, but due to the injury he's probably not going to beat Youri Djorkaeff's 10 for age 37. Meanwhile, Jeff Cunningham is 3 goals away from tying Adolfo Valencia's age 32 record haul of 16 in 2000. Unfortunately, there haven't been any teenage goalscoring sensations this year to light up the younger age records. 3) Recommended reading (neither are MLS, but...): If you're not reading Jonathan Wilson's articles for the Guardian's football web site, you really should be. He has the best articles on tactics that I've come across. His current one deals with the possible return of the sweeper, and there's several links to some of his other ones in that story. Another great read is Pro Player Pipeline, which deals with college soccer and features detailed reviews of matches seen by the author. 4) The Los Angeles Galaxy may be doing well in the league table, but they're coming dangerously close to fielding the league's oldest ever starting lineup. The record is currently held (as far as I can tell) by the Chicago Fire's lineup on 8/28/1998 with an average age of 31.48 years old. This past Saturday, the Galaxy's lineup was on average 29.59 years old. That may not seem too close, but they're only two players away from setting a new mark. Against Toronto, If you had replaced Gonzalez with Sanneh and then switched out either Franklin for Klein or Kirovski for Buddle, they would've set a new mark. The best chance may come if Omar Gonzalez has to sit out a match. He's still shy of his 21st birthday, so replacing him would make things a lot closer. Unfortunately, Tony Sanneh may be just too old to even consider in the lineup anymore, especially alongside Gregg Berhalter. A more likely path to the record would see Franklin move to CB instead of Gonzalez, who's place in the lineup would be taken by Klein (at RB). Klein's younger than Sanneh, so then you would need another big age increase. How about Jovan Kirovski? Him (33.51) replacing Buddle (28.33) wouldn't be enough, but what if Donovan moved back and Birchall came off instead (25.37)? Those two moves (Klein/Kirovski for Birchall/Gonzalez) to this past Saturday's lineup would be enough to set a new record.

MLS Week 27 Notes

1) Various records to watch for: Eric Avila has made 16 subs without a start. Needs four more in the final five games to break the record, or three to tie. The worst Supporters Shield winners in MLS history were the 2004 Columbus Crew at 1.633 PPG. Somebody will need to finish with 50 points to surpass them. This year's Crew would need 7 points in the final five games to do that. New York needs one away point in their final three matches to avoid having the worst road record ever. Currently it's held by 2005 RSL at 0.125 PPG (2 points in 16 matches). The Red Bulls also need 2 more points to avoid having their worst team ever. Also, San Jose needs 7 points (one per game) to avoid their worst record ever, too. 2) The end of the regular season is near. That's always my favorite time to blog, since we get to finally see just how this year's players and teams stack up historically. However, this year there's also an interesting milestone coming up before season is over. MLS had played 2,283 regular season games entering the season. This year, they'll play a total of 225, which means that the 9th to last regular season game will be the league's 2,500th. That match will be Houston vs Los Angeles on October 18th, a Sunday afternoon. 3) Who are the most tenured MLS players by team? Two recent trades have caused two teams to have new tenure titleholders. The first would be San Jose, who dealt Ryan Cochrane back to Houston. Jason Hernandez is now the team's most tenured player. Even though both were taken in the 2007 expansion draft, Cochrane was taken earlier so therefore had been with the team ever so slightly longer. The second recent change is in Dallas, who traded Drew Moor to Colorado. Goalkeeper Dario Sala is now the team's most tenured player, and also the most recently acquired of all the non-expansion team most tenured players. Who holds the title for each team? Here's a list with the date each was acquired: Chicago C.J. Brown, 2/1/98. Chivas USA Sacha Kljestan, 1/20/06. Colorado Pablo Mastroeni, 1/11/02. Columbus Frankie Hejduk, 3/7/03. DC United Ben Olsen, 1/28/98. FC Dallas Dario Sala, 9/15/05. Houston Dynamo Wade Barrett Ricardo Clark Brian Ching Brad Davis Brian Mullan Pat Onstad Eddie Robinson Craig Waibel All on 12/15/05, when the team moved to Houston. Kansas City Davy Arnaud, 1/10/02. Los Angeles Alan Gordon, 8/31/04. New England Jay Heaps, 6/20/01. New York Seth Stammler, 1/16/04. Real Salt Lake Andy Williams, 11/19/04. San Jose Jason Hernandez, 11/21/07. Seattle Sebastien Le Toux, 5/7/08. Toronto Jim Brennan, 9/8/06. If you're interesting in seeing who the most tenured players were in June 2005, click here. That's one of the first posts I made on this blog. Olsen's the only player still standing from then.

2009 MLS Expansion Draft Preview #2

Time to revisit my projections of who will be protected and who will be left available. What's changed in the past month? For last month's review, click here. A few days ago I posted about when players graduate from Generation Adidas status, which is highly relevant to this topic. Check out that post for further info. As of right now, I'm projecting nine players to graduate after the season: Alston, Beltran, Frei, Gonzalez, Hall, Nyarko, Wallace, Zakuani, and Zayner. CHICAGO Protected Available Exempt Mike Banner C.J. Brown Baggio Husidic Cuauhtemoc Blanco Calen Carr Jon Busch Stefan Dimitrov Wilman Conde Andrew Dykstra Patrick Nyarko Peter Lowry Marco Pappa Justin Mapp Logan Pause Brian McBride Dasan Robinson David Myrie Gonzalo Segares Brandon Prideaux John Thorrington Chris Rolfe Tim Ward Austin Washington Daniel Woolard Changes: Blanco in, Rolfe out. It now appears that Blanco will be returning to the team. With Rolfe leaving, it makes sense for Blanco to be protected and Rolfe not to be. McBride is still uncertain about his plans for next year. The only possible change I can see at this point would be Mapp, but his high salary is a factor. He could be on there instead of say, Thorrington. CHIVAS USA Protected Available Exempt Jonathan Bornstein Chukwudi Chijindu Justin Braun Jon Conway Maykel Galindo Yamith Cuesta Sacha Kljestan Jim Curtin Michael Lahoud Maicon Santos Eduardo Lillingston Jorge Flores Jesse Marsch Kevin Harmse Paulo Nagamura Ante Jazic Shavar Thomas Dan Kennedy Zach Thornton Gerson Mayen Mariano Trujillo Jesus Padilla Lance Parker Ante Razov Marcelo Saragosa Bojan Stepanovic Claudio Suarez Carey Talley Sasha Victorine Cesar Zamora Changes: Lillingston in, Burling out. Still the most difficult team to project. Burling was traded to SJ, so I guess Preki was no longer high on him. This after being protected last season. Makes me wonder about Braun's status, who was also protected last year. Also, I read that Trujillo holds a green card, so he doesn't count as an international player. That means last month I only had two internationals on my projection, so that has to change. Hence the inclusion of Lillingston. Santos seems like he could take that place, but he's here on loan. You'd think that U20 players Flores and Mayen would be likely candidates. However, the former wasn't protected last year, and they've both got little playing time. Let's see if the U20 World Cup raises their profiles. COLORADO Protected Available Exempt Mehdi Ballouchy Julien Baudet Ciaran O'Brien Conor Casey Preston Burpo Rob Valentino Colin Clark Steward Ceus Omar Cummings Greg Dalby Cory Gibbs Facundo Diz Jordan Harvey Ty Harden Nick LaBrocca Michael Holody Pablo Mastroeni Kosuke Kimura Drew Moor Pat Noonan Matt Pickens Scott Palguta Jamie Smith Jacob Peterson Ross Schunk Changes: Moor in, Ihemelu out. Smith is out for the year and could be overtaken by fellow international players Baudet or Kimura. The other guy on shaky ground is Gibbs. He's also hurt, and depending on how the team plays without him he might fall off the list (perhaps in favor of Peterson). COLUMBUS Protected Available Exempt G. 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 Alejandro Moreno Steven Lenhart Danny O'Rourke Adam Moffat Gino Padula Stanley Nyazamba Robbie Rogers Duncan Oughton Emilio Renteria Jed Zayner Changes: Moreno in, Zayner out. Will both Hejduk and Zayner be protected, or just one? I think putting Zayner on the list may have been a little too clever on my part. I still don't think Moreno is a lock, but he seems more likely to be there than Zayner. I think it might be smart to protect Zayner instead of Hejduk, but I don't know if they'll take that chance. DALLAS Protected Available Exempt Jair Benitez Ray Burse Eric Avila Jeff Cunningham Marvin Chavez Bruno Guarda Kyle Davies Daniel Hernandez Josh Lambo David Ferreira Steve Purdy Peri Marosevic Atiba Harris Andre Rocha Brek Shea Ugo Ihemelu Dario Sala Anthony Wallace George John Daniel Torres Dax McCarty Blake Wagner Heath Pearce Pablo Ricchetti Dave van den Bergh Changes: Ihemelu/Pearce in, Moor/Sala out. Pearce is obviously going to be protected, the question is who does he bump off? I picked Sala. There are various reasons to remove other players, such as the fact that they almost traded McCarty before the season. I just feel like Sala would be the least likely to be taken. Too bad he has a green card, or he could take one of the international places (Benitez/Ferreira/Ricchetti). DC UNITED Protected Available Exempt Fred Ely Allen Dejan Jakovic Brandon Barklage Julius James Marc Burch Jaime Moreno John DiRaimondo Bryan Namoff Luciano Emilio 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 Tiyiselani Shipalane Lawson Vaughn Changes: Fred in, Emilio out. Emilio received his green card, which means that they need another international besides James and Jakovic. I know Fred's not playing well, but it's hard to see one of Habarugira/John/Khumalo/N'Silu/Shipalane ahead of him at this point. Unless Emilio has a no-trade clause, it doesn't make sense to protect him at that salary. I could also see Burch instead of Moreno, but I don't know if they would leave him unprotected despite his age and salary. HOUSTON Protected Available Exempt Corey Ashe Wade Barrett Danny Cruz Bobby Boswell Mike Chabala Geoff Cameron Ryan Cochrane Brian Ching Tyler Deric Ricardo Clark Tally Hall Brad Davis John Michael Hayden Andrew Hainault Richard Mulrooney Stuart Holden Pat Onstad Luis Angel Landin Eddie Robinson Brian Mullan Abe Thompson Dominic Oduro Erik Ustruck Craig Waibel Cam Weaver Changes: Ashe in, Kamara out. The trade opened up a spot. Robinson or Weaver would be the other main candidates to fill it. KANSAS CITY Protected Available Exempt Davy Arnaud Adam Cristman Roger Espinoza Matt Besler Herculez Gomez Chance Myers Jimmy Conrad Kevin Hartman Michael Harrington Aaron Hohlbein Zoltan Hercegfalvi Michael Kraus Santiago Hirsig Eric Kronberg Jack Jewsbury Jonathan Leaters Kei Kamara Matt Marquess Claudio Lopez Rauwshan McKenzie Lance Watson Kurt Morsink Josh Wolff Boris Pardo Kevin Souter Graham Zusi Changes: Kamara/Zoltan in, Espinoza/Souter out. I no longer expect Espinoza to graduate from GA status. That's extremely unlikely now, and good news for KC. Even though he's out of contract, Kamara might still be protected in the hopes of working out a deal. Meanwhile, Zoltan and Souter are competing for the final international spot. LOS ANGELES Protected Available Exempt David Beckham Gregg Berhalter Tristan Bowen Chris Birchall Alan Gordon Edson Buddle Leonard Griffin A.J. DeLaGarza Bryan Jordan Landon Donovan Jovan Kirovski Todd Dunivant Chris Klein Alecko Eskandarian Dema Kovalenko Sean Franklin Eddie Lewis Omar Gonzalez Yohance Marshall Mike Magee Stefani Miglioranzi Donovan Ricketts Kyle Patterson Tony Sanneh Josh Saunders Julian Valentin Changes: none. Nothing to suggest anything different in the past month. 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 Changes: None. I know Larentowicz is out of contract, but that didn't stop them from protecting Parkhurst a year ago. Dube could find a spot on the list, but who would he replace? 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 Carlos Mendes Dane Richards Matthew Mbuta Luke Sassano Mike Petke Seth Stammler Jorge Rojas Sinisa Ubiparipovic John Wolyniec Nick Zimmerman Changes: Ubiparipovic in, Zimmerman out. Hall should graduate, but if they didn't play him any more for the last few games, there's a chance he wouldn't. Not that they're going to lose anyone good, but they could have an extra senior roster spot next year. REAL SALT LAKE Protected Available Exempt Kyle Beckerman Jean Alexandre Alex Nimo Tony Beltran Raphael Cox Chris Seitz Nat Borchers Rachid El Khalifi Pablo Campos Nelson Gonzalez Fabian Espindola Ned Grabavoy Robbie Findley David Horst Will Johnson Clint Mathis Javier Morales Yura Movsisyan Jamison Olave Tino Nunez Nick Rimando Kyle Reynish Chris Wingert Robbie Russell Andy Williams Changes: Espindola in, Gonzalez out. It just seems more likely that Espindola would be protected. I don't see either player being taken so it doesn't matter much. The other ten seem set in stone. SAN JOSE Protected Available Exempt Arturo Alvarez Bobby Burling Quincy Amarikwa Ramiro Corrales Joe Cannon Simon Elliott Bobby Convey Mike Graczyk Cornell Glen Darren Huckerby Jason Hernandez Chris Leitch Ryan Johnson Aaron Pitchkolan Andre Luiz Antonio Ribeiro Brandon McDonald Jamil Roberts Shea Salinas Andrew Weber Ramon Sanchez Chris Wondolowski Michael Zaher Changes: none. Not much to see here. There's a chance Burling or Wondo could play their way on the list. SEATTLE Protected Available Exempt Osvaldo Alonso Terry Boss Brad Evans Evan Brown Leo Gonzalez Chris Eylander Jhon Kennedy Hurtado Michael Fucito Patrick Ianni Taylor Graham Nate Jaqua Stephen King Kasey Keller Roger Levesque Freddie Ljungberg Sebastien Le Toux Fredy Montero Tyrone Marshall James Riley Lamar Neagle Steve Zakuani Sanna Nyassi Zach Scott Nathan Sturgis Peter Vagenas Tyson Wahl Changes: Ianni/Keller in, Le Toux/Nyassi out. I guess I don't see them risking Keller despite his age and salary; they don't want another Jason Kreis situation. I'm now thinking that there's a good chance he would have a no-trade clause which would prevent him from being exposed in the first place. I also decided that Ianni is a much more important player to the team than Nyassi (who now seems unlikely to be protected), even if he's not that great. Le Toux may be the odd man out, though some Seattle fans have suggested that Jaqua will be unprotected instead. You see, Jaqua makes about 200k, or twice as much as Le Toux. We'll see. TORONTO Protected Available Exempt Nana Attakora Jim Brennan Fuad Ibrahim Chad Barrett Brian Edwards Sam Cronin Lesly Fellinga Julian de Guzman Gabe Gala Dwayne De Rosario Nick Garcia Stefan Frei Ali Gerba Emmanuel Gomez Amado Guevara Amadou Sanyang Carl Robinson Adrian Serioux Pablo Vitti O'Brian White Marvell Wynne Changes: Attakora/de Guzman/Gomez/Sanyang in, Brennan/Garcia/Gerba/Robinson out. I just can't see Robinson protected with the signing of DeGuzman. The youth are simply more valuable and desirable than the older players.

Graduating from Generation Adidas

EDIT 11/18/2010 - updated with the 2010 info. When I posted my expansion draft preview recently, the subject that stirred up the most debate was this one. Anyone who's followed MLS for a number of years knows that it's a bit of a mystery. When exactly do Generation Adidas players graduate, and what are the criteria? Basically, players are supposed to graduate when they no longer need the roster protection that it provides. If a player has become a full time starter, then they can easily move up to the senior roster. Players can also leave the program without being moved up by being waived (like David Arvizu, for one); in old press releases such instances were still called graduating. The general length of the contract and the maximum time in the program seems to be four years, though several players have gotten five (Seth Trembly, Devin Barclay, Jed Zayner, and I believe Craig Capano, so their injuries may have been a factor). I've always assumed that it was based on minutes played, and that's a pretty good guideline. The interesting thing about this year is that so many GA rookies are getting significant playing time, raising the possibility that many of them could graduate after one year. That's what I want to focus on for right now. What exactly has it taken in the past for a player to graduate after a single season from GA (or Project-40 as it was formerly known)? I've listed below every member of the program since 2000, and their stats for their first season in the league. I didn't use earlier players for several reasons. First, previous years saw players allocated to teams rather than drafted. Only 3/12 players in 2000 were allocated. Second, some players were graduated in early years with very little playing time. Like Chris Albright, who signed in mid-season and played only 347 minutes. Or Dema Kovalenko, graduated after 291 minutes. Or Tim Howard, graduated after 90 minutes (one game) in 1998. I think that those types of graduations really aren't applicable today. Since 2000, there hasn't been anything like that. Notes: Some players (such as Ramon Nunez) may have had similar protected status but aren't included below. The three columns below (minutes, games played, games started) include only regular season games. First Year GA Player Stats Grad? MIN PCT GP PCT GS PCT 2000 Garcia, N yes 2916 100% 32 100% 32 100% 2005 Parkhurst yes 2880 100% 32 100% 32 100% 2006 Kljestan yes 2676 93% 32 100% 31 97% 2009 Gonzalez, O yes 2672 99% 30 100% 30 100% 2000 Pierce yes 2600 88% 29 91% 29 91% 2003 Clark, R yes 2590 92% 28 93% 28 93% 2004 Marshall, C yes 2446 91% 28 93% 27 90% 2000 Bocanegra yes 2402 81% 27 84% 27 84% 2009 Alston yes 2339 87% 26 87% 26 87% 2009 Frei no 2295 85% 26 87% 26 87% 2009 Wallace, R yes 2265 84% 28 93% 25 83% 2007 Edu yes 2180 81% 25 83% 25 83% 2006 Wynne yes 2170 75% 28 88% 23 72% 2005 Guzan no? 2079 72% 24 75% 23 72% 2004 Dempsey yes 2024 75% 24 80% 23 77% 2000 Rimando no 2002 68% 22 69% 22 69% 2009 Hall yes 2001 74% 24 80% 22 73% 2009 Zakuani yes 1993 74% 29 97% 24 80% 2002 Gray yes 1780 69% 25 89% 20 71% 2003 Magee yes 1709 61% 29 97% 19 63% 2000 Convey no 1614 55% 22 69% 18 56% 2010 Tchani no 1610 60% 27 90% 17 57% 2006 Peterson no 1548 54% 28 88% 17 53% 2000 Califf yes 1518 51% 18 56% 16 50% 2010 Mwanga no 1461 54% 24 80% 17 57% 2004 Cochrane no 1459 54% 18 60% 18 60% 2002 Martino yes 1455 56% 22 79% 15 54% 2010 Bunbury no 1441 53% 26 87% 13 43% 2004 Adu no 1440 53% 30 100% 14 47% 2010 Gavin no 1369 51% 16 53% 16 53% 2003 Pause yes 1354 49% 23 77% 15 50% 2001 Barclay no 1324 54% 23 85% 12 44% 2006 Sturgis no 1247 43% 15 47% 15 47% 2002 Davis, B yes 1246 49% 24 86% 12 43% 2005 Freeman no 1217 42% 20 63% 14 44% 2010 Johnson, S no 1170 43% 13 43% 13 43% 2008 Espinoza, R no 1169 43% 22 73% 12 40% 2001 Carrieri no 1081 45% 19 73% 11 42% 2007 Soumare no 1072 40% 19 63% 11 37% 2005 Ward, T no 1034 36% 13 41% 11 34% 2001 Quaranta no 949 40% 16 62% 10 38% 2008 Beltran no 936 35% 15 50% 10 33% 2005 Moor no 936 33% 20 63% 9 28% 2006 Kamara no 930 32% 19 59% 9 28% 2004 Grabavoy no 928 34% 15 50% 11 37% 2010 Opara no 914 34% 11 37% 10 33% 2008 Guarda no 822 30% 12 40% 9 30% 2005 Watson, J no 818 28% 19 59% 6 19% 2003 Lewis, R no 798 28% 13 43% 7 23% 2003 Eskandarian no 728 26% 23 77% 5 17% 2003 Jaqua no 712 26% 20 67% 5 17% 2003 Gaven no 691 25% 12 40% 7 23% 2008 Myers no 681 25% 10 33% 7 23% 2003 Alvarez, A no 655 23% 15 50% 5 17% 2007 Rogers no 598 22% 10 33% 6 20% 2005 Barrett, C no 597 21% 20 63% 4 13% 2001 Buddle no 556 23% 17 65% 5 19% 2008 Avila no 508 19% 14 47% 3 10% 2009 Husidic no 449 17% 10 33% 5 17% 2010 Okugo no 437 16% 11 37% 4 13% 2004 Szetela no 374 14% 8 27% 4 13% 2010 McInerney no 350 13% 17 57% 1 3% 2006 Altidore no 330 11% 7 22% 3 9% 2002 Akwari no 325 13% 7 25% 3 11% 2005 Pore no 285 10% 8 25% 4 13% 2001 Downing no 279 11% 5 19% 3 11% 2001 Klinger, M no 272 11% 9 35% 2 8% 2001 Bardales no 270 11% 12 46% 1 4% 2007 Seitz no 270 10% 3 10% 3 10% 2001 Johnson, E no 263 11% 11 42% 1 4% 2004 Goodson no 247 9% 5 17% 2 7% 2000 Asad no 246 8% 8 25% 2 6% 2003 LeBlanc no 225 8% 7 23% 2 7% 2006 Movsisyan no 221 8% 10 31% 1 3% 2006 Sims no 219 8% 9 28% 2 6% 2005 John, W no 200 7% 6 19% 2 6% 2000 Cooks, M no 165 6% 5 16% 2 6% 2010 Duka no 160 6% 3 10% 2 7% 2008 Nyarko no 159 6% 9 30% 2 7% 2003 Gonzalez, G no 129 5% 6 20% 1 3% 2010 Bone no 114 4% 5 17% 1 3% 2000 Beckerman no 110 4% 2 6% 1 3% 2009 Cruz no 107 4% 6 20% 0 0% 2001 Burciaga no 93 4% 3 11% 2 7% 2002 Capano no 92 4% 4 14% 1 4% 2002 Stone no 91 3% 4 14% 1 4% 2005 Besagno no 69 2% 2 6% 1 3% 2007 Wallace no 69 3% 1 3% 1 3% 2007 Colaluca no 62 2% 4 13% 0 0% 2009 Marosevic no 47 2% 4 13% 0 0% 2002 Mapp no 28 1% 3 11% 0 0% 2004 Gardner no 25 1% 2 7% 0 0% 2000 Trembly no 21 1% 4 13% 0 0% 2008 O'Brien, C no 19 1% 1 3% 0 0% 2000 Salas, S no 18 1% 1 3% 0 0% 2008 Shea no 17 1% 2 7% 0 0% 2006 McCarty, D no 12 0% 2 6% 0 0% 2006 Ianni no 2 0% 2 6% 0 0% 2009 Bowen no 1 0% 1 3% 0 0% 2007 Sesay no 1 0% 1 3% 0 0% 2007 Arguez no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2006 Arvizu no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2004 Bradley no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2003 Carroll no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2001 Countess no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2004 Cronin no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2007 Ibrahim, F no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2007 Igwe no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2005 Jimenez no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2005 Kirk, Q no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2008 Lambo no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2000 Longo no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2008 Nimo no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2001 Saavedra no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2003 Stokes no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2003 Thompson, J no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2008 Valentino no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2006 Wagner no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2006 Zayner no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2010 Gil no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 2010 Wiederman no 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% Thoughts: Interesting how the goalkeepers aren't graduated. Other than those three, every single player with at least 1,700 minutes played has graduated. I thought Guzan graduated, but I don't believe I ever had a source for that. So maybe he didn't, which would make more sense. I changed it to "no???" after listing it as yes before. Other strange decisions? Cochrane and Peterson stand out as players who probably should've graduated. Both started more than half their team's games, but kept their GA status (both through their third season actually). I suppose you could've also made a case for Adu, but it's no surprise that he got a second year. He didn't exactly get those minutes on merit. Among graduates with lesser minutes played, Davis and Marshall were both rookie of the year nominees in 2002, with the latter winning. Califf, I would imagine graduated because he also was a nominee. Although, Adu and Quaranta were both nominated but kept their status. Pause is a curious one. I really wouldn't expect a player to graduate with those kind of numbers. And as someone mentioned on Bigsoccer while I was researching this, he had a lot of playing time early in the season and very little near the end and the playoffs. 10 starts in the first 12 games, and only 5 in the last 18. Second Year Graduates What does it take for players to graduate after their second season? Listing only players who played 500 minutes in one of the two years: Grad? Year 1 Year 2 2004 Bradley yes 0 2628 2003 Gaven yes 691 2578 2009 Frei yes 2295 2520 2007 Soumare yes 1072 2514 2004 Goodson yes 247 2488 2003 Carroll yes 0 2438 2007 Rogers yes 598 2334 2000 Rimando yes 2002 2300 2005 Moor yes 936 2280 2005 Freeman yes 1217 2131 2008 Nyarko yes 159 1983 2008 Beltran yes 936 1860 2003 Jaqua yes 712 1836 2001 Carrieri yes 1081 1830 2003 Eskandarian yes 728 1627 2006 McCarty, D yes 12 1604 2009 Husidic yes 449 1498 2004 Adu yes 1440 1487 2006 Altidore yes 330 1399 2002 Mapp yes 28 1384 2009 Cruz no 107 1362 2001 Buddle yes 556 1304 2006 Sturgis yes 1247 1146 2003 Lewis, R no 798 1144 2006 Peterson no 1548 1118 2004 Szetela no 374 1117 2002 Stone no 91 1057 2006 Movsisyan no 221 993 2005 Kirk no 0 993 2000 Convey yes 1614 992 2000 Asad no 246 978 2006 Ianni no 2 961 2001 Quaranta yes 949 949 2005 Barrett, C no 597 780 2004 Cochrane no 1459 776 2008 Shea no 17 727 2001 Downing no 279 667 2004 Grabavoy no 928 656 2008 Espinoza, R no 1169 635 2005 Ward, T no 1034 605 2007 Igwe no 0 568 2005 Pore no 285 563 2006 Kamara no 930 475 2003 Alvarez, A no 655 374 2008 Avila no 508 332 2001 Barclay no 1324 321 2008 Guarda no 822 217 2008 Myers, C no 681 165 2005 Watson, J no 818 104 Once again, Peterson confounds me (especially when Sturgis did it). He did get less playing time and less starts in the second year than the first. The second season seems to matter more than the first.