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.