Looking at the Expansion Draft

I'm getting this out later than I had planned to, but it seemed like every night when I sat down to write it there was other news that I wanted to get to first and by the time I was done with those I was ready to be done. But now it's time to take a look at the upcoming expansion draft.

First, here are the rules for the expansion draft and how the rules affect Kansas City.

- MLS Clubs may protect 11 players between their On-budget and their Off-budget Roster. If the Player’s contract expires at the end of 2011, he will still be considered part of the club’s roster.

We don't have any word on who, for sure, is out of contract. Peter Vermes has been quoted in the past as saying there are not many who are out contract.

- If a club protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player’s option. It may renegotiate subject to terms of the new CBA.

Same with above, we're not sure who is entering option years of their contracts at this point.

- If a player retires, he will not be a part of the club’s roster, but his club will lose its right of first refusal to him should he ultimately decide to play.

I'm not aware of anyone that is looking to retire at this point. The majority of the veterans, Jimmy Nielsen, Julio Cesar, Davy Arnaud, etc. all seem interested in at least one more year.

- Players on a club’s Off-budget Roster, other than Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2011 MLS Season or Homegrown Players on a Club’s Off-budget Roster, will be part of the expansion draft.

- Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2011 MLS Season and Homegrown Players on a club’s Off-budget Roster at the end of the 2011 MLS Season are automatically protected (Clubs do not have to use a protected slot on them).

Basically this means that Jon Kempin and Kevin Ellis will definitely be exempt from the expansion draft. There's a very slim possibility that Teal Bunbury could also be exempt from the draft, but I fully expect him to be graduated from the Generation Adidas program and therefore have to be protected. Everyone else on the roster is fair game.

- Clubs are restricted in the number of international player(s) that they may make available. Clubs may make available a number of international players equal to their total number of international players minus three, provided that if a club has three or fewer international players it may make available not more than one.

Kansas City has 10 internationals on their roster; Korede Aiyegbusi, Omar Bravo, Julio Cesar, Aurelein Collin, Daneil Cyrus, Jeferson, Peterson Joseph, Jimmy Nielsen, Craig Rocastle, and Milos Stojcev. KC will have to protect at least 3 of those players.

- For purposes of this expansion process, for US-based clubs, any non-domestic US player would count as an International and, for Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps, any non-domestic US player or non-domestic Canadian players would count as an International.

KC has no Canadian players (Bunbury is a US citizen) so this rule doesn't come into play for KC.

- Designated players are NOT automatically protected (i.e., clubs must choose whether to protect such players and if such player is not protected, he will be available for selection in the Expansion Draft). However, if the Designated Player has a no-trade clause in his contract, then his MLS club must protect him and he will count as one of the 11 players who may be protected.

Basically what this means is that KC will have to protect Bravo and Jeferson in the expansion draft if they want to make sure that they keep them. That's because neither one of them have a no trade clause, forcing KC to protect them. I don't think you'll find many people interested in protecting Jeferson. As for Bravo, I discuss that below.

- Once a player has been claimed from a team’s non-protected roster, that team is eliminated from the expansion draft and may not lose any further players.

Unlike last year where KC could have lost 2 players, we're back to the one and done drafting that existed the past few years.

- Rounds: The expansion draft will be 10 rounds.

I shouldn't need to explain this one to you.


So now that we have the rules, who does KC protect? I think there are quite a few guys who for sure are going to be protected. I'm working under the assumption that Bunbury is going to be graduated from the GA program and therefore require a spot. Bunbury combined with these other 6 I think are the easy names to fill in on the list.

1. Matt Besler
2. Teal Bunbury
3. Aurelien Collin
4. Roger Espinoza
5. Chance Myers
6. CJ Sapong
7. Graham Zusi

That gets us over half way to the 11 protected players. That also gives us one of the 3 internationals. With the last two slots there are 3 players in my mind that you look at for those other 2 international spots, Omar Bravo, Julio Cesar, and Jimmy Nielsen. All 3 of those guys are over 30 (31, 33, and 34 respectively). With the system KC runs you want to have 4 to 5 forwards that can start, and I really don't think KC wants to run the risk of losing Bravo to another MLS side, even if he could possibly be on his way out anyway. So that gets us down to Cesar and Nielsen for the final spot. Montreal has signed the NASL keeper, Evan Bush, to a contract already, but I'm not sold that he's going to be their starter. Of course with LA likely exposing Donovan Ricketts, it might be a moot point. Combine the above with the fact that Cesar is making over $200,000 and is a field player at 33 and I think that scares Montreal off, even if Cesar ended up having a very solid season.

8. Omar Bravo
9. Jimmy Nielsen

That leaves us with 2 more spots for the rest of the roster. For me those spots come down to a few players, Davy Arnaud, Michael Harrington, Kei Kamara, Soony Saad, and Seth Sinovic. I think like Cesar, Arnaud age and salary are going to keep Montreal away even if I think that Arnaud is the type of player Jesse Marsch would love on his team. Harrington lost his starting spot last year and is making over $100,000, but is still a starter in this league in my opinion and fairly young. Kamara has been the team's Golden Boot winner the past two years, finding a goalscorer in the expansion draft would be extremely big for Montreal. Saad is still young and cheap, could be seen as a good development project. Sinovic is the one that beat out Harrington for the starting spot at left back and is making only $42,000, certainly something that Montreal would like.

So of those 5 who gets the last two spots? I think Kamara and Sinovic. You can't teach goals, and 19 in the past two seasons is a very nice total for Kamara. You leave him exposed and he's the first pick, even with his salary over $200,000. As for Sinovic, you have a starting caliber left back making the senior roster minimum, I think that'd be a no brainer if he was left exposed.

So here's my list:

1. Matt Besler
2. Teal Bunbury
3. Aurelien Collin
4. Roger Espinoza
5. Chance Myers
6. CJ Sapong
7. Graham Zusi
8. Omar Bravo
9. Jimmy Nielsen
10. Kei Kamara
11. Seth Sinovic

That would leave Arnaud, Harrington, and Saad as the likely favorites to be taken. Of those 3 I think the most appealing to take would be Michael Harrington. Harrington is still young, he'll be 26, has made over 100 starts in MLS play for KC, giving him an experience factor, and is made $110,000 this past year against the cap. Harrington would give Montreal a guy that could step in immediately and start on their back line.

This is why I hate the expansion draft, KC could lose a guy they've spent the last 5 years developing since he came out of UNC. And they'd lose him for nothing.