Emile's 2009 Mock Draft - The MLS Draft, So Out, It's In Again
After last year's draft, I felt fairly confident that it would be my last one to follow closely. The draft is increasingly being seen as a relic, and even though (or maybe because) MLS teams do a better scouting job, by and large, than they used to, the results felt uninspired and the players made little impact on the field. Was it a one-year downturn blip? I guess we'll find out, but I'm of the mind that the draft remains no more or less important than it ever has been. Which is probably not all that much. Teams like Dallas, that treated the draft as a serious swap meet haven't gotten much from their efforts, and teams like Houston that don't bother much have remained strong. Clearly, the key is to have a strong and consistent organizational philosophy and no amount of hot picks will fix your problems if you don't.
I expect that we will see more and more of the impact young American players being kids returning from those European handbag leagues I've heard so much of. For MLS, this is not a bad outcome, since they can get players who are just old and wizened enough to contribute immediately. And supposedly we'll start to see more of the teenage set getting scooped up from MLS academies before they ever get to attend the debauched bacchanal that could possibly be the NSCAA Conference where the draft is held. But college will keep supplying the meat and potatoes, the organizational soldiers who will fill out the squad's unglamorous positions and get their shots in the US Open Cup, and become stars every now and then.
The draft reeled me back in. It always reels me in. However, I didn't spend as much time this year thinking about it and collecting information as I have in the past. My picks may reflect that. Although guessing this thing has always been a wild crapshoot anyway, so I don't expect it to be any more or less embarassing than usual. But I feel happy today that this yearly ritual is back, while I freeze my tuchus off in the frozen Midwest and ignore my job.
To me, being bothered or angrily apathetic about the MLS draft is like hating duckings, or younglings. It's a fun exercise that tells us a little about the braintrusts of each team, and gives us sweet MLS fantasies in the middle of the winter when everybody else in the world is stuck watching whatever passes for actual football in their corner of the world. The draft is a riot of rumors, obscure colleges, and funny names. Players with amusing backstories who will never be heard from again. I know everyone is in a hurry to get MLS up to world-wide snuff, so that the most interesting stories we get are a star midfielder punching a Pakistani kid in the throat at a nightclub, or a star forward giving it to some dumb model who isn't the same dumb model he's married to. But my friends, these are the shabby chic days of MLS, and the draft is the shabbiest, chicest day of the year. So enjoy it, and when Dan Loney reviews it five years from now, take it all in with a fond, nostalgic laugh.
Rather than format this one pick at a time in order, I think it's more instructive to think of it in terms of what each team wants to do, and who will be doing it. My analysis for each team may be way off, so feel free to imagine your own ideas in their place.
Chicago Fire
Drafting Personality - Smart, Stupid, Predictably Unpredictable
2008 Draft Represented By - Stephen King, Melford James Jr.
2009 Predicted Picks:
28. Doug DeMartin 6-0 F/M Michigan State Mason, Michigan
43. Kevon Neaves 6-0 175 M South Florida Petit Valley, Trinidad & Tobago
52. Ryan Roushandel 6-2 188 D/M Central Florida Atlanta, Georgia
58. Ancil Farrier D Southern Connecticut State Los Bajos, Trinidad & Tobago
I always love to watch the Fire work the draft. Somebody on that staff (I'm guessing Daryl Shore) really tries to dig deep into college soccer's welcoming folds to find lost crumbs. Every year, the Fire braintrust makes one or two just hair-raising, inexplicable picks - and then redeems themselves by unearthing one or two serious contributors later than they ever should have been able. In bad years, the Fire hilariously blow an early pick and in good years they save their wacky stuff for the second or third round. Their 2008 efforts will take time to evaluate, but it was a fairly safe and sedate draft until the Supplementary Draft (when they picked James and Tim Conway). I think Nyarko will pan out into something, and King was a smart, late-round grab of an overlooked and productive college talent, even if they did lose him to Seattle right away. The first-round will be a little drabber than usual without Chicago.
My favorite fact about DeMartin is that he played his college ball at the DeMartin Soccer Stadium in East Lansing. It's named after his aunt and uncle and not him, but you'd have to feel pretty bossy about it. He's a productive college scorer with good size, who might be able to play a midfield position in MLS. Neaves could be one of Chicago's late-round sleeper picks. He's solidly built and has played for T&T at the senior level, but never quite reached his potential at USF. It was reported that an injury forced him to decline a combine invite. Roushandel moved back to defense this year, and did well in an otherwise mediocre season for the Knights. The former Clemson recruit could be nice long-term project for the back line. Farrier is another T&T full international. He had a subpar senior season, but it probably talented enough to be worth a look.
Chivas USA
Drafting Personality - Barren, Grouchy
2008 Draft Represented By - Keith Savage
2009 Predicted Picks:
09. Graciano Brito 6-2 175 F Quinnipiac San Nicolau, Cape Verde
19. Daniel Cruz 5-8 F/M UNLV Glendale, Arizona
Chivas indicates their concern for the draft by never having any picks, then resorting to hiring cabbies halfway through the year to play in their midfield. To their credit, it doesn't stop them from making the playoffs. Savage was their only pick last year, so this year's bounty of two picks (in the top 20 no less) is a rare treat for the occasional Goats fan.
This Brito selection will probably make me look bad, but I don't see Chivas USA as a team to follow convention. Brito is tall and lanky, and a good athlete, who could make a good understudy for Galindo. I haven't seen his story around the blogs lately, but, according to a feature by Paul Kennedy in SoccerAmerica, Brito had not played any organized soccer until he went to college at age 18, having been a star volleyball and basketball player in Cape Verde. He seems to be a smart, level-headed guy, and he may have more room to improve than most. Cruz would be a nice second-round prize. He's probably a ways off from contributing, but Chivas can use some new faces on the wings, just like - well - every other team.
Colorado Rapids
Drafting Personality - Mysterious, Nut-Punching
2008 Draft Represented By - Ciaran O'Brien
2009 Predicted Picks:
20. O'Brian White 6-1 175 F Connecticut Scarborough, Ontario
37. Kyle Patterson 5-9 160 M Saint Louis Birmingham, England
47. Michael Callahan 5-9 150 D/M North Carolina Cary, North Carolina
51. Lamar Neagle 5-11 UNLV F/M Federal Way, Washington
53. Patrick Figueiredo 6-0 M Adelphi Campinas, Brazil
59. Tyler Barry 6-0 165 D California Mission Viejo, California
Alright, nut-punching is not really a drafting personality. The Rapids actually have a pretty solid recent history with the draft, although it hasn't helped them in the standings much. The nut-punching comes from the assorted anti-fan decisions coming from something called a "Jeff Plush". I think it's some sort of haunted doll. The mystery, meanwhile, is supposed to have finally left the building. Under John Murphy's reported high-level scouting and Fernando Clavijo's documented lunatic coaching, the Rapids had some pretty mixed results - unearthing oddball contributors like Kosuke Kimura and banishing other high picks to Clavijo's revolving, high-density doghouse. Take O'Brien. In classic Rapids fashion, he played in the season opener, got a red card in 19 minutes and was never heard from again. The new gaffer is supposedly an improvement, and if Paul Bravo had as much to do with LA's draft as I think he probably did, then Colorado should be pretty well covered on the scouting end. So maybe things will be looking up, perhaps with more of a West Coast angle on prospects than in the last few years.
White is a real wild-card in this draft. For a second-round pick, he seems like a good gamble, and, while Colorado's offense was not the glaring chasm of a problem it was a few years ago, depth never hurts. Others have Patterson much higher, but I'm not sold. He obviously fared well at Saint Louis, but neither he nor the team did so well that I buy him as more than a mid-round roster striver at right wing. Callahan didn't get a combine invite, but he was a four-year starter at UNC. He's undersized, but plucky and defensively versatile. Neagle played well when UNLV was crap, and kept playing well when they got good. He had 27 goals in his career, but I'm not sure he can play in the midfield and late round forwards are dicey. We're due for another MLS player from Adelphi, and it also seems that at least one Brazilian gets drafted every year, so let's go with Figueiredo. He dominated the Atlantic Soccer Conference, for whatever that's worth. Barry would be a defensive long-shot, but Cal guys always seem to get picked, don't they?
Columbus Crew
Drafting Personality - Deservedly Smug I'd Expect, Unstressed
2008 Draft Represented By - Andy Iro
2009 Predicted Picks:
30. Darrius Barnes 6-2 175 D Duke Raleigh, North Carolina
45. Graham Zusi 5-10 155 F/M Maryland Longwood, Florida
60. Craig Henderson 5-10 155 M Dartmouth Wellington, New Zealand
They have to be pretty relaxed in the Arch City. After somehow keeping Chad Marshall, this young and deep team hardly has any holes to fill and at least has the whiff of a new league multi-year top dog. Sure, Sigi took his common-law midfielder Brad Evans with him to Seattle, but Adam Moffat will be back from injury and Emmanuel Ekpo seems ready to become something special. Iro was a top pick, but was hardly needed, and is still high-quality surplus for now. Warzycha and Co. really just have to resist the urge to do something crazy. In the long run, they need to avoid becoming complacent or believing that they are the 39th incarnation of the Benevolent Sky Giant or whatever. Teams with sustained success always get too heady and start drafting like drunk Ellingers. It doesn't matter what league or what sport. The Crew need to just stay the course, be cool, and try and get one or two players who can cover for injuries and maybe take a role in a few years when the European cleat pimps come for real.
Barnes reportedly did well at the combine, and he has just enough athleticism to play outside at his size. If anything, it looks like the Crew need depth at the outside back positions. Although he played a key role in last month's Maryland title run, Zusi was not really a star player until this season. On a team like Maryland, you can just rise to national prominence as a senior and get picked, but in my opinion it keeps you out of the first round for sure. I miss the good old days of MLS, when you make a visit to Crew Stadium without a New Zealander bloodying your sock. Henderson has been stellar in the Ivy, which is no joke, and played for the Kiwis in the Beijing Olympics.
FC Dallas
Drafting Personality - Soul Devouring, Enigmatic
2008 Draft Represented By - Josh Lambo, Brek Shea
2009 Predicted Picks:
05. Sam Cronin 5-10 165 M Wake Forest Winston-Salem, North Carolina
14. Peri Marosevic 5-9 160 F/M Michigan Rockford, Illinois
27. Calum Angus 6-0 168 D Saint Louis Portsmouth, England
Am I the only person who fears Schellas Hyndman? When I try to think of what he looks like, all I ever come up with is Max Schreck's Nosferatu, although I don't think there is really all that much of a resemblance. I'm interested to see what Dallas is up to, given that the last regime had a very particular approach to the draft. Which was wheel, deal, mass picks, seek value, and, above all, draft kids like Shea and Lambo. Draft kids until you can't draft any more because they've eaten all of Steve Morrow's Cocoa Krispies. I always liked their approach - it seemed highly-planned and daring all at once. Unfortunately, it took too long for the kids not named Blake Wagner to turn into something, and so the regime got disbanded when they produced a soggy, bitter mess of over-hyped internationals backed up by naifs. You'd think that Hyndman would relish some good old-fashioned, stalwart college player selection, but their moves and rumors indicate that this regime might not be predictable.
If Hyndman does decide to look for more mature players, having Cronin available at #5 would be ideal, especially since Adrian Serioux is rumored on the block and Ricchetti always seems about to leave. Marosevic would not replace Oduro's speed, but Dallas seems to have openings for all types of depth forwards this year. It's just too easy to put a guy named Angus on the team with a cow badge, but it was unintentional, I swear. Dallas will no doubt deal with it's defensive issues through international acquisitions, but Angus might be able to stick and would be reasonable value at this pick, based on his college production.
DC United
Drafting Personality - Hopeless, Cavalier
2008 Draft Represented By - Andrew Jacobson
2009 Predicted Picks:
06. Michael Lahoud 5-8 140 M/D/F Wake Forest Annandale, Virginia
07. Kevin Alston 5-8 150 D Indiana Silver Spring, Maryland
21. Milos Kocic 6-4 200 G Loyola-Maryland Leskovac, Serbia
26. Jide Ogunbiyi 6-4 205 D Santa Clara Gwynedd, Pennsylvania
36. Bright Dike 6-1 195 F Notre Dame Edmond, Oklahoma
Watching Tom Soehn sad-sack his way through this sad-sack team's sad-sack season was, well, sad. DC thought they could just go the full international, forget about putting a team together, and just stick a bunch of South Americans everywhere. And so they ended up with a depressing Latin fusion, lacking grit and speed (but with an imaginative goalkeeper at least). Emulating Los Angeles should never be a goal. This draft is probably as important to DC as any team. With four picks in the first two rounds, they would be helped greatly by getting at least two contributors who can breathe some life into this corpse this season. To this end, they should take care to not have all of their best picks sign in Europe, like Jacobson last year, so Generation Adidas players may be a smart way to go.
Lahoud and Alston would comply with DC's needs of a little youngblood and vigor in the midfield and defense. Both guys are local, which DC surely wouldn't mind, but would they use both of these important selections on such little guys? We'll make it up with more size later. Kocic might be tempted to stick around in the US if he can stay in the Metro, or he could be just another who got away. Ogunbiyi is a hulking presence with enough foot skills to have played forward in college, but big center backs have not been faring well out of college lately. Yeah, yeah, Bright Dike is a wacky name - we went over this years ago in the BigSoccer college forum, so don't think you're funny. Dike didn't do much at Notre Dame until a big senior season this year, but he has the sort of size/athleticism combination that gets scouts thinking about the possibilities.
Houston Dynamo
Drafting Personality - Petulant, Bored
2008 Draft Represented By - Geoff Cameron
2009 Predicted Picks:
41. Zack Simmons 6-2 185 G Massachussets Durham, New Hampshire
56. Jean Alexandre 5-11 190 F Lynn Delray Beach, Florida
Houston gives the impression that they really don't care much about the draft. They trade their picks, make strange picks, and fail to address glaring positional needs that are NOT going to be fixed by aging Scotsmen from crappy Scottish teams. Yet, it keeps working for Houston. They've developed a strong organization that can take unheralded picks like Corey Ashe and Cameron, and make use of them. It doesn't always work - for example will John-Michael Hayden ever be let out of the Sugar Land porn dungeon they've apparently been keeping him locked in (zero first-team minutes in two seasons for a first-round pick is ridiculous)? Yet, Houston seems to be inching towards a large-scale rebuild, and you'd think at some point, they're going to need to keep a few picks and find a few players who can reset the dynastic form they've enjoyed for the past several years. I like the Julius James addition, but they don't really have any more MLS MVP's to trade, so they'd be helped by a more voluminous draft one of these years.
The Dynamo's inattention to the goalkeeping seems like lunacy. They still have a single netminder on the roster - one who just turned 41. Even if Onstad is the Peter Shilton of Point Grey, a developmental backup would certainly be useful. I'll send them Simmons here, the darling of UMass' crazy NCAA run in 2007. More likely the pick will be a player from the combine (because I don't think Houston does very deep scouting), like Steward Ceus. Or perhaps more likely, no goalkeeper at all. Houston's forward depth is at a low ebb right now. Even if Ngwenya comes back, they'll need more there, so they take Alexandre here, the bulldog Hatian-American who had 23 D-2 goals this season.
Kansas City Wizards
Drafting Personality - Jocular, Competent but let's not go crazy with praise or anything
2008 Draft Represented By - Chance Myers
2009 Predicted Picks:
08. Baggio Husidic 6-1 173 M Illinois-Chicago Velika Kladusa, Bosnia
22. Akeem Priestley 5-11 165 M Connecticut Kingston, Jamaica
23. Joshua Boateng 5-9 160 F/M Liberty Accra, Ghana
42. David Hertel 5-10 D Michigan State Holland, Michigan
50. Alfonso Motagalvan 5-10 175 M UC Santa Barbara Gilroy, California
Peter Vermes and Curt Onalfo have an air of competency about them. The Wizards go into the draft, make a few solid moves here and there, make fairly straightforward picks for the most part. They just seem like they have a plan in mind. Apparently that plan is to be genially mediocre until the end of time. Can anyone hate this team? You never see them on TV, they seem to just chug along merrily at about .500 never pissing anyone off. Well, there was l'affaire Kevin Souter, but I don't see it being the basis of a John LeCarre novel any time soon. Chance Myers fits in with the Wizards pathology. Seems like a good kid, right? Might develop into a solid piece, right? Meh, so boring!
Husidic seems to be a guy that nobody can quite get comfortable with. Perhaps they are reminded of Xavier Balc, or other central players that couldn't get or take the chance to make an MLS midfield. Traditionally, college pans out wings and defenders. The trail of failed strikers and central midfielders will soon be made into a constellation. But Husidic has plenty of admirers, and he certainly had an impact at UIC. Kerry Zavagnin has hung up his legendary boots - is there enough bite in Husidic's game to play defensive midfield for the Missouri Azzuri? Remember that KC pioneered the whole Bosnians in MLS thing, or have you forgotten Refik Sabanadzovic already? Priestley is another central midfield prospect who has been capped by Jamaica and quickly acclimated to the Big East after transferring from Jacksonville in 2006. Boateng should be going to the Chicago Fire, who seem to think they have territorial rights on Jerry's Kids from Liberty. I say KC nabs him before the Fire get a chance, given that African attackers are the MLS hip thing, and throws him up top or on the wing. Boateng had a great season with Patrick Nyarko at Virginia Tech in 2005 before transferring. This gives KC three international players in a row, but the new roster rules don't make this so problematic anymore. Hertel wowed everyone at the combine, and even though everybody says the combine doesn't tell you anything, they obviously really think it does. Hertel was first-team Big 10 this year, so he's no stretch at this pick. Motagalvan had two very good seasons at UCSB. What I really like about him is that he lists Chivas USA as one of his favorite clubs, making him the rare college player to admit liking MLS. And even rarer as a human being claiming to be a Chivas USA fan.
Los Angeles Galaxy
Drafting Personality - Busy proving that good drafting is wasted if your team is a three-ring circus, Assholish
2008 Draft Represented By - Sean Franklin, Brandon McDonald
2009 Predicted Picks:
03. Stefan Frei 6-3 200 G California Widnau, Switzerland
33. Jamie Franks 5-8 150 M Wake Forest Medford, New Jersey
35. Maxwell Griffin 6-0 175 F UCLA Palmdale, California
48. Matt Besler 6-0 170 D Notre Dame Overland Park, Kansas
49. Andrew Bailey 6-0 150 F/M Sonoma State Davis, California
We'll have to see if Bruce Arena's malevolent smirk can answer all of the questions surrounding this side. You'd like to think the answer is yes, but after his fairly dismal stint in New York, I'm not so confident. Now that New York has tasted some success, is Los Angeles poised to become the league's semi-permanent Rotmasters (if I may steal the term from irritable geriatric Paul Gardner), with a series of unprepared celebrity coaches and disinterested Eurostars? This is not a drill. This is happening and Bruce needs to squash it quick before the culture of losing overwhelms. Paul Bravo headed up a great draft last year, so they have a few nice young pieces. Franklin will only get better and McDonald is perhaps the most interesting developmental project from 2008. I don't really remember Arena's drafting style to be honest, other than taking everyone from Virginia and any flesh and blood that might be available. Bill Archer reminded us that he left New York with Dane Richards and Sinisa Ubiparipovic, so that's a good portent, even if those were just basic, smart picks of highly productive college players. Often though, that is all you need.
I know some will say Frei doesn't make sense, given the Galaxy's multiple field needs and the recent signing of Donovan Ricketts. But LA is a team that will always be able to find interested internationals to fill the most pressing problems, salary cap willing. Making Frei win the starting job over a veteran might be a good motivator, although I guess Brad Guzan managed with being thrown straight into the firing line. Franks is the forgotten member of Wake, a 3.5 year starter who didn't get to the combine. He's small, but piled up assists and hails from New Jersey. Did you know Bruce Arena is also from New Jersey? And that Brian Ching is from Hawaii? Griffin, the brother of current Galaxy player Leonard Griffin, never really improved his numbers over the years but finished his Bruins career with 25 goals. Besler didn't show much attacking verve from his center back position at Notre Dame and lacks ideal size for the position, but he scooped up a lot of conference and national honors. The lanky Bailey had his lowest career goalscoring season as a senior, but showed enough over his career to be worth a look.
New England
Drafting Personality - Bespectacled, Trend-Setting
2008 Draft Represented By - Rob Valentino
2009 Predicted Picks:
10. Brad Ring 5-10 165 M Indiana Rockford, Illinois
15. Quincy Amarikwa 5-9 160 F/M UC Davis Bakersfield, California
24. Mike Grella 5-11 170 F Duke Glen Cove, New York
25. Trevor Banks 5-9 160 D/M Old Dominon Madison, Wisconsin
38. Yohance Marshall 6-2 170 D South Florida Malabar Arima, Trinidad & Tobago
55. Tyrel Lacey 6-3 197 G Tulsa Jenks, Oklahoma
After spending a few years trying to convince everyone that Nicol and Mariner were not an infallible drafting juggernaut (remember Leandro de Oliveira, or what?), I've come back around to regarding them warmly. When they started heisting all sorts of good players early in their reign, it was mainly sitting at the bottom of the aquarium awaiting for some teams to fight over their stupid picks and letting the tastiest flakes just fall to them down in the treasure chest. Yeah, Clint Dempsey was not an unknown in that draft people. Then, after blowing a draft, they tried taking Wake Forest players before it became this year's fashion. Last year, it was Duke. Look, taking a lot of players from the inarguably best conference in America is never going to be a bad move. What I'm liking now is that they seem to be maintaining their simple plan of taking the best players available, but adding some scouting nuance. The Valentino pick impressed me, because he's from the West Coast and had missed his senior season. It showed they were paying attention, which is all I ask of anyone. We don't know how Valentino will work out yet, but I'll always think it was a smart pick. Good thing they draft well too, since the Revs are determined to never bother putting together a complete team or spending any money on helpful players from foreign lands. Maybe this 24 man roster will be to their benefit, since they usually only had 24 anyway. Or maybe they'll try to go with 18 players. They have a lot of picks this year, and they need to be good ones, because the attrition of having been a cheap-ass franchise for so long is starting to glaringly show and is only going to get worse.
Ring has a very solid record of success at Indiana, and a nice bite to his game. I think he can rival Sam Cronin as a holding mid prospect, and it's a shame he had to miss the combine. I like Amarikwa more than most. It's hard to undersell how much UC Davis accomplished in becoming a high-level team after just five seasons in Division I. Amarikwa has improved every year and appears to have the sort of feisty nature that the Revs can use up top. Grella hasn't signed overseas yet, that I know of, and the Revs have enough picks that they can wait and see if he gets homesick in the next few years. He's probably not an MLS star, but another guy who can make a team and be especially useful for a low-budget enterprise like the Revs. Banks has experience all over the park, but would best supply outside speed depth on a team exposed as painfully, painfully, painfully slow against Joe Public. I expected Marshall to slip even before the combine. At 38, he'd be great value at a position in need of depth. Lacey ably replaced Dominic Cervi for Tulsa this season, and the Revs are still unsettled at backup keeper.
New York Red Bulls
Drafting Personality - Polyglot, Scheming
2008 Draft Represented By - Danleigh Borman
2009 Predicted Picks:
11. Jeremy Hall 5-11 163 M/F Maryland Tampa, Florida
18. George John 6-4 D/M Washington Shoreline, Washington
29. A.J. Delagarza 5-8 140 D Maryland Bryans Road, Maryland
44. Jordan Seabrook 5-10 165 F South Florida Indianapolis, Indiana
I'm pretty sold on Juan Carlos Osorio at this point. He may have some strange in-game coaching habits, but he seems to have a real knack for acquiring talent. He left Chicago with a well-stocked larder, an angry and confused larder perhaps, but well-stocked. And New York seems headed in the same direction. He's a bit like one of those college football coaches that recruits like a madman. Having talent will always get a team to a decent level. At some point, you may get frustrated by the lack of titles, but it's dangerous to forget that it's very possible to have a team that lacks both the ability to come together at crucial times AND talent. Which pretty much describes most of New York's history in MLS. Anyway, Agoos also seems sharp, and I expect it will be another productive draft for the Red Bulls. I panned the Borman pick last year, so I have to be gracious when a team shows they know a hell of a lot more about this whole business than I do.
One of the big names is likely to slip to New York at #11, which is why the first-round pick swap with Dallas in the van den Bergh trade was not just a thoughtless toss-in. At that point in the draft, three spots probably could very well be the difference between a GenAd youth star and hunchbacked college senior. I have Hall trickling down, where he can try to fit in on the left side vacancy left by van den Bergh. Certainly, Osorio will look for an international signing to take the starting role, but it will be nice to have a hopeful backup plan if the whichever Venezuelan they get is a bust. John impressed everyone at the combine, partly because he seems to taking to his new defensive role with enthusiasm. He still has to prove he can handle the marking demands at center back, but it's clear his dribbling and passing skills should be well above the average college to pro center back. Delagarza probably needs to figure out the nuances of playing outside, but even if he can't he might be able to join with one New York's normal-sized center backs in a four-back set. Seabrook made a big impact in college ball as a freshman, but never built on it much. Still, late in the draft, he's well worth a look.
Real Salt Lake
Drafting Personality - Analytical, Drafting is Serious Business
2008 Draft Represented By - Tony Beltran
2009 Predicted Picks:
12. Chris Pontius 6-0 170 F/M UC Santa Barbara Yorba Linda, California
54. Kyle Christensen 6-1 187 F/M Denver Layton, Utah
57. Brandon Barklage 5-11 165 M Saint Louis Saint Louis, Missouri
I have to admit that I'm kind of a fan of what Salt Lake has been doing. Last year Garth Lagerwey, who used to be best known as the world's only MLS-themed stand-up comic, was going around unsmilingly telling anyone who would listen that Real was going to do more homework than anyone and do a great job in the draft (he is apparently now referring to last year's draft as 'historically poor' by the way). It's yet to be seen if Beltran or David Horst will make it as serious MLS contributors, but I like the serious approach. I've been predicting that Salt Lake would be making the jump for a few years now, and I'm gratified to finally be sort-of right. Sure Jason Kreis' regime got off to a terrible start. So much so, that I'm a considering an illustrated book series for pre-teens about poor choices, called "Jason K.'s Terrible, Mixed-Up Day". But Kreis and Lagerwey have their business pointed in the proper direction, with growing depth, good young players, and a consistent management style. Another serious draft to address the remaining shallow positions could give them just enough of a push to have a consistently good season and legitimately challenge the top dogs.
RSL already took two UCSB players last year, but Pontius just seems like a good fit with the Salt Kings. He's feisty and active, and seems comfortable playing the wing instead of adding to the youth movement they already have at forward. The local kid Christensen could be more than just a PR release for the local news. Sure, he's a Mormon who left Denver for two years on his mission, but he came back and picked right up where he left off, ripping up the MPSF. Plus, his mission was in Argentina. How lucky was that? What if they had sent him to Nepal? Or Canada? Barklage is left-footed, which is a plus and a stated need for the club.
San Jose Earthquakes
Drafting Personality - Dreary, Grasping
2008 Draft Represented By - Shea Salinas
2009 Predicted Picks:
17. Chris Clements 6-2 187 D Tulsa Allen, Texas
32. Raphael Cox 5-7 M Washington Tacoma, Washington
Frank Yallop deserves more time to reinstall his narrow-field victory machine. But last year's draft was mostly a washout, although I guess you could easily argue that trading all but one pick was smart in a year with almost no impact rookies. I thought Salinas, their only pick, was overdrafted on a good combine and on strict need, although he has plenty of time to prove me wrong. San Jose had needs all over the park, and also failed to get anything useful at all in the Supplemental Draft (and a few useful players were taken by other teams, you can look it up). Yallop's first San Jose team improved after acquiring several quality veterans, but also got important contributions from college players they folded into their system who became stalwarts. With only two more picks this year, the Quakes are fighting long odds of finding similar contributors.
Clements has become underrated by his supposedly middling combine showing (he was reported to be nicked up), but he's the sort of rugged defender that I think Yallop appreciates. And I KNOW John Doyle appreciates. Clements had an U-20 callup in 2006, and has been around while Tulsa has ascended into a high-level NCAA team. If San Jose is still desperate to find wing speed, Cox might fit the bill. He's little, but a leftie who ascended to first-team Pac-10 this year.
Seattle Sounders
Drafting Personality - Silly, Possessing the Buddha Nature
2008 Draft Represented By - Lenhart!
2009 Predicted Picks:
01. Rodney Wallace 5-11 152 D/M Maryland Rockville, Maryland
16. Brad Rusin 6-4 200 D UCLA Holmes Beach, Florida
31. Matt Murphy 5-11 165 M UC Irvine Anaheim Hills, California
46. Nate Jafta 5-6 145 M Lindsey Wilson Pampierstad, South Africa
I'm impressed with Sigi's style. He doesn't have the same kind of sweaty need for approval like the Salt Lake guys or the faux mysteriousness of the Fire braintrust. He just sits there, with his Zen belly and little smirk, and makes smart decisions. Take Lenhart(!). He was the third forward in a row that the Crew picked last season, and that seemed a little much to me. The more highly regarded Josten and Pierre-Louis have already been put down at the MLS roster hospital, but Lenhart! remains. Sigi knew that he had some minutes for a rookie forward, so bring in a whole bunch and one of them will probably be worthwhile - and be radiantly comedic if you're lucky. Sure Lenhart! only played 278 minutes last year, but did the Crew ever win a title without him? Think about it. I get the sense that Seattle has big expectations this year, and I wouldn't be completely shocked if they made the playoffs given the general state of disrepute in the Western Conference. That does put some additional pressure on them to not follow the hallowed MLS tradition of totally blowing the #1 pick. Hopefully, Drew Carey won't let an Irvine frat boy decide it on the Plinko board. Oh yeah, take that Drew Carey!
I think I'm the only draft buddy to have Wallace first. So, Seattle would probably be smart to trade down, assuming they wanted him at all. I like Wallace's development curve at Maryland. He made an instant impact with the Terps and built on it with an excellent sophomore season. Wallace plays on the left and can slot in at the back or in the midfield. Using high picks on versatile outside players seems like a trend and a good way to flesh out the formation. Nobody knows what the deal is with Rusin, who trialled in Europe last college off-season and wasn't picked for the combine. If he'll sign, he's a pretty fair prospect. I'm reading too much into the Sigi from SoCal thing, but Murphy has had a Brad Evans like career at Irvine, without the youth nat call-ups. I'm sure he can be slotted in a lot of different positions if he can make the team. Jafta was all the rage last year, but had a quiet senior season at Lindsey and has fallen off the radar. He trialled with the Crew, so it's a possibility at least.
Toronto FC
Drafting Personality - Angry, Beet-Red, Furious
2008 Draft Represented By - Julius James, Pat Phelan
2009 Predicted Picks:
02. Omar Gonzalez 6-5 206 D Maryland Dallas, Texas
04. Steve Zakuani 6-0 170 F Akron London, England
13. Lyle Adams 6-1 170 D/M Wake Forest Orlando, Florida
34. Marcus Tracy 6-1 170 F Wake Forest Newtown, Connecticut
39. Michael Coburn 6-3 180 D Memphis Dundalk, Ireland
The organizational style of TFC is something akin to a tremendously intense game of 52-Card Pickup. Nobody wins in the end, and you probably don't visit those friends anymore. Recent history suggests that getting drafted by Toronto is pretty much a guarantee that you will get to live in at least two MLS cities. James and Phelan had their brief visits to Ontario before being cast away in two of Mo Johnston's copyrighted histrionic roster makeover episodes. Since Maurice Edu and Marvell Wynne (yeah I know he came in a trade) have been a couple of the team's more exciting players, it might be good to keep two top-four picks and bring in some more of that sweet young talent. Of course, this means that Toronto is shopping the picks. For what? Some veteran players who can later be shopped for draft picks, which can later be moved for allocation money, which can then be spent on the ruddiest midfielder in the English third level. Look, all of us other than Bill Archer want this Toronto side to have at least one good season before FIFA forcibly repatriates them into the Please Mum! Canadian Championnat, so MoJo, get it together and let a team gel for God's sake.
If Toronto sticks with what they have and ends up with Gonzalez and Zakuani, I think the PR will be good, even if I'm not totally sold on either player yet. Maybe Mo is right to be dealing....no, that can't be. There are 10 solid prospects in this draft. Please, just find two you like and let them breathe Northern air past June. Adams is a four-year starter at Wake, and with a lot of versatility. Tracy is worth a dig, because there's a chance he'll utterly fail in Denmark. Wake ran rings around almost every other team in the NCAA's, and we don't yet know how well Tracy will fare against tighter marking. Then again, teams don't usually give up right away on guys with the whole zoo arsenal (you know, fleet as a darting stag, hops like a scared chinchilla, and so forth). Coburn is just a reach pick, although he had a good career for an increasingly poor Memphis side. It seems like one Irishman always gets picked, and this is it.
I expect that we will see more and more of the impact young American players being kids returning from those European handbag leagues I've heard so much of. For MLS, this is not a bad outcome, since they can get players who are just old and wizened enough to contribute immediately. And supposedly we'll start to see more of the teenage set getting scooped up from MLS academies before they ever get to attend the debauched bacchanal that could possibly be the NSCAA Conference where the draft is held. But college will keep supplying the meat and potatoes, the organizational soldiers who will fill out the squad's unglamorous positions and get their shots in the US Open Cup, and become stars every now and then.
The draft reeled me back in. It always reels me in. However, I didn't spend as much time this year thinking about it and collecting information as I have in the past. My picks may reflect that. Although guessing this thing has always been a wild crapshoot anyway, so I don't expect it to be any more or less embarassing than usual. But I feel happy today that this yearly ritual is back, while I freeze my tuchus off in the frozen Midwest and ignore my job.
To me, being bothered or angrily apathetic about the MLS draft is like hating duckings, or younglings. It's a fun exercise that tells us a little about the braintrusts of each team, and gives us sweet MLS fantasies in the middle of the winter when everybody else in the world is stuck watching whatever passes for actual football in their corner of the world. The draft is a riot of rumors, obscure colleges, and funny names. Players with amusing backstories who will never be heard from again. I know everyone is in a hurry to get MLS up to world-wide snuff, so that the most interesting stories we get are a star midfielder punching a Pakistani kid in the throat at a nightclub, or a star forward giving it to some dumb model who isn't the same dumb model he's married to. But my friends, these are the shabby chic days of MLS, and the draft is the shabbiest, chicest day of the year. So enjoy it, and when Dan Loney reviews it five years from now, take it all in with a fond, nostalgic laugh.
Rather than format this one pick at a time in order, I think it's more instructive to think of it in terms of what each team wants to do, and who will be doing it. My analysis for each team may be way off, so feel free to imagine your own ideas in their place.
Chicago Fire
Drafting Personality - Smart, Stupid, Predictably Unpredictable
2008 Draft Represented By - Stephen King, Melford James Jr.
2009 Predicted Picks:
28. Doug DeMartin 6-0 F/M Michigan State Mason, Michigan
43. Kevon Neaves 6-0 175 M South Florida Petit Valley, Trinidad & Tobago
52. Ryan Roushandel 6-2 188 D/M Central Florida Atlanta, Georgia
58. Ancil Farrier D Southern Connecticut State Los Bajos, Trinidad & Tobago
I always love to watch the Fire work the draft. Somebody on that staff (I'm guessing Daryl Shore) really tries to dig deep into college soccer's welcoming folds to find lost crumbs. Every year, the Fire braintrust makes one or two just hair-raising, inexplicable picks - and then redeems themselves by unearthing one or two serious contributors later than they ever should have been able. In bad years, the Fire hilariously blow an early pick and in good years they save their wacky stuff for the second or third round. Their 2008 efforts will take time to evaluate, but it was a fairly safe and sedate draft until the Supplementary Draft (when they picked James and Tim Conway). I think Nyarko will pan out into something, and King was a smart, late-round grab of an overlooked and productive college talent, even if they did lose him to Seattle right away. The first-round will be a little drabber than usual without Chicago.
My favorite fact about DeMartin is that he played his college ball at the DeMartin Soccer Stadium in East Lansing. It's named after his aunt and uncle and not him, but you'd have to feel pretty bossy about it. He's a productive college scorer with good size, who might be able to play a midfield position in MLS. Neaves could be one of Chicago's late-round sleeper picks. He's solidly built and has played for T&T at the senior level, but never quite reached his potential at USF. It was reported that an injury forced him to decline a combine invite. Roushandel moved back to defense this year, and did well in an otherwise mediocre season for the Knights. The former Clemson recruit could be nice long-term project for the back line. Farrier is another T&T full international. He had a subpar senior season, but it probably talented enough to be worth a look.
Chivas USA
Drafting Personality - Barren, Grouchy
2008 Draft Represented By - Keith Savage
2009 Predicted Picks:
09. Graciano Brito 6-2 175 F Quinnipiac San Nicolau, Cape Verde
19. Daniel Cruz 5-8 F/M UNLV Glendale, Arizona
Chivas indicates their concern for the draft by never having any picks, then resorting to hiring cabbies halfway through the year to play in their midfield. To their credit, it doesn't stop them from making the playoffs. Savage was their only pick last year, so this year's bounty of two picks (in the top 20 no less) is a rare treat for the occasional Goats fan.
This Brito selection will probably make me look bad, but I don't see Chivas USA as a team to follow convention. Brito is tall and lanky, and a good athlete, who could make a good understudy for Galindo. I haven't seen his story around the blogs lately, but, according to a feature by Paul Kennedy in SoccerAmerica, Brito had not played any organized soccer until he went to college at age 18, having been a star volleyball and basketball player in Cape Verde. He seems to be a smart, level-headed guy, and he may have more room to improve than most. Cruz would be a nice second-round prize. He's probably a ways off from contributing, but Chivas can use some new faces on the wings, just like - well - every other team.
Colorado Rapids
Drafting Personality - Mysterious, Nut-Punching
2008 Draft Represented By - Ciaran O'Brien
2009 Predicted Picks:
20. O'Brian White 6-1 175 F Connecticut Scarborough, Ontario
37. Kyle Patterson 5-9 160 M Saint Louis Birmingham, England
47. Michael Callahan 5-9 150 D/M North Carolina Cary, North Carolina
51. Lamar Neagle 5-11 UNLV F/M Federal Way, Washington
53. Patrick Figueiredo 6-0 M Adelphi Campinas, Brazil
59. Tyler Barry 6-0 165 D California Mission Viejo, California
Alright, nut-punching is not really a drafting personality. The Rapids actually have a pretty solid recent history with the draft, although it hasn't helped them in the standings much. The nut-punching comes from the assorted anti-fan decisions coming from something called a "Jeff Plush". I think it's some sort of haunted doll. The mystery, meanwhile, is supposed to have finally left the building. Under John Murphy's reported high-level scouting and Fernando Clavijo's documented lunatic coaching, the Rapids had some pretty mixed results - unearthing oddball contributors like Kosuke Kimura and banishing other high picks to Clavijo's revolving, high-density doghouse. Take O'Brien. In classic Rapids fashion, he played in the season opener, got a red card in 19 minutes and was never heard from again. The new gaffer is supposedly an improvement, and if Paul Bravo had as much to do with LA's draft as I think he probably did, then Colorado should be pretty well covered on the scouting end. So maybe things will be looking up, perhaps with more of a West Coast angle on prospects than in the last few years.
White is a real wild-card in this draft. For a second-round pick, he seems like a good gamble, and, while Colorado's offense was not the glaring chasm of a problem it was a few years ago, depth never hurts. Others have Patterson much higher, but I'm not sold. He obviously fared well at Saint Louis, but neither he nor the team did so well that I buy him as more than a mid-round roster striver at right wing. Callahan didn't get a combine invite, but he was a four-year starter at UNC. He's undersized, but plucky and defensively versatile. Neagle played well when UNLV was crap, and kept playing well when they got good. He had 27 goals in his career, but I'm not sure he can play in the midfield and late round forwards are dicey. We're due for another MLS player from Adelphi, and it also seems that at least one Brazilian gets drafted every year, so let's go with Figueiredo. He dominated the Atlantic Soccer Conference, for whatever that's worth. Barry would be a defensive long-shot, but Cal guys always seem to get picked, don't they?
Columbus Crew
Drafting Personality - Deservedly Smug I'd Expect, Unstressed
2008 Draft Represented By - Andy Iro
2009 Predicted Picks:
30. Darrius Barnes 6-2 175 D Duke Raleigh, North Carolina
45. Graham Zusi 5-10 155 F/M Maryland Longwood, Florida
60. Craig Henderson 5-10 155 M Dartmouth Wellington, New Zealand
They have to be pretty relaxed in the Arch City. After somehow keeping Chad Marshall, this young and deep team hardly has any holes to fill and at least has the whiff of a new league multi-year top dog. Sure, Sigi took his common-law midfielder Brad Evans with him to Seattle, but Adam Moffat will be back from injury and Emmanuel Ekpo seems ready to become something special. Iro was a top pick, but was hardly needed, and is still high-quality surplus for now. Warzycha and Co. really just have to resist the urge to do something crazy. In the long run, they need to avoid becoming complacent or believing that they are the 39th incarnation of the Benevolent Sky Giant or whatever. Teams with sustained success always get too heady and start drafting like drunk Ellingers. It doesn't matter what league or what sport. The Crew need to just stay the course, be cool, and try and get one or two players who can cover for injuries and maybe take a role in a few years when the European cleat pimps come for real.
Barnes reportedly did well at the combine, and he has just enough athleticism to play outside at his size. If anything, it looks like the Crew need depth at the outside back positions. Although he played a key role in last month's Maryland title run, Zusi was not really a star player until this season. On a team like Maryland, you can just rise to national prominence as a senior and get picked, but in my opinion it keeps you out of the first round for sure. I miss the good old days of MLS, when you make a visit to Crew Stadium without a New Zealander bloodying your sock. Henderson has been stellar in the Ivy, which is no joke, and played for the Kiwis in the Beijing Olympics.
FC Dallas
Drafting Personality - Soul Devouring, Enigmatic
2008 Draft Represented By - Josh Lambo, Brek Shea
2009 Predicted Picks:
05. Sam Cronin 5-10 165 M Wake Forest Winston-Salem, North Carolina
14. Peri Marosevic 5-9 160 F/M Michigan Rockford, Illinois
27. Calum Angus 6-0 168 D Saint Louis Portsmouth, England
Am I the only person who fears Schellas Hyndman? When I try to think of what he looks like, all I ever come up with is Max Schreck's Nosferatu, although I don't think there is really all that much of a resemblance. I'm interested to see what Dallas is up to, given that the last regime had a very particular approach to the draft. Which was wheel, deal, mass picks, seek value, and, above all, draft kids like Shea and Lambo. Draft kids until you can't draft any more because they've eaten all of Steve Morrow's Cocoa Krispies. I always liked their approach - it seemed highly-planned and daring all at once. Unfortunately, it took too long for the kids not named Blake Wagner to turn into something, and so the regime got disbanded when they produced a soggy, bitter mess of over-hyped internationals backed up by naifs. You'd think that Hyndman would relish some good old-fashioned, stalwart college player selection, but their moves and rumors indicate that this regime might not be predictable.
If Hyndman does decide to look for more mature players, having Cronin available at #5 would be ideal, especially since Adrian Serioux is rumored on the block and Ricchetti always seems about to leave. Marosevic would not replace Oduro's speed, but Dallas seems to have openings for all types of depth forwards this year. It's just too easy to put a guy named Angus on the team with a cow badge, but it was unintentional, I swear. Dallas will no doubt deal with it's defensive issues through international acquisitions, but Angus might be able to stick and would be reasonable value at this pick, based on his college production.
DC United
Drafting Personality - Hopeless, Cavalier
2008 Draft Represented By - Andrew Jacobson
2009 Predicted Picks:
06. Michael Lahoud 5-8 140 M/D/F Wake Forest Annandale, Virginia
07. Kevin Alston 5-8 150 D Indiana Silver Spring, Maryland
21. Milos Kocic 6-4 200 G Loyola-Maryland Leskovac, Serbia
26. Jide Ogunbiyi 6-4 205 D Santa Clara Gwynedd, Pennsylvania
36. Bright Dike 6-1 195 F Notre Dame Edmond, Oklahoma
Watching Tom Soehn sad-sack his way through this sad-sack team's sad-sack season was, well, sad. DC thought they could just go the full international, forget about putting a team together, and just stick a bunch of South Americans everywhere. And so they ended up with a depressing Latin fusion, lacking grit and speed (but with an imaginative goalkeeper at least). Emulating Los Angeles should never be a goal. This draft is probably as important to DC as any team. With four picks in the first two rounds, they would be helped greatly by getting at least two contributors who can breathe some life into this corpse this season. To this end, they should take care to not have all of their best picks sign in Europe, like Jacobson last year, so Generation Adidas players may be a smart way to go.
Lahoud and Alston would comply with DC's needs of a little youngblood and vigor in the midfield and defense. Both guys are local, which DC surely wouldn't mind, but would they use both of these important selections on such little guys? We'll make it up with more size later. Kocic might be tempted to stick around in the US if he can stay in the Metro, or he could be just another who got away. Ogunbiyi is a hulking presence with enough foot skills to have played forward in college, but big center backs have not been faring well out of college lately. Yeah, yeah, Bright Dike is a wacky name - we went over this years ago in the BigSoccer college forum, so don't think you're funny. Dike didn't do much at Notre Dame until a big senior season this year, but he has the sort of size/athleticism combination that gets scouts thinking about the possibilities.
Houston Dynamo
Drafting Personality - Petulant, Bored
2008 Draft Represented By - Geoff Cameron
2009 Predicted Picks:
41. Zack Simmons 6-2 185 G Massachussets Durham, New Hampshire
56. Jean Alexandre 5-11 190 F Lynn Delray Beach, Florida
Houston gives the impression that they really don't care much about the draft. They trade their picks, make strange picks, and fail to address glaring positional needs that are NOT going to be fixed by aging Scotsmen from crappy Scottish teams. Yet, it keeps working for Houston. They've developed a strong organization that can take unheralded picks like Corey Ashe and Cameron, and make use of them. It doesn't always work - for example will John-Michael Hayden ever be let out of the Sugar Land porn dungeon they've apparently been keeping him locked in (zero first-team minutes in two seasons for a first-round pick is ridiculous)? Yet, Houston seems to be inching towards a large-scale rebuild, and you'd think at some point, they're going to need to keep a few picks and find a few players who can reset the dynastic form they've enjoyed for the past several years. I like the Julius James addition, but they don't really have any more MLS MVP's to trade, so they'd be helped by a more voluminous draft one of these years.
The Dynamo's inattention to the goalkeeping seems like lunacy. They still have a single netminder on the roster - one who just turned 41. Even if Onstad is the Peter Shilton of Point Grey, a developmental backup would certainly be useful. I'll send them Simmons here, the darling of UMass' crazy NCAA run in 2007. More likely the pick will be a player from the combine (because I don't think Houston does very deep scouting), like Steward Ceus. Or perhaps more likely, no goalkeeper at all. Houston's forward depth is at a low ebb right now. Even if Ngwenya comes back, they'll need more there, so they take Alexandre here, the bulldog Hatian-American who had 23 D-2 goals this season.
Kansas City Wizards
Drafting Personality - Jocular, Competent but let's not go crazy with praise or anything
2008 Draft Represented By - Chance Myers
2009 Predicted Picks:
08. Baggio Husidic 6-1 173 M Illinois-Chicago Velika Kladusa, Bosnia
22. Akeem Priestley 5-11 165 M Connecticut Kingston, Jamaica
23. Joshua Boateng 5-9 160 F/M Liberty Accra, Ghana
42. David Hertel 5-10 D Michigan State Holland, Michigan
50. Alfonso Motagalvan 5-10 175 M UC Santa Barbara Gilroy, California
Peter Vermes and Curt Onalfo have an air of competency about them. The Wizards go into the draft, make a few solid moves here and there, make fairly straightforward picks for the most part. They just seem like they have a plan in mind. Apparently that plan is to be genially mediocre until the end of time. Can anyone hate this team? You never see them on TV, they seem to just chug along merrily at about .500 never pissing anyone off. Well, there was l'affaire Kevin Souter, but I don't see it being the basis of a John LeCarre novel any time soon. Chance Myers fits in with the Wizards pathology. Seems like a good kid, right? Might develop into a solid piece, right? Meh, so boring!
Husidic seems to be a guy that nobody can quite get comfortable with. Perhaps they are reminded of Xavier Balc, or other central players that couldn't get or take the chance to make an MLS midfield. Traditionally, college pans out wings and defenders. The trail of failed strikers and central midfielders will soon be made into a constellation. But Husidic has plenty of admirers, and he certainly had an impact at UIC. Kerry Zavagnin has hung up his legendary boots - is there enough bite in Husidic's game to play defensive midfield for the Missouri Azzuri? Remember that KC pioneered the whole Bosnians in MLS thing, or have you forgotten Refik Sabanadzovic already? Priestley is another central midfield prospect who has been capped by Jamaica and quickly acclimated to the Big East after transferring from Jacksonville in 2006. Boateng should be going to the Chicago Fire, who seem to think they have territorial rights on Jerry's Kids from Liberty. I say KC nabs him before the Fire get a chance, given that African attackers are the MLS hip thing, and throws him up top or on the wing. Boateng had a great season with Patrick Nyarko at Virginia Tech in 2005 before transferring. This gives KC three international players in a row, but the new roster rules don't make this so problematic anymore. Hertel wowed everyone at the combine, and even though everybody says the combine doesn't tell you anything, they obviously really think it does. Hertel was first-team Big 10 this year, so he's no stretch at this pick. Motagalvan had two very good seasons at UCSB. What I really like about him is that he lists Chivas USA as one of his favorite clubs, making him the rare college player to admit liking MLS. And even rarer as a human being claiming to be a Chivas USA fan.
Los Angeles Galaxy
Drafting Personality - Busy proving that good drafting is wasted if your team is a three-ring circus, Assholish
2008 Draft Represented By - Sean Franklin, Brandon McDonald
2009 Predicted Picks:
03. Stefan Frei 6-3 200 G California Widnau, Switzerland
33. Jamie Franks 5-8 150 M Wake Forest Medford, New Jersey
35. Maxwell Griffin 6-0 175 F UCLA Palmdale, California
48. Matt Besler 6-0 170 D Notre Dame Overland Park, Kansas
49. Andrew Bailey 6-0 150 F/M Sonoma State Davis, California
We'll have to see if Bruce Arena's malevolent smirk can answer all of the questions surrounding this side. You'd like to think the answer is yes, but after his fairly dismal stint in New York, I'm not so confident. Now that New York has tasted some success, is Los Angeles poised to become the league's semi-permanent Rotmasters (if I may steal the term from irritable geriatric Paul Gardner), with a series of unprepared celebrity coaches and disinterested Eurostars? This is not a drill. This is happening and Bruce needs to squash it quick before the culture of losing overwhelms. Paul Bravo headed up a great draft last year, so they have a few nice young pieces. Franklin will only get better and McDonald is perhaps the most interesting developmental project from 2008. I don't really remember Arena's drafting style to be honest, other than taking everyone from Virginia and any flesh and blood that might be available. Bill Archer reminded us that he left New York with Dane Richards and Sinisa Ubiparipovic, so that's a good portent, even if those were just basic, smart picks of highly productive college players. Often though, that is all you need.
I know some will say Frei doesn't make sense, given the Galaxy's multiple field needs and the recent signing of Donovan Ricketts. But LA is a team that will always be able to find interested internationals to fill the most pressing problems, salary cap willing. Making Frei win the starting job over a veteran might be a good motivator, although I guess Brad Guzan managed with being thrown straight into the firing line. Franks is the forgotten member of Wake, a 3.5 year starter who didn't get to the combine. He's small, but piled up assists and hails from New Jersey. Did you know Bruce Arena is also from New Jersey? And that Brian Ching is from Hawaii? Griffin, the brother of current Galaxy player Leonard Griffin, never really improved his numbers over the years but finished his Bruins career with 25 goals. Besler didn't show much attacking verve from his center back position at Notre Dame and lacks ideal size for the position, but he scooped up a lot of conference and national honors. The lanky Bailey had his lowest career goalscoring season as a senior, but showed enough over his career to be worth a look.
New England
Drafting Personality - Bespectacled, Trend-Setting
2008 Draft Represented By - Rob Valentino
2009 Predicted Picks:
10. Brad Ring 5-10 165 M Indiana Rockford, Illinois
15. Quincy Amarikwa 5-9 160 F/M UC Davis Bakersfield, California
24. Mike Grella 5-11 170 F Duke Glen Cove, New York
25. Trevor Banks 5-9 160 D/M Old Dominon Madison, Wisconsin
38. Yohance Marshall 6-2 170 D South Florida Malabar Arima, Trinidad & Tobago
55. Tyrel Lacey 6-3 197 G Tulsa Jenks, Oklahoma
After spending a few years trying to convince everyone that Nicol and Mariner were not an infallible drafting juggernaut (remember Leandro de Oliveira, or what?), I've come back around to regarding them warmly. When they started heisting all sorts of good players early in their reign, it was mainly sitting at the bottom of the aquarium awaiting for some teams to fight over their stupid picks and letting the tastiest flakes just fall to them down in the treasure chest. Yeah, Clint Dempsey was not an unknown in that draft people. Then, after blowing a draft, they tried taking Wake Forest players before it became this year's fashion. Last year, it was Duke. Look, taking a lot of players from the inarguably best conference in America is never going to be a bad move. What I'm liking now is that they seem to be maintaining their simple plan of taking the best players available, but adding some scouting nuance. The Valentino pick impressed me, because he's from the West Coast and had missed his senior season. It showed they were paying attention, which is all I ask of anyone. We don't know how Valentino will work out yet, but I'll always think it was a smart pick. Good thing they draft well too, since the Revs are determined to never bother putting together a complete team or spending any money on helpful players from foreign lands. Maybe this 24 man roster will be to their benefit, since they usually only had 24 anyway. Or maybe they'll try to go with 18 players. They have a lot of picks this year, and they need to be good ones, because the attrition of having been a cheap-ass franchise for so long is starting to glaringly show and is only going to get worse.
Ring has a very solid record of success at Indiana, and a nice bite to his game. I think he can rival Sam Cronin as a holding mid prospect, and it's a shame he had to miss the combine. I like Amarikwa more than most. It's hard to undersell how much UC Davis accomplished in becoming a high-level team after just five seasons in Division I. Amarikwa has improved every year and appears to have the sort of feisty nature that the Revs can use up top. Grella hasn't signed overseas yet, that I know of, and the Revs have enough picks that they can wait and see if he gets homesick in the next few years. He's probably not an MLS star, but another guy who can make a team and be especially useful for a low-budget enterprise like the Revs. Banks has experience all over the park, but would best supply outside speed depth on a team exposed as painfully, painfully, painfully slow against Joe Public. I expected Marshall to slip even before the combine. At 38, he'd be great value at a position in need of depth. Lacey ably replaced Dominic Cervi for Tulsa this season, and the Revs are still unsettled at backup keeper.
New York Red Bulls
Drafting Personality - Polyglot, Scheming
2008 Draft Represented By - Danleigh Borman
2009 Predicted Picks:
11. Jeremy Hall 5-11 163 M/F Maryland Tampa, Florida
18. George John 6-4 D/M Washington Shoreline, Washington
29. A.J. Delagarza 5-8 140 D Maryland Bryans Road, Maryland
44. Jordan Seabrook 5-10 165 F South Florida Indianapolis, Indiana
I'm pretty sold on Juan Carlos Osorio at this point. He may have some strange in-game coaching habits, but he seems to have a real knack for acquiring talent. He left Chicago with a well-stocked larder, an angry and confused larder perhaps, but well-stocked. And New York seems headed in the same direction. He's a bit like one of those college football coaches that recruits like a madman. Having talent will always get a team to a decent level. At some point, you may get frustrated by the lack of titles, but it's dangerous to forget that it's very possible to have a team that lacks both the ability to come together at crucial times AND talent. Which pretty much describes most of New York's history in MLS. Anyway, Agoos also seems sharp, and I expect it will be another productive draft for the Red Bulls. I panned the Borman pick last year, so I have to be gracious when a team shows they know a hell of a lot more about this whole business than I do.
One of the big names is likely to slip to New York at #11, which is why the first-round pick swap with Dallas in the van den Bergh trade was not just a thoughtless toss-in. At that point in the draft, three spots probably could very well be the difference between a GenAd youth star and hunchbacked college senior. I have Hall trickling down, where he can try to fit in on the left side vacancy left by van den Bergh. Certainly, Osorio will look for an international signing to take the starting role, but it will be nice to have a hopeful backup plan if the whichever Venezuelan they get is a bust. John impressed everyone at the combine, partly because he seems to taking to his new defensive role with enthusiasm. He still has to prove he can handle the marking demands at center back, but it's clear his dribbling and passing skills should be well above the average college to pro center back. Delagarza probably needs to figure out the nuances of playing outside, but even if he can't he might be able to join with one New York's normal-sized center backs in a four-back set. Seabrook made a big impact in college ball as a freshman, but never built on it much. Still, late in the draft, he's well worth a look.
Real Salt Lake
Drafting Personality - Analytical, Drafting is Serious Business
2008 Draft Represented By - Tony Beltran
2009 Predicted Picks:
12. Chris Pontius 6-0 170 F/M UC Santa Barbara Yorba Linda, California
54. Kyle Christensen 6-1 187 F/M Denver Layton, Utah
57. Brandon Barklage 5-11 165 M Saint Louis Saint Louis, Missouri
I have to admit that I'm kind of a fan of what Salt Lake has been doing. Last year Garth Lagerwey, who used to be best known as the world's only MLS-themed stand-up comic, was going around unsmilingly telling anyone who would listen that Real was going to do more homework than anyone and do a great job in the draft (he is apparently now referring to last year's draft as 'historically poor' by the way). It's yet to be seen if Beltran or David Horst will make it as serious MLS contributors, but I like the serious approach. I've been predicting that Salt Lake would be making the jump for a few years now, and I'm gratified to finally be sort-of right. Sure Jason Kreis' regime got off to a terrible start. So much so, that I'm a considering an illustrated book series for pre-teens about poor choices, called "Jason K.'s Terrible, Mixed-Up Day". But Kreis and Lagerwey have their business pointed in the proper direction, with growing depth, good young players, and a consistent management style. Another serious draft to address the remaining shallow positions could give them just enough of a push to have a consistently good season and legitimately challenge the top dogs.
RSL already took two UCSB players last year, but Pontius just seems like a good fit with the Salt Kings. He's feisty and active, and seems comfortable playing the wing instead of adding to the youth movement they already have at forward. The local kid Christensen could be more than just a PR release for the local news. Sure, he's a Mormon who left Denver for two years on his mission, but he came back and picked right up where he left off, ripping up the MPSF. Plus, his mission was in Argentina. How lucky was that? What if they had sent him to Nepal? Or Canada? Barklage is left-footed, which is a plus and a stated need for the club.
San Jose Earthquakes
Drafting Personality - Dreary, Grasping
2008 Draft Represented By - Shea Salinas
2009 Predicted Picks:
17. Chris Clements 6-2 187 D Tulsa Allen, Texas
32. Raphael Cox 5-7 M Washington Tacoma, Washington
Frank Yallop deserves more time to reinstall his narrow-field victory machine. But last year's draft was mostly a washout, although I guess you could easily argue that trading all but one pick was smart in a year with almost no impact rookies. I thought Salinas, their only pick, was overdrafted on a good combine and on strict need, although he has plenty of time to prove me wrong. San Jose had needs all over the park, and also failed to get anything useful at all in the Supplemental Draft (and a few useful players were taken by other teams, you can look it up). Yallop's first San Jose team improved after acquiring several quality veterans, but also got important contributions from college players they folded into their system who became stalwarts. With only two more picks this year, the Quakes are fighting long odds of finding similar contributors.
Clements has become underrated by his supposedly middling combine showing (he was reported to be nicked up), but he's the sort of rugged defender that I think Yallop appreciates. And I KNOW John Doyle appreciates. Clements had an U-20 callup in 2006, and has been around while Tulsa has ascended into a high-level NCAA team. If San Jose is still desperate to find wing speed, Cox might fit the bill. He's little, but a leftie who ascended to first-team Pac-10 this year.
Seattle Sounders
Drafting Personality - Silly, Possessing the Buddha Nature
2008 Draft Represented By - Lenhart!
2009 Predicted Picks:
01. Rodney Wallace 5-11 152 D/M Maryland Rockville, Maryland
16. Brad Rusin 6-4 200 D UCLA Holmes Beach, Florida
31. Matt Murphy 5-11 165 M UC Irvine Anaheim Hills, California
46. Nate Jafta 5-6 145 M Lindsey Wilson Pampierstad, South Africa
I'm impressed with Sigi's style. He doesn't have the same kind of sweaty need for approval like the Salt Lake guys or the faux mysteriousness of the Fire braintrust. He just sits there, with his Zen belly and little smirk, and makes smart decisions. Take Lenhart(!). He was the third forward in a row that the Crew picked last season, and that seemed a little much to me. The more highly regarded Josten and Pierre-Louis have already been put down at the MLS roster hospital, but Lenhart! remains. Sigi knew that he had some minutes for a rookie forward, so bring in a whole bunch and one of them will probably be worthwhile - and be radiantly comedic if you're lucky. Sure Lenhart! only played 278 minutes last year, but did the Crew ever win a title without him? Think about it. I get the sense that Seattle has big expectations this year, and I wouldn't be completely shocked if they made the playoffs given the general state of disrepute in the Western Conference. That does put some additional pressure on them to not follow the hallowed MLS tradition of totally blowing the #1 pick. Hopefully, Drew Carey won't let an Irvine frat boy decide it on the Plinko board. Oh yeah, take that Drew Carey!
I think I'm the only draft buddy to have Wallace first. So, Seattle would probably be smart to trade down, assuming they wanted him at all. I like Wallace's development curve at Maryland. He made an instant impact with the Terps and built on it with an excellent sophomore season. Wallace plays on the left and can slot in at the back or in the midfield. Using high picks on versatile outside players seems like a trend and a good way to flesh out the formation. Nobody knows what the deal is with Rusin, who trialled in Europe last college off-season and wasn't picked for the combine. If he'll sign, he's a pretty fair prospect. I'm reading too much into the Sigi from SoCal thing, but Murphy has had a Brad Evans like career at Irvine, without the youth nat call-ups. I'm sure he can be slotted in a lot of different positions if he can make the team. Jafta was all the rage last year, but had a quiet senior season at Lindsey and has fallen off the radar. He trialled with the Crew, so it's a possibility at least.
Toronto FC
Drafting Personality - Angry, Beet-Red, Furious
2008 Draft Represented By - Julius James, Pat Phelan
2009 Predicted Picks:
02. Omar Gonzalez 6-5 206 D Maryland Dallas, Texas
04. Steve Zakuani 6-0 170 F Akron London, England
13. Lyle Adams 6-1 170 D/M Wake Forest Orlando, Florida
34. Marcus Tracy 6-1 170 F Wake Forest Newtown, Connecticut
39. Michael Coburn 6-3 180 D Memphis Dundalk, Ireland
The organizational style of TFC is something akin to a tremendously intense game of 52-Card Pickup. Nobody wins in the end, and you probably don't visit those friends anymore. Recent history suggests that getting drafted by Toronto is pretty much a guarantee that you will get to live in at least two MLS cities. James and Phelan had their brief visits to Ontario before being cast away in two of Mo Johnston's copyrighted histrionic roster makeover episodes. Since Maurice Edu and Marvell Wynne (yeah I know he came in a trade) have been a couple of the team's more exciting players, it might be good to keep two top-four picks and bring in some more of that sweet young talent. Of course, this means that Toronto is shopping the picks. For what? Some veteran players who can later be shopped for draft picks, which can later be moved for allocation money, which can then be spent on the ruddiest midfielder in the English third level. Look, all of us other than Bill Archer want this Toronto side to have at least one good season before FIFA forcibly repatriates them into the Please Mum! Canadian Championnat, so MoJo, get it together and let a team gel for God's sake.
If Toronto sticks with what they have and ends up with Gonzalez and Zakuani, I think the PR will be good, even if I'm not totally sold on either player yet. Maybe Mo is right to be dealing....no, that can't be. There are 10 solid prospects in this draft. Please, just find two you like and let them breathe Northern air past June. Adams is a four-year starter at Wake, and with a lot of versatility. Tracy is worth a dig, because there's a chance he'll utterly fail in Denmark. Wake ran rings around almost every other team in the NCAA's, and we don't yet know how well Tracy will fare against tighter marking. Then again, teams don't usually give up right away on guys with the whole zoo arsenal (you know, fleet as a darting stag, hops like a scared chinchilla, and so forth). Coburn is just a reach pick, although he had a good career for an increasingly poor Memphis side. It seems like one Irishman always gets picked, and this is it.
posted by thursdayshootings at
10:09 AM
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