Photo: Paul Rudderow

After every Union match, The Philly Soccer Page publishes its exclusive player ratings. Moments later, our wonderful readers follow up with expansive debate.

With the expansion draft looming, let’s see if the PSP’s ratings can predict who the Union will and should protect.

A few notes

We do not yet know if Jack McInerney, Danny Mwanga or Amobi Okugo have graduated from Generation Adidas. For the list below, we will assume they have graduated.  The ratings below are the averages of the ratings given to each Union player over the course of the season. Since they are being presented in conjunction with the expansion draft, a few players have been excluded from the rankings but are included below. Zac MacMath is likely to be automatically protected from the draft as a Generation Adidas player. He would have had the highest rating (7.25), although his sample size is a mere 7.5 matches. Morgan Langley would have been the second highest rated player. But his sample size of ten minutes does not warrant inclusion in our rankings.

Carlos Ruiz would have finished 10th (with MacMath included and Langley excluded), and thus would have warranted hypothetical protection. Then again, with Ruiz left off the list, Mwanga is up to the eleven spot. I think we would all take that trade.

Jordan Harvey is excluded since he was traded. It would be no surprise to see Harvey unprotected by Vancouver, and he could very well be making a cross-Canadian trip before Thanksgiving.

Keon Daniel is included because he deserves consideration. Daniel and Michael Farfan were the two biggest surprises of the season, and if the Union offense hopes to acquire a more dynamic nature in 2012, the pair will retains lockers at PPL Park next season.

1. Danny Califf – 6.85
2. Keon Daniel – 6.79
3. Carlos Valdes – 6.56
4. Sheanon Williams – 6.55
5. Brian Carroll – 6.39
6. Amobi Okugo – 6.38
7. Michael Farfan – 6.25
8. Gabriel Farfan – 6.14
9. Sebastien Le Toux – 5.88
10. Faryd Mondragon – 5.82
11. Danny Mwanga – 5.81
12. Jack McInerney – 5.75
13. Roger Torres – 5.70
14. Veljko Paunovic – 5.57
15. Kyle Nakazawa – 5.37
16. Justin Mapp – 5.12
17. Stefani Miglioranzi – 4.64
18. Freddy Adu – 4.15

• Generation Adidas: Zac MacMath (7.25)
• Homegrown: Zach Pfeffer (3.83)
• Excluded: Carlos Ruiz (5.92)
• Excluded: Jordan Harvey (5.07)
• Excluded: Morgan Langley (7.00)

There is more

Did you think the Union were supremely mediocre this season? Apparently, so did we. Averaging every player rating from the entire 2011 season, PSP gave their beloved boys in blue and gold… 5.96.

That’s right. We rated the team as just about perfectly average. Do you feel differently?

By far the highest ratings of the season came from the away match at Seattle. The Union scored a 7.42 overall rating, which is 0.42 higher than any other match.

Interestingly, the team only achieved a 7.0 rating in one home match: Against Vancouver in the second game of the season. The other 7.0 ratings were at Colorado, at New England, and at Columbus.

I know what you’re thinking: What about that 6-2 win over Toronto? Shouldn’t the team have earned a high rating for a six-pack? If you remember, the Union nearly gave up the lead after a strong first half, and the incompleteness of the team’s performance earned them only a 6.67.

Justin Mapp did earn a true rarity in the match at Toronto: A perfect 10.

Only three other players received 10s. Danny Mwanga racked up a perfect score against Los Angeles at home, and the Califf-Valdes duo earned 10s for shutting down Seattle at CenturyLink.

Sheanon Williams had the most 9s with four of the silver medals.

And, finally, as if you even needed numerical confirmation, the lowest ratings of the year came from the game at New York, where the team earned a collective 4.04. Yuck.

But let us not end on that sad note. If you need one more reason why this Philly defense should stay intact over the winter, how about this one: Overall, the defense earned a 6.24 rating. With Gabe Farfan at left back, they snagged a fine 6.53.

Not too shabby.