Draft News

Union’s Expansion Draft protected/unprotected list released

Photo: Barb Colligon

MLS announced on Monday afternoon the list of protected and unprotected players from each club ahead of Tuesday’s Expansion Draft.

Philadelphia Union’s eleven protected players are:

Roland Alberg, Eric Ayuk, Alejandro Bedoya, Andre Blake, Warren Creavalle, Fabinho, Richie Marquez, Ilsinho, Chris Pontius, Keegan Rosenberry, and CJ Sapong

The Union’s unprotected players are:

Tranquillo Barnetta, Brian Carroll, Anderson Conceicao, Charlie Davies, Maurice Edu, Leo Fernandes, Ray Gaddis, Matt Jones, John McCarthy, Cole Missimo, Walter Restrepo, Ken Tribbett, and Taylor Washington

Josh Yaro, Fabian Herbers, Derrick Jones, and Auston Trusty are exempt from the Expansion Draft because Yaro and Herbers have Generation adidas status, and Jones and Trusty are Homegrown Player players.

Of the Union’s unprotected players, Tranquillo Barnetta has returned to Switzerland to rejoin his hometown club. The Union announced on Nov. 4 that the contract options on Matt Jones, Anderson, Taylor Washington, Cole Missimo, and Walter Restrepo had been declined and, if those players are not selected in the Expansion draft, they will be available for selection in the Waiver Draft on Thursday. Fernandes and Davies are out of contract.

Kevin Kinkead noted in a Tweet the reasoning behind Ayuk being protected: “[Be]cause Blake and Fabinho have green cards and Yaro and Herbers are exempt, so Ayuk had to be added to reach the three intl minimum,” the two other protected internationals being Roland Alberg and Ilsinho. Blake and Fabinho both have Green Cards and do not count as internationals..

Atlanta United and Minnesota United will begin their Expansion Draft selections on Tuesday at 2 pm. Unlike previous editions of the draft, once a player is picked by either Atlanta or Minnesota, that player’s team is off the draft board. The Union will therefore lose at most one player. Click here for the full rules for the 2016 Expansion Draft.

Atlanta has the first pick in Tuesday’s draft.

36 Comments

  1. maybe i’m alone in thinking this but i feel like its risky to expose davies to the expansion draft. i think it makes more sense to expose creavalle who is ideally only a bench guy. if davies becomes fit and integrated into the team he could be really good again

    • No one is going to go after Davies due to age and health concerns. The overall list the Union has is not worth taking from as other teams have better options.

      • That’s my read, too.

        I wonder if someone will pick up LeToux. I have a feeling he just might get picked up by Minnesota.

      • If he does it won’t be via Expansion Draft, Le Toux is actually a free agent going into this offseason.

      • yeah ultimately i agree with that especially with the reduced number of picks teams get to make

    • If they lose anyone I would guess it would be Gaddis – 26 years old, starting experience, can play RB and LB, no injury history, not overly expensive (cap hit was 150k in 2016), not a head-case, etc.

    • Davies and Edu are risky peojects at this point. We keep em, fine. Someone takes them, lets face it for what we are paying them they are replaceable.

      • Please let somebody take ’em. Edu at least.

      • I would like it if someone took Edu, but not likely with one year on his contract $700,000+ salary and a broken leg. It doesn’t make any sense for a team to take him. They can get him for free when his contract is up next year.

      • I was begging. I.E. I don’t think it’s possible. Still, hope stays alive.

    • Given that there are a lot of questions still at DM I’m fine with holding onto Creavalle.
      .
      Davies is a toss up right now as to whether or not he sees the field much next year – can he get his speed back? will he be back up to 100% by the time the season rolls around?

  2. So most likely to go would be Gaddis or Tribbett? That’s my take. Hands off BC!

    • I don’t see anyone taking BC mostly cause of his age. However, I would gladly part with Edu if someone wants him.

      • Old Soccer Coach says:

        At which point BC is your starting #6 at 36 years old, and Creavalle is your back up, on a team with no #8 over 20 years old with any MLS experience on the roster, and a #10 who has not yet shown to be equal to the man he replaces.
        .
        A Rolls Royce or a Bentley without an engine is a piece of junk, to be chop-shopped and sold for parts.
        .
        6, 8,& 10 are the engine.
        .

      • Agree, but I do not see Edu playing a role for the team much next year. His recovery time is slow as we saw from this year. I never thought he fit to begin with. And I agree we need a 6 8 and 10 and thats what I want them to go buy with that TAM and any other form of money they have. If they miss on the players they get so be it, but bring in something of a spine.

      • On the other hand, recover from a fracture is generally pretty straight forward. This past year Edu was, as I recall at least, recovering from a few things – a hernia or similar when he played in the Open Cup final; then I think a knee tweak, caused by favoring one leg over the other to lessen the discomfort from the hernia; followed by stress fractures, caused by favoring the sore knee. Stress fractures are a weird injury by themselves. Toss in everything else, and really the whole issue was putting a public timeline on his return.
        .
        Now, that’s too much optimism for me, so don’t get me wrong. I don’t think Edu is going to be a good 6 for this team. (On the other hand, if Curtin announced Edu was going going to play CB next year and Yaro was going to play the holding mid? I’d be all over that!) And I would love to see MN or Atlanta take him off our hands. But I just don’t see it happening. For better or worse, the Union are stuck with Edu and need to find a way to make the best of his talents. I suspect he’ll be ready by training camp; I don’t expect he’ll be 100%, though – like most athletes coming off a fracture or such.

    • Is there a different Tribbett? Maybe Gaddis, but our junk is not another’s treasure, it’s just junk.

      • Old Soccer Coach says:

        He’s as inexpensive as it possible in MLS, $10,500 less than Ayuk in 2016. Assume a 5% raise in base salary, for purposes of guessing.
        .
        Yes Arthur Blank is wealthy. But, there is a salary cap that retards the impact of that wealth.
        .
        I would take Tribbett over Ethan White as a player, for instance.
        .

  3. OneManWolfpack says:

    I said this in the other post – I am not mad at the Union’s decisions. Maybe Crevalle or Ilsinho could’ve been left unprotected, but honestly, I’m not mad.
    .
    I don’t think I understand this feeling of satisfaction with a decision made by the front office. Weird…

  4. The Union must see a future with Ayuk to leave him unprotected. I approve.

  5. I wish we could keep Ray Gaddis. He is a nice backup on either side at a minimum, and frankly I think he can start at RB in this league (if he regains the form he had a year ago especially). I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets plucked. I hope not.

    • I think Gaddis wants to move on.
      Can’t blame him really.

      • This is a good point. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Ray asked to be left unprotected.
        .
        He’s been too good in his career so far to get relegated to the bench. He can be especially useful for an expansion team, bot on the field and off it.

      • OK, that’s a good point. I wouldn’t blame him either.

    • Old Soccer Coach says:

      Tata Martino and Adrian Heath are the two coaches choosing.
      .
      Neither one of them plays a style that is enhanced by an offensively challenged right back.

      • Agreed, Gaddis is not a great option for either side (especially at $150k salary) so I would expect him to continue to be a Union player.

        You can bet that Beitashour will likely be picked by one of these teams unless there was a side deal done by TFC.

      • Or they’ll pick Chance Myers.

  6. Old Soccer Coach says:

    Looking at Atlanta’s 14 person roster with the 4 additional rumors, they might have interest in Ken Tribbett as a reserve center back. They already have several Ayuk-like players both at MLS likely ages and at younger ages.
    .
    The Loons only have three on their roster, all defenders. They know Restrepo from NASL, although not Heath himself.
    .
    Atlanta has only one defender actually rostered. The other two are Argentinian rumors.

  7. Lucky Striker says:

    Bygones be Bygones and the Maleficent 7.

  8. Old Soccer Coach says:

    Looking at guesses on needs and cap space, assuming 5% increases since that’s the increase in the maximum salary cap charge for 2017, I speculate that the Union are going to look domestically for most of their roster additions.
    .
    First, they have stated a preference for domestic players as a philosophical principle, the latest iteration being Academy Director Wilson at the YSC open house.
    .
    Second, think about what assets they have that other sides might want. An obvious one is an international slot. Two opened up with departures of Kratz and Barnetta. While I hope a recent PSP assertion that Yaro and Herbers have green cards now is true, they are still listed as internationals on the MLS website’s roster page (which is still not as up-to-date as the Union’s own roster page. That page also list the pair as internationals.
    .
    Third, internationals are typically more expensive for the same level of approximate quality. While my guess is thoroughly, completely, totally and wholly unreliable, between the newly announced TAM and my estimate of how far under the salary cap the currently stand, I think they have about $600k space under the salary cap and $400k in new TAM. That money has to cover six players, seven if they lose somebody in the draft later today.
    .
    So, I think roster fill out will be primarily domestic and hence will come after the re-entry and waiver drafts. In an ideal world they would get and international center mid, They will hope for a few cheap college boys. And a couple of key MLS experienced pieces.

    • Old Soccer Coach says:

      forgot to include one calculation. Amend my unreliable guess of their cap space to about $475 K. so the total available, without any attempt at this year’s GAM, is c. $875,000 total. (I think last year they spent c. $180,000 in GAM).

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