Let's talk Expansion Draft (and beyond)

...given that it's now the only thing left for us in this abortion of a
season. So last year we knew we were going to lose at least one
quality player. We had too many starters or players of starter-quality
to fit on our protected list, and Hyndman in his infinite wisdom,
decided it'd be Dax and Atiba to take the fall (how much would we all
have enjoyed Atiba's minimal production but 110% workrate over Santos'
non-existant production and Jackson's 1-out-of-every-5-games workrate
this year?)

This year, a few of us were talking about the protection list and were
all struggling to come up with 11 players worth protecting. Speaks
volumes for the way Hyndman has gutted the championship-worthy team of
last year through mismanagement and knee-jerk trades.

Here's what I got:

Automatically protected
1) Moises Hernandez (HG)
2) Josh Lambo (GA)*
3) Bryan Leyva (HG)
4) Ruben Luna (HG)
5) Richard Sanchez (HG)
6) Jonathan Top (HG)
7) Victor Ulloa (HG)
Andrew Wiedeman (GA)*

Protected List
1) David Ferreira
2) Brek Shea
3) Zach Loyd
4) Kevin Hartman
5) George John**
6) Fabian Castillo
7) Marvin Chavez
Ugo Ihemelu
9) Andrew Jacobson
10) Jair Benitez
11) Daniel Cruz***

Unprotected
1) Edson Edward
2) Maykel Galindo
3) Jackson Goncalves***
4) Bruno Guarda
5) Jeremy Hall
6) Daniel Hernandez
7) Maicon Santos
Chris Seitz
9) Jack Stewart
10) Ricardo Villar
11) Bobby Warshaw

*If either Lambo or Wiedeman are graduated, they would not go on the protected list.
** Assuming John's contract is not up this year (in which case just
Goodson him - one way or another he's off to Europe as soon as he can
get there).
*** To me, Jackson is a liability. Sure, once in every 5 games he'll
do something spectacular, but in 3 of the other 4 he'll do something
really stupid, and the other one he just won't show up at all. Cruz
has shown similar flashes to Ferreira's first season and deserves a
chance to make the same progression our former MVP did.

In addition, I'd look to get any possible trade value, even if it's just
a 3rd round draft pick, for Hall, Santos, and maybe Villar. Edward
would have already been gone were it not for the season-ending injury,
and frankly Galindo should never have been here in the first place.

Next year is going to take some serious rebuilding of the depth of this
team. Obviously we desperately need at least one striker, but we also
need some shrewd, Loyd/John/Alexander-style draft picks to get some
young, decent, hungry backups into the squad (you know, besides the
homegrown players that Hyndman refuses to use). Space for those new
players has got to come from somewhere, and if it means cutting the dead
weight in pre-season at the latest, then that is what must happen.

(Cross-posted at BigSoccer)

Stupid smileys. Those are 8's, obviously.

And a new bus driver?

scoreNOmore wrote:

And a new bus driver?

I doubt that would even be an option. Besides, he probably deserves the chance to prove that 2010 wasn't a fluke.

I don't think I give a shit who is protected. As long as we dump Hall, Cruz, Santos, and yes Chavez. Chavez has been my biggest dissapointment this year. If he put half as much effort into hitting the back of the net as he does in hitting the ground and looking for yellow cards, he would be OK.... just OK. TRhe guy has speed but cant finish and is too damn small for this league.

IMHO. Santos has moee to offer if we had people on our team that know his style I think him and ferreira woild work eell together but oh well

You adjust to the style of play of the team unless you're a star. Santos is far from a star, one of his most telling stats is that he has 50ish shots for us and 2 goals. I dont care if you're Wayne Rooney you have spell like that as a striker and you dont deserve to be playing MLS

I knew that one was coming

I say we leave John unprotected because he wont be here next year, wait........ nvm we dont have anyone else i want to really protect maybe villar(?). It funny how far this team has fallen in a year, last year you left people you wanted unprotected this year, we have trouble finding 11 to protect

Gregory wrote:

I knew that one was coming

I'm pretty sure everyone knows MHO on Santos

Is it possible to leave a coach unprotected? Obviously not, but I blame Schellas for a lot of the shit this season. If the team had half the chemistry they did in 2010 we would be in a better position. But nope. Let's leave Dax and JC9 unprotected. Yes, JC9 is old, but has 4987324958 more end result than Santos has. And Dax..i'm sure we all feel the same way.

This year's plan was already too reliant on Ferreira. We lost him early, scrambled, did fairly well, then self-destructed.

Invest more $$ into the team. I know that's a tough concept for the Hunt group, but seriously..better players, more games won, and guess what...MORE FANS IN THE STADIUM. Dallas sports fans want to see big names, they can care less about mediocre youth players. I don't want us to turn into an LA or New York, but if we actually want to be successful and survive investing more into the team needs to happen.

Leaving Dax unprotected last year was a cap move, as much as i want Dax back from a cap point of very Jacobson is a better player for what this team ask of the CM postion if DF10 is in the line-up. Do i think it was a bad move yes, was it necessarily a bad move, prolly not

I'm sure I'll get neg rep for this, but I'm starting to think Hernandez is one of the problems with the team. Yes, he's a badass, yes, he can still put in the crunching tackles, but his mobility is pretty awful. His inability to cover the full area expected of a DMid in a diamond 4-4-2 is the reason we have to have a 3 man central midfield, and thus only one striker.

Getting a more mobile DMid, a (god forbid) Kyle Peckerhead-type of player, would mean that Ferreira can still do what he does best with now 2 strikers in front of him, without having to worry about whether the guy behind him can cover his ass.

Rex Kramer wrote:

I'm sure I'll get neg rep for this, but I'm starting to think Hernandez is one of the problems with the team.

If you get neg-repped, it won't be deserved.

For all that BAMF gives the team as a galvanizing force, I agree with you that his abilities are deteriorating due to age. It's professional sports -- it happens.

The key will be to find a player or players to fill his role as a defensive mid and the leader.

Rex Kramer wrote:

I'm sure I'll get neg rep for this, but I'm starting to think Hernandez is one of the problems with the team. Yes, he's a badass, yes, he can still put in the crunching tackles, but his mobility is pretty awful. His inability to cover the full area expected of a DMid in a diamond 4-4-2 is the reason we have to have a 3 man central midfield, and thus only one striker.

Getting a more mobile DMid, a (god forbid) Kyle Peckerhead-type of player, would mean that Ferreira can still do what he does best with now 2 strikers in front of him, without having to worry about whether the guy behind him can cover his ass.

I am thinking there may be a move in store for BAMF to move to the back line and then AJ stays D-Mid. Would make sense since you pointed out that his mobility is limited. I agree with your evaluation and I approve this message.