Right, just a short one today as the expansion draft hasn’t yet happened, but as our protected list comes out today, I thought, though, that it might be good to refresh our collective memories as to what our options are — and that includes mine.
I’ll start with players we will definitely protect:
Nick Rimando, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Tony Beltran, Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson, Javier Morales, Alvaro Saborio, Fabian Espindola
And there we’ve got nine down already. The remaining question: Who gets the other two spots? There have been some predictions made across the RSL community, but I’m going to put forward my guesses: Chris Schuler and Ned Grabavoy. This, unfortunately, puts us in a difficult position with a few players we really should be keeping — so why Chris and Ned?
It’s pretty simple for me. Ned Grabavoy is a hard-working midfielder who gets down and plays the game. Players like that are not always the most common in the game, and he’s one who’s really bedded down in the system. He hasn’t always been first choice, especially as he’s undergone an injury-hit campaign, but I think he’s one to keep.
I would also protect Chris Schuler. If we’re speaking only physically, he’s got the build of a defender that will become quite productive at the highest levels. If we’re speaking mentally, we have witnessed his improvement in tactical and strategic understanding — he’s been one of my favorite players of the second half of the season. If I were at Montreal, I’d be urging those making the decisions to pick him, as he’s young for a defender and very good — those two in conjunction are somewhat rare, after all.
But it means we’re not protecting some players we really wish we could. We needn’t worry about Andy Williams — he’s been left unprotected for several years in a row without dire consequence, and I doubt he’d be interested in a move at any rate. We also probably don’t need to worry about Robbie Russell, who likely only has a few years left in his tank.
I don’t think we’ll need to worry about Luis Gil, either, who should remain on his Generation Adidas contract, which nullifies him from selection. We also don’t need to worry about Donny Toia and Nico Muniz, who are on homegrown contracts and are automatically protected as well.
This leaves us with a list like this (vaguely ordered from the ones I wish I could protect the most to the least):
Chris Wingert, Yordany Alvarez, Paulo Jr., Kyle Reynish, Collen Warner, Chris Agorsor, Cody Arnoux, Jean Alexandre, Nelson Gonzalez, Blake Wagner, Rauwshan McKenzie, Tim Melia, Arturo Alvarez
Arturo makes the end of the list because I suspect he’s done here already, which in a way is a bit unfortunate. He’s a quality player but hasn’t hit anything approaching that during his time in Claret and Cobalt.
Right, so, at 3 p.m. today, which is Monday, we’ll find out who we’re protecting. We’re at a point in our squad development that losing a player we’d like to keep seems like a real possibility. That we’re at this point is nothing but good — but what’s that they say? With great power comes great responsibility.
Or, you know, something like that.
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