To protect or not to protect, that is the question…
Today is a busy day on the competetive side of things for Real Salt Lake. On top of signing defender Jamison Olave to a contract extension, today is the day that the protection lists from all 14 MLS teams are due for Wednesday’s expansion draft for the new Seattle Sounders FC. We’ll get to the list in a moment, but before we do there were a couple other pertinent moves that had an effect on the decision making process.
RSL finished the season with five players who enjoyed Generation Adidas status during the 2008 campaign; Nik Besagno, Tony Beltran, Alex Nimo, Chris Seitz, and Yura Movsisyan (Yura was not officially Gen. Adi. but his status was effectively the same). Both Besagno and Yura were graduated today, while Alex, Tony, and Chris remain in the program. This is important because Gen. Adi. players are automatically protected in the expansion draft process and do not take up one of the team’s 11 protection slots.
When coupling these moves with the competition changes announced this weekend, RSL has made the decision to release Dustin Kirby, Kenny Cutler, and Nik Besagno. The remainder of the roster, including their status regarding the expansion draft is listed after the break…
Protected
- Kyle Beckerman
- Nick Rimando
- Javier Morales
- Jamison Olave
- Will Johnson
- Yura Movsisyan
- Robbie Findley
- Nat Borchers
- Robbie Russell
- Chris Wingert
- Fabian Espindola
Generation Adidas (Automatically Protected)
- Chris Seitz
- Tony Beltran
- Alex Nimo
Unprotected
- Andy Williams
- Nathan Sturgis
- Dema Kovalenko
- Kenny Deuchar
- Ian Joy
- Clint Mathis
- David Horst
- Brennan Tennelle
- Kevin Reiman
- Kyle Reynish
- Tino Nunez
There it is folks… The draft takes place Wednesday morning and the selections will be announced that afternoon.
What do you think of the lists? Any big mistakes?
24 Nov 2008 02:34 pm RSL HQ 67 comments
I know this thread is not about Kenny, but I found this:
article.http://levyashin.blogspot.com/2008/05/kenny-deuchar-underpaid-so-is-bill.html
I agree with the commentator. He is not good enough for the big stage. I agree MLS is not the big stage, but 3 goals and 2 assists. If we keep him, I hope he can do more than that.
I think Kries picked all the right people to protect, and all I can hope now is the Seattle will take Deuchar away. I cannot handle another year of him missing every goal he goes for.
That’s a good list. Well done Kreis and Co!
re:SkinnyJ
What is it with some people!? We disagree on a players role and suddenly we “don’t know anything about soccer”? A bit presumptuous don’t ya think?
I defended Yura by getting his actual averages for the season (they are second only to Espindolas I believe). Yura has the talent to develope. He just needs to stop looking at his feet when he’s in the box. Also, its easy for a team to shut him down–they know he isnt going to pass the ball once he has it up top, so all they have to do is “consistently double-triple” team him and we are usually guaranteed to lose possession. Him being carefully marked is less a reflection of his skill, and more a chance for our opponent to gain possession.
“Yura is young, but extremely talented and fast. He is what, like 20?”
He is 21. But age has NOTHING to do with it! Take Johnson for example, who is only about 7 months older. Johnson has taken 17 shots this season, 10 were on frame (better than Yura), and 2 goals (just as good as Yura’s average, better when you compare goals to total shots). In my opinion (which doesnt matter because I don’t know anything about soccer) Johnson has far better ball control than Yura. Not to mention he knows how to pass the ball. I don’t think age is an excuse for Yura. Its not for Johnson, he’s just being forced to play mid instead of forward.
I never claimed that our run at the end of the season was due to Mathis. It was due to Yura scoring two lucky late goals. Im grateful, but they were lucky. And frankly, its about time luck fell our way.
If you have read this blog with any consistency you would know that I have been highly critical of Mathis in the past. I don’t like that we bought him. I’ve felt like it was a waste of a roster spot, and a waste of salary. I still question the motives behind hiring him aswell, considering the relationship between him and Kreis. However, I am willing to recognize that Mathis has brought higher skill and intelligent play to our attack. Here’s a stat for you, the conf. championship game against NYRB was the first game RSL lost since Clint Mathis became part of the starting eleven, seven straight matches.
Mathis has set up some amazing plays, only to watch the striker botch the opportunity. You do realize that in order to get an assist SOMEONE has to score, right? If Yura hadn’t of botched some of the sweet opportunities set up by Mathis, would you still complain? I am not a Mathis lover, but I have seen him take some beautiful shots, and create great (but missed) opportunities this season, and I respect that.
Plus I don’t see why my earlier post would make anyone think I love Mathis. All I said was Yura’s results are also based on the support of our other strikers, not just his own skill.
Lastly, I don’t want a Mexican National on our team. I really cant stand the Mexican National team. They are the Italy of the Americas. No thanks you diving sissies! Kreis has built a team with no superstars, we don’t need an arrogant DP like Blanco is for Chicago. We need a quality striker who can play as a team, and who can score consistently without it having to be luck. I think I would keep Yura. I would just feel more comfortable having a stock of quality strikers–giving Kreis more options in our attack. We are deep up front, but not with the quality (or results) I would expect.
ps. disagree with me, does anyone feel differently? am i totally off? id love to hear some other opinions.
one last thing…
At the end of the day it comes down to results. I have lots of respect for Deuchar and Mathis and Findley, but Yura is the one who is scoring. He has delivered, and luck or skill, it worked for us. I would like to think that Deuchar is going to work out for us–that with someone who can provide the right service its going to mean a load of goals for him. But thus far we have seen mostly goals he should have buried no question. Mathis has put NO stats up. Any respect they are getting from RSL fans are from people who see their contributions outside of scoring. But that is the role of a striker, to score. If Garth and Jason don’t feel an urgency to signing some scoring strikers we will probably be doomed to middle of the pack. No less than 8 teams scored more goals this season than RSL; two teams matched our 40, and three scored less.
Soccer is a results based game. MLS is no exception (beside the defensively weak anomally that is LAG) and its no surprise that Columbus won the cup.
If we want that hardware, we have to put some money toward some quality scoring.
again, RSL STILL NEEDS A SCORING FORWARD!!!
See ya, Nate. Good luck in Seattle. Maybe they’ll find a nice patch of grass for you to play on.
So they took Sturgis. Oh well.
Seattle took Sturgis. I’m sorry to see him go, as I think he will make a quality player IF he can stay injury free. I think it’s a questionable pick by Seattle, since RSL has the depth to carry him with his injury troubles, but Seattle will not.
Well its offical we only lost Sturgis to seattle..thank god we keep Kenny and Andy we need somebody to provide service to Kenny
Seattle’s picks are in. Strugis was the only player taken by Seattle. Sad to see him go, but I am convinced he will ALWAYS be injury prone. He’s way too young to have so many injuries take so long to heal. Here are Seattle’s picks:
Nate Jaqua (Houston)
Brad Evans (Columbus)
Stephen King (Chicago)
Jeff Parke (New York
James Riley (San Jose)
Khano Smith (New England)
Jarrod Smith (Toronto FC)
Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake)
Peter Vagenas (Los Angeles)
Tyson Wahl (Kansas City)
And the official selection by the Sounders FC is…. Nathan Sturgis. Good luck in the north-west, Nathan. I really wish things could’ve been different for ya here in Salt Lake. Hopefully you can see some consistent time on the pitch in Seattle and stay healthy! Good Luck and thanks for everything!!
They took Nathan Sturgis!! Damn…We took a gamble and it bit us in the butt two years in a row!!
Complete list as mlsnet.com or http://www.rslkicks.blogspot.com
Here is a suggestion to the FO….Moderate the blog!!!!! It takes forever to see new comments, etc!!!!
Sturgis is gone, which is pretty hard to take considering what a talent he is, perhaps we’ll get him back though. Pretty much bound to be a good player though haha i guess we still do have Andy and Dema and Ian, but I’ve always like Nathan Sturgis. Here’s to hoping we can get him back!!!
re: Aj
sheesh, got something on your mind, Aj?
I do disagree with you whole-heartedly on one point – Mexico is NOT the Italy of the Americas….. that title belongs to Guatamala.
(freakin’ Ruiz)
you have to take gambles with the expansion draft. (i will be so happy when the league is filled out and we dont have to keep doing this)
i think we came out on top with this gamble though. yeah, it would have been nice to keep sturgis, but id rather have Ian and Andy. plus, the bigger gamble would have been leaving rimando unprotected. jason did the right thing putting him on the list.
yeah i got something on my mind…winning! and with a few small tweaks to this team Jason and his crew will be doing a whole lot more of it