SBN Mock Expansion Draft: Mock Impact Take Mike Fucito
by Dave Clark on Nov 17, 2011 4:23 PM PST
in Sounders: Analysis
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In SB Nation's Mock Montreal Impact Expansion Draft I was asked to predict what the Seattle Sounders would do. My thoughts change on a daily basis, but of the main questions I had them protecting both Brad Evans and Erik Friberg. Which leaves two of the three young goal scorers available. The mock GM picked Mike Fucito. You can follow the rest of the attempt at building the latest addition to MLS in the StoryStream.
This pick points out two different issues. First of these is something that Adrian Hanauer and Sigi Schmid have towards Montreal that I also have toward the mock drafter. If you know the "opposing GM" you can craft your protected list based on that. If I'd known ahead of time who was picking for Montreal I would have protected Fucito and left James Riley available.
Secondly, the Sounders are deep with strong talent. While we all know this, the example provided here in a mock expansion draft has Seattle losing their 5th leading scorer (8th by PP90). That isn't a huge deal. Yes, it would leave Seattle with needing probably two of the following: a strong Sammy Ochoa season, successful O'Brian White recovery, great conversion from winger to forward of Lamar Neagle, or a cheap and effective addition through the draft/free agency. But that feels somewhat likely. The Sounders would be particularly weakened in left-footed set-play service, effective direct play options and a player who excels vs non-MLS and good MLS teams (RSL/FCD). The loss wouldn't be irreplaceable, but still significant.
I still hate Kevin McCauley for this pick. You shouldn't need to ask why.
Full Mock Impact
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Fucito |
McLoughlin |
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Da Luz |
Cardoza |
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Palidini |
McCarty |
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Wingert |
Harrington |
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Cochrane |
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Gleeson |
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Comments
But we just opened the Pews!
Doesn’t he know he was supposed to pick Miguel Montano?
Sounders 'til I die
L'Eglise de Fucito
It would be sad but on team level this may be the best case scenario outcome from the expansion draft.
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@LikkitP
lol y u mad tho
SB Nation's World Soccer Editor, manager of Cartilage Free Captain, contributor to Acme Packing Company.
by Kevin McCauley on Nov 17, 2011 4:45 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
you bastard
if the only change was Fucito protected Riley not, would you pick a Sounder?
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Neagle
SB Nation's World Soccer Editor, manager of Cartilage Free Captain, contributor to Acme Packing Company.
by Kevin McCauley on Nov 17, 2011 5:39 PM PST up reply actions
Are you unfamiliar with The Church?
Sounders 'til I die
by SounderJunkie on Nov 17, 2011 4:49 PM PST up reply actions
there is no one with SBN that doesn't know about #ChurchOfFucito
There’s a part of me that thinks Kevin is trolling me with this pick, but then I realize if Fucito’s available he’s one of 15 or so player in Montreal’s sights.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
If fucito is left unprotected...
I have to imagine he’s someone Montreal would take a long look at.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Nov 17, 2011 5:07 PM PST up reply actions
Curious
Due to cap limitations I can see the Sounders protecting young, inexpensive players and exposing some of their more expensive bench. If the Sounders protected Carrasco, Fucito, Neagle, Ochoa, Montero, Rosales, Alonso, Zakuani, Hurtado, Parke and Fernandez, which Sounder would you pick?
by Abbott Smith on Nov 18, 2011 6:31 AM PST up reply actions
Riley, Friberg, Evans, Gonzalez, Ianni and Wahl are the biggest contributors by minutes played that you didn't protect.
I doubt Gonzalez, Ianni, or Wahl get picked. That leaves Riley (29, $98k 2011 Guaranteed Compensation), Evans (26, $135k), and Friberg (25, $110k) as the most likely. Of those, I think Friberg gets picked in your scenario.
The other option I see is the Impact may take Estrada or Seamon as a young/cheap option if Neagle, Fucito, and Carrasco are all protected. I really liked what I saw from Estrada late in the season and am hopeful that he can be a solid contributor next year (assuming some of the team’s depth at Midfield is lost this offseason).
As much as it will suck...
… to lose a player like Friberg, the $110K gives the team some options to shore up their overall balance without sacrificing their future or cap flexibility. As I mentioned in another post, I could see the team trying to get Flaco, Rosales and Zak on the pitch at the same time by moving one of them into the CM, which makes Friberg’s loss even less of an impact.
They are going to lose somebody we will hate. Losing either Evans or Friberg at least gives the team some options.
by Abbott Smith on Nov 18, 2011 10:44 AM PST up reply actions
I agree
I thought your point about how irreplaceability – both in general and within the salary constraints of the MLS system should be the key consideration when protecting players in the expansion draft. Losing either Evans or Friberg would be rough, but finding a CM at that salary range is something the team can afford.
Depending on what you think about moving Fernandez into the middle (or playing Seamon/Estrada there more), depth at CM might not be a problem if if you lose one of Evans or Friberg.
Strategy
The problem with looking at what Montreal might pick is that they are not the only ones who might get a player from us through expansion draft. For example, last year we did not lose Nyassi because Portland or Vancouver wanted him, but because Colorado wanted him.
Yes, but Montreal already has a better talent evaluator than Vancouver
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Not exactly a high bar
Crack smoking baboons might have done better.
Good point
If they want to make some larger signings, would make sense to trade for allocation dollars. In which case, who the hell knows wha will happen.
If past experience tells us what will happen
they will release the protected lists to the public when they are due on Monday.
I think if the Sounders shopped Fucito and Riley around MLS...
…they’d get more for Fucito than Riley. I don’t know what they’d get in return exactly, but I do think they’d get more for Fucito than Riley. Almost on that basis alone, I’d protect Fucito over Riley.
Maybe another way to think of it is this: if Fucito gets picked, I don’t think you could trade Riley to get Fucito, or a comparable young striker. But if Riley gets picked and you’re really worried about RB, you could probably trade Fucito to get someone like Riley.
Fullbacks are typically most difficult players to sign
because a lot of other teams are always looking for upgrades there as well. I have a feel that many other MLS teams are looking to sign a better RB too. If we were to lose Riley, there’d be huge pressure to find a new RB. Not a good situation to be in.
Riley was so important to our team...
…that we didn’t start him in the last game of the season in a do-or-die situation. There’s also no real evidence that fullbacks are the most difficult players to sign in MLS. If they were so difficult to sign (and important to victory) teams would put money into that position and sign DP fullbacks, but they don’t.
You really think Scott could be our starter?
Because I do not.
Riley had a terrible match in Salt Lake and was rightly benched for the next match, but that does not mean that he has lost his position as our first choice RB. Over the course of the whole MLS season only Keller, Alonso, and Montero had more starts or minutes than Riley did. These are the positions where we had the most obvious starters, where the quality drops the most when you go to the second choice.
i think there is lack of quality in the fullback position overall in the MLS. And I think the absence of DP fullbacks is more due to that it is thought that a defensive DP is not a good choice from marketing/ticket sales perspective. This is probably changing now that there is more than one DP slot per team.
I think that Scott could be our starter in some games, just like he was this year
And we could find a complementary fullback to start in other games. There were a lot of folks who were dead set against Wahl earlier this season, but he turned out to be essentially interchangeable with Leo, and we won a bunch of games with Wahl at LB.
I agree the Scott is a servicable backup
But I don’t think he could consistently give a good enough performance, which is probably something we agree on.
I think Wahl got so much playing time mainly because Gonzalez did nor perform at a level that was expected of him. I was not really happy with either one of them. Okay for MLS, but neither is really capable of doing what our playing system would require of fullbacks. Rilay was okay offensively, but at times a disaster defensively.
Anyway, Sigi more than hinted at getting upgrades in fullbacks in the season end interview (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soundersfcblog/2016712865_schmid_covers_of_dozens_of_top.html). I would highlight this part: “But I think our ability to play out of the back I think has to get better. So much of the modern game deals with the ball being at the feet of your outside backs. I think the outside backs’ contributions to the offensive aspects of your team becomes important.”
If this happens, Seattle will never defeat Sporting KC again.
Don’t play with fire.
Bloggin' at JoePasDoghouse.com
by J.Schnauzer on Nov 17, 2011 7:00 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
Occupy CLink
Is there any chance the Sounders would leave Neagle unprotected? If they do and he is taken, I think I’ll be out on the street with pitchforks.
Regardless of positional needs, I can’t see protecting Ochoa over Neagle.
I can't see a scenario in 2012 where Neagle is a regular starter over Ochoa
If Sigi stays with two Forwards, Ochoa will be the big starting forward. Neagle will be behind, Zakuani (if healthy), Rosales, and Friberg in the Winger rotation. Neagle may also get more time at Forward, but I can’t see it ahead of the Montero & Ochoa/OBW pairing.
Leave the D unprotected
Besides Parke and Hurtado, no one from the D should be protected. Montreal is not going to take a good older ($) player like Riley over a good younger player…they will take a good young striker however. Riley was supplanted by Zach Scott by seasons end, I think a RB can be found and will be found somewhere outside of the organization this year. Not a major name signing but a fully capable 2009 Leo Gonzalez type signing, or we have Riley back because he will not be taken.
Expansion teams that build through young, cheap talent
don’t win.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Don't win immediately
I thought Philly signed/drafted a decent amount of young talent, struggled their first year and had a good second year. Portland also went pretty young and nearly made the playoffs this year.
That said, expansion teams usually get some allocation dollars, so they have a little more room for a couple of spendy vets than other teams have.
But that young talent wasn't really the key to their season
Intead the key was playing Le Toux as a forward, a very old keeper and better veteran centerbacks
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
The young talent may not have been key to their season, but the young talent was still there
Although looking through Philly’s draft again, I think I overestimated how many young players they took. The average age of players they drafted was about the same as the Sounders.
Personally, I think it’s a mistake to focus just on young, inexpensive players in the expansion draft because there are other ways to get those players (the #1 spot in the superdraft, for instance), but this is the best way to get good veterans.
At the same time, someone like Fucito would be the perfect expansion pick. He’s got some experience in the league, so it’s not like you’re picking him as a young player with little current value but high potential. Fucito is cheap, has good current value (without taking any steps forward), and also has potential to get better. Montreal picking Fucito would be not that different from the Sounders picking say, Evans, Sturgis, or King. Picking Riley would be more like when we picked Vagenas.
Replace-ability
I think Fucito is much harder to replace than Evans/Frieburg.
I would protect him over those two.
Sebastian LeToux Deja Vu
Leaving Fucito unprotected will have the same result as the 2010 Expansion Draft.
Just look at the similarities:
1) A fan favorite
2) A guy who gives everything he has for 90+,
3) A young, promising striker that has to fight for starting time in a constantly changing front 2 and ergo, is under-valued.
Is everyone forgetting how well Seba is doing in Philly? Yes, overall for Mike it’d probably be better, give him an environment where he can become a star, but for the sounders it’d be a huge loss.
by 2ndAveSoundersFan on Nov 18, 2011 10:34 AM PST reply actions
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