Let's get the simplest portion out of the way first. The two expansion Cascadia brothers of Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers are in the West as MLS is not insane. The only club moving are the Houston Dynamo who extend the Eastern Conference a tiny bit West. One should fully expect this to be a one year move for them, and one that is merely aesthetic with the balanced schedule.
It is still unknown how MLS Playoffs will be structured.
Readers here will recall that Jeremiah told the story of the way the current rosters could be built. All of that is now official according to MLS.
The impact on the Sounders is not dramatic. Of course players would welcome a way to move from the lower rungs into a senior contract, but let's look who applies where, at this time and pending changes as the team boards airplanes for Arizona.
Senior Slots
- Fredy Montero
- Osvaldo Alonso
- Blaise Nkufo
- Nate Jaqua
- Steve Zakuani
- Brad Evans
- Erik Friberg
- Alvaro Fernandez
- O'Brian White
- Pat Noonan
- Roger Levesque
- Leo Gonzalez
- Patrick Ianni
- Jhon Kennedy Hurtado
- Jeff Parke
- James Riley
- Tyson Wahl
- Zach Scott
- Kasey Keller
- Terry Boss
- Taylor Graham
- Yes, the Sounders have one too many players on Senior Roster
Slots 21-24 (League Min) - Formerly Known as Developmental
- Mike Fucito *
- David Estrada
- Miguel Montano
- Mike Seamon
- Danny Earls
* Mike Fucito will not meet age requirements to move down to slots 25+
Slots 25-30 (32k and under 25) - Reserves, HGPs, GA
- Michael Tetteh
- Other drafted players not yet under contract
-Previously unreported note about final roster spots: Final two spots can be left unfilled and used for $35,000 in allocation money instead.
Drafted in 2011 - fitting into 25-30 slots but not under contract, still in camp
- Juan Cruz
- Servando Carrasco
- Alex Caskey
- Bryan Meredith
- Josh Ford
- Corey Attaway
Rights Controlled Players
- Julien Baudet
- Lamar Neagle
- Jamel Wallace
There are other rights controlled players but none are currently playing at the pro or semi-pro level.
Internationals (7 slots after Sounders traded one to the Portland Timbers) - Gonzalez, Friberg, Fernandez, Montano, Tetteh and Earls. Which leaves one slot open for either a drafted international or later signing.
Because the Home Grown Player gets so many questions here it is in full
(F) HOME GROWN PLAYER SIGNINGS
A club may sign a player to his first professional contract without subjecting him to the MLS SuperDraft if the player has trained for at least one year in the club’s youth development program and has met League criteria. Players joining MLS through this mechanism are known as Home Grown Players.
There is no limit to the number of Home Grown Players a club may sign in a given year.
It is also confirmed that Seattle will add to its Allocation Dollars coffers as they have qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. The amount is unknown, but at least we know Adrian has some flexibility around his very tight cap situation.