Sounders pass in Chivas dispersal draft

After a mysterious private teleconference call during which teams were allowed one minute to pick or pass until all teams had passed, only some of the smoldering remnants of Chivas RIP had been dispersed across the league like red and white embers into the wind.

There were a few notable moves.  FC Dallas used their first pick on netminder Dan Kennedy, DC United opted for Thomas MacNamara, and all the way at the 14th pick Toronto FC chose Marco Delgado.

Despite some well known names still in play, Adrian, Sigi, et al. decided not to acquire the rights and contracts of any players today.  But Seattle did not invent passing in the Chivas USA dispersal draft.  That distinction goes to Sporting KC, who chose to be skipped over with just the third pick.  In fact, only seven players were taken in all.

That so few players were picked up in this event raises a few questions: Do league front offices know or expect that the salary cap will be raised significantly in the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement?  Or do most teams plan to wait to go after these players until the second round of the Re-Entry Draft, during which they can negotiate new (cheaper) contracts?

One thing is clear: Plenty of potentially-useful talent went unpicked today.  The likes of Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Nigel Reo-Coker and Bobby Burling come to mind, as well as former Sounders Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Nathan Sturgis.  It seems likely that these and several other players will end up on MLS rosters before the 2015 season begins.

In the SB Nation mock draft, which was of course wildly inaccurate (with the exception of McNamara to DC and Kristopher Tyrpak to San Jose), Nathan Sturgis fell to the Sounders and their late pick and Dave snapped him up for multi-position coverage.  But his versatility, familiarity and relatively low cap hit apparently didn't tempt the Sounders staff.

The draft order was determined on Nov. 14 by a weighted drawing of envelopes.  Playoff teams had one envelope in the pot, while non-playoff teams' chances were doubled with two.

See the results of the dispersal draft below: