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The exodus of the Seattle Sounders' middle class players continued today when the San Jose Earthquakes signed Chad Barrett. Barrett signs with the lesser club as their first ever Free Agent.
In his two years with the Sounders he scored 12 goals, five of which were game-winners. Barrett only started 17 games with Seattle, though he did appear in 47 MLS matches.
"Chad is coming off very good season last year," said head coach Dominic Kinnear. "Adding Chad makes us a more dangerous attacking team next season."
Barrett joins Neagle, Pappa, Azira, and Gonzalez in finding new teams after a 2015 season that ended a couple playoff rounds earlier than the target. Both Sigi and Garth indicated that the middle-class of MLS players would have a lot of movement during the offseason. So far that movement is only away from Seattle.
The Sounders have yet to sign a player from outside of the organization. Both signings (Tyler Miller and Andy Craven) were with S2 last year, with Craven having twice had an MLS deal in 2015.