WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Who Columbus protects is a big question, protect the expensive or the cheaper young guns? (Getty Images)

The final installment of our Expansion Draft lists today. I had been waiting for each club to finish out their season before I would do this but I figured since both New York and Columbus finish on Sunday and their protected lists have to go to the league office the very next day I would go ahead and knock these lists out today (and yesterday).

The Crew are still the heavy favorite in this weekend’s MLS Cup. But they like the other 13 clubs will have a lot to figure out right after this weekend’s game. As mentioned before you should expect to see an expansion club pick apart the best teams in the league for talent that is available. I see Seattle picking someone off the Crew’s roster that is left unprotected because of their success this year.

Here is a look back on each of the other clubs: Chicago, Chivas USA, Colorado, DC, Dallas, Houston, LA, Kansas City, New England, New York, Real Salt Lake, San Jose and Toronto.

And of course, to recap about the rules, go here.

The Protected:

1. Guillermo Barros Schelotto – There is really no need to explain this one.
2. Brian Carroll – A big part of their midfield and their defense, no way on earth they let him go.
3. Robbie Rogers – Some say he will go back to Europe after this year but I kind of think that won’t happen until next summer.
4. Chad Marshall – Another that really needs little explanation.
5. Alejandro Moreno – Their best striker has to be protected as well.
6. William Hesmer – I think Hesmer is the one keeper that has to be protected by any club in this draft. He has a cheap contract and he would be a big trade bait material for Seattle.
7. Danny O’Rourke – A guy that really started to come up big this year.
8. Frankie Hejduk – It would be tough to imagine Frankie playing for someone else at this point.
9. Eddie Gaven – He really came into his own this year, I see him having an even better campaign in 2009.
10. Emmanuel Ekpo – Showed he has the talent to be a big player for this club.
11. Andy Iro – Another young player on their backline that will be the future of this defense.

Not Protected, Could Be Taken:

1. Brad Evans – A young talent that could be a good addition.
2. Duncan Oughton – A midfielder that could use some more PT in a new location.
3. Adam Moffat – I wanted to place this kid on the protected list but I couldn’t figure out who would need to be off the list for him to be on it.

Not Protected, Probably Won’t Be Taken:

1. Gino Padula – They may end up protecting him over a guy like Iro but I just don’t think Seattle would take on his contract or take up an international spot with him. Expansion clubs typically don’t take internationals.
2. Pat Noonan – Big time contract ($175,000), no way Seattle will take it on.

Columbus has some work in front of them for this draft. Even if they lose one guy in this draft they will still have a solid core of players for next year. I see them going out heavily in the offseason to make sure they don’t flame out due to the schedule conjestion next year with the SuperLiga and CCL games on the menu. Thing we have to wonder is if Columbus will take the risk by protecting some of their younger, cheaper talent instead of protecting their more expensive starters.

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