2010 Expansion Draft List: Columbus Crew

By: Columbus Crew, Featured, MLS

Will Guillermo Barros Schelotto be protected or not by the Crew? (Getty Images)

Its going to be a busy week packed with expansion draft lists so just hang on for the ride folks. Today we stay on course with another playoff team that lost in the first round, the Columbus Crew.

To recap what I’ve covered so far here are the list for the Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, D.C. United, the Philadelphia Union, the Houston Dynamo, the Kansas City Wizards,  the New England Revolution, the Seattle Sounders FC, and Toronto FC. As always for those curious about the expansion draft rules click here (there are some funky rules about international players and what not).

For the last couple years the Crew have been picked apart in the expansion draft based on their success they’ve seen on the field. Two straight Supporter’s Shield trophies in 2008 and 2009 didn’t help their cause when teams picked apart their roster. Now with two teams picking this year you have to believe the Crew we’ve seen the last couple years will get picked apart even more. That’s probably not a terrible thing considering how old some of the Crew’s roster is getting here.

Below are the 11 players I see being protected:

  1. Chad Marsall – one of the league’s top defenders.
  2. Will Hesmer – A better keeper than most make him out to be outside of Columbus.
  3. Emmanuel Ekpo – People began seeing how valuable this kid really is in the playoffs.
  4. Brian Carroll – Quality defensive midfielders are a dime a dozen in this league.
  5. Andy Iro – Hard to find quality size like his in the back right now.
  6. Adam Moffatt
  7. Eddie Gavin – Still fairly young and valuable.
  8. Robbie Rogers – Not the best season in 2010 but I imagine he’ll bounce back in 2011.
  9. Steven Lenhart – Not a great striker but one that could still develop into something decent.
  10. Emilio Renteria – He was a quality pick up for the club this season.
  11. Shaun Francis – With GBS on the way out, look for Francis to be protected.

Players unprotected:

  • Guillermo Barros Schelotto
  • Danny O’Rourke
  • Eric Brunner
  • Kevin Burns
  • Jason Garey
  • Leandre Griffit
  • Andy Gruenebaum
  • Frankie Hejduk
  • Andres Mendoza
  • Duncan Oughton
  • Gino Padula
  • Josh Williams

Protected via Generation adidas/Home Grown Talent:

  • Dilly Duka

What Columbus does with Schelotto will be key here. His contract is out but he’s expressed a desire to return to Columbus. Now does the Crew expose him in hopes his age and salary are going to be too high for an expansion team? Or will one of the two teams pull a Toronto and pick him up only to trade him back (think Jason Kreis). Part of me thinks they’ll leave him exposed even for those reasons but for now I have him protected. Fans wouldn’t know what to do in Columbus if he were left unprotected here. I think he would retire than play elsewhere too.

Now if he isn’t protected then I’d imagine either Moffat, Brunner or O’Rourke are protected. Aside from that I really didn’t see anyone else worth protecting over the others that I’ve mentioned so far. Columbus is built on their defense and that’s where I see them protecting themselves here. Sure Rogers had a horrible season in 2010 which could be cause for leaving him unprotected but the potential of exposing him and losing him is too much I’d imagine. He could easily pull a Sebastien Le Toux in a new location if the Crew expose him.

Edit: I didn’t have enough internationals (thanks HardHatMike for pointing that out). Enter Moffatt, exit Francis.

Second Edit: New news on Schelotto say the Crew aren’t re-signing him. I’ve moved Francis back into the protected list with this update.

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