Alejandro Moreno was one of the better picks in Wednesday's draft. (Getty Images)

Another year has come and another Expansion draft has gone in Major League Soccer. No high profile names were taken, and not many players selected were expected to go. Only a couple that were taken most people figured would be selected by Philadelphia and Peter Nowak. While it wasn’t a roster that most expected it was one that fits the mold of what Nowak looks for in a roster.

Below are my grades for each pick. Just like in years past some picks were better than others.

Brad Knighton: The now former backup to Matt Reis in New England was one of the guys I went back and forth with on New England’s unprotected list. I had said Pat Phelan but Knighton was actually the first name I put down from their list. I went back and changed it when I realized the other keepers that were out there would possibly be a better fit. WVH Grade: B

David Myrie: Chicago’s list of unprotected players was interesting but for the most part Myrie was probably one of the most attractive defenders from there. He didn’t play a lot in Chicago so this looks to be a long-term project for Nowak here. WVH Grade: C-

Shavar Thomas: Expect him to be the tower in the back for Philly this season. He has loads of experience and I do think the change of venue will be welcome. WVH Grade: C

Jordan Harvey: Probably one of my favorite picks here by Nowak. Harvey was solid for the Rapids this past season and it was kind of a shocker to see him on the unprotected list here. Expect him to be in the starting lineup from day one. WVH Grade: B+

Shea Salinas: Most of you know I’ve never been too high on Salinas. I’ve seen him play in person a couple times and he never really impressed me. But maybe it was being in San Jose was the reason for that. If Nowak can get the true talent of of this kid it could end up being a great pick. WVH Grade: C-

Stefani Miglioranzi: He was a part of the Crew’s title season in 2008, and he nearly was apart of a Galaxy title season this past year. He’s older than most of the picks at 32 but he’s a true workhorse that Nowak likes. WVH Grade: B

Andrew Jacobson: Here is a kid that tried Europe and didn’t find success so he returned to MLS. I think he will be a guy that Nowak can mold into a very solid midfielder in this league. WVH Grade: B

Nick Zimmerman: Nothing against Zimmerman but why take anybody from one of the worst teams in league history? Didn’t make a bit of sense to me at all. With that being said Zimmerman was actually not a surprise at all because he has plenty of talent here. Keep an eye on this kid because he may actually prove to be another thing that New York was dumb enough to let go. WVH Grade: B-

Sebastian LeToux: Sad to say for Seattle fans but we kind of saw this coming. Sure James Riley was the easy pick from the unprotected list since he has been apart of so many expansion drafts as of late. But Le Toux is the steal of this draft. Union fans are gonna love this guy. WVH Grade: A

Alejandro Moreno: Another veteran in this group but probably one of the better ones to take for Nowak. He’s tough as nails around the goal, which is exactly what Nowak likes to see. He’s a guy that can score and will certainly do his part to annoy defenses. WVH Grade: B+

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So even with that I do think Nowak and Philly missed on some very solid guys out there. Anthony Wallace in Dallas would have been a solid player in the back for Nowak. So would have KC’s Matt Besler.

And yes we all missed on Bobby Convey. Probably a good thing too for Union fans after the way he played this past season. I wouldn’t have wanted him either.

My overall impressions of the draft a couple days later are probably a little better than the day of it. I do think Philadelphia will struggle unless they get some big time impact players in the midfield and another striker or two to compete with LeToux and Moreno up top. Defensively it wouldn’t hurt to get a another player or two to help out. I think using that number one pick in January’s SuperDraft will go a long way here too.

Now are they going to be more like a Seattle or a San Jose here? Probably more on the ladder right now. Seattle had so many impact players signed even before the expansion draft which helped out in a big way. Philly didn’t do that and we haven’t even heard a sniff of any possible signings yet.

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-Jordan Harvey – Colorado Rapids
-Andrew Jacobson – DC United
-Brad Knighton – New England Revolution
-Sebastian LeToux – Seattle Sounders
-Stefani Miglioranzi – Los Angeles Galaxy
-Alejandro Moreno – Columbus Crew
-David Myrie – Chicago Fire
-Shea Salinas – San Jose Earthquakes
-Shavar Thomas – Chivas USA
-Nick Zimmerman – New York Red Bulls

Five clubs escaped without losing anyone: Real Salt Lake, Dallas, Toronto, Houston and Kansas City.

It’s also been reported that Philly has traded for RSL keeper Chris Seitz. Steve Goff is saying Seitz went from RSL to Philly for allocation money and the promise not to select any of its players in the expansion draft. Not a bad promise if you think about it. If that deal is indeed true then the Union has two solid young keepers.

What do I think of this roster? Certainly surprising compared to what I predicted. They could have come away with a better roster for sure but one has to think Peter Nowak is getting guys to fit his system, which is more important sometimes than getting the best players out there. I’ll have more thoughts on this roster later.

Could Bobby Convey be headed home to Philly? (Getty Images)

The speculation has begun for the Philadelphia Union and their expansion draft that takes place tomorrow afternoon. The 15 clubs released their protected list last night and now the Union have a full list of guys that they can get 10 players from. And the talent is there for Union to get off on a good foot here.

I do have a feeling a deal or two will be worked out tomorrow but that is just a hunch.

Below are the ten I believe the Union could go for tomorrow. I went fairly defensive minded as I think that may be the way Philly goes since they haven’t made any moves yet like Seattle had already done by this time last year. Defense is always a good place to start with a roster and they can fill in the holes offensively this winter. Some of these I may be off on but we’ll see.

Bobby Convey (San Jose): His salary may be a little high ($220,000) but we know Convey is going to be on his way out of San Jose this summer, it just seems likely. He’s a Philly guy and it makes perfect sense.

Anthony Wallace (Dallas): He’s cheap, he’s young and has plenty of solid experience with the U-20 national team. He just graduated from his Generation adidas contract and he’s totally cheap ($75,000).

Pat Phelan (New England): He was a guy plenty of us debated about for being protected but the Revs had to leave him off the protected list. I think he will fit in well in the defensive midfield part of Peter Nowak’s lineup.

Brian Edwards (Toronto FC): He’s young, from New Jersey and a very solid keeper that would give them a decent start in goal. I know Jon Conway is out there and is a Philly guy but I think Edwards gives them a better shot than Conway. Also, I just don’t buy in to Philly taking Amado Guevara from Toronto here either.

Matt Besler (Kansas City): I was kind of shocked to see his name on the exposed list. He’s young and cheap for sure and no doubt he would be a good fit for the defense as he has plenty of league experience (he played in 28 games this year for KC).

Andy Iro (Columbus): He’s big, physical and has plenty of great potential for Nowak. He’s played center back and would easily fit into the type of system Nowak likes to run with his defense I think.

Stephen King (Seattle): A Philly boy that has been stuck on the bench in Seattle. I know he is an impressive player and will fit in well in the midfield for Philly.

Jacob Peterson (Colorado): A young midfielder with loads of experience. While his salary may be a little high ($100k) compared to others on this list I think he would be a guy that could not only use a change of scenery but probably fit in well in Philly.

Alan Gordon (LA): He’s the lone striker that I’m selecting here and for a reason. I see Philly going out and finding other strikers in the winter to fill their offensive needs. Gordon isn’t expensive and he brings plenty of talent for Nowak.

Robbie Russell (RSL): Kind of hard to believe he could go from kicking the winning PK on Sunday to a new club on Wednesday. His experience factor abroad and here leads me to put him here.

Think I missed on someone here? Let’s here it.

A few names out there that were left off may shock some of you like Stefan Frei in Toronto who just graduated from his GA contract.

Tomorrow I will get into who I think Philly will select here but below is who each club protected followed by the list of Generation adidas players who graduated from their contracts.

Edit: The Generation adidas list has been updated, the league sent out a huge list of GA graduates that was totally off. They messed up but thankfully corrected it.

Chicago Fire
Busch, Jon
Conde, Wilman
Brown, C.J.
Mapp, Justin
McBride, Brian
Nyarko, Patrick
Pappa, Marco
Pause, Logan
Thorrington, John
Robinson, Dasan
Ward, Tim

Chivas USA
Bornstein, Jonathan
Braun, Justin
Flores, Jorge
Padilla, Jesus
Galindo, Maykel
Lahoud, Michael
Kljestan, Sacha
Nagamura, Paulo
Thornton, Zach
Cuesta, Yamith
Santos, Maicon

Colorado Rapids
Baudet, Julien
Casey, Conor
Clark, Colin
Cummings, Omar
Gibbs, Cory
Kimura, Kosuke
LaBrocca, Nick
Mastroeni, Pablo
Moor, Drew
Pickens, Matt
Smith, Jamie

Columbus Crew
Brunner, Eric
Carroll, Brian
Ekpo, Emmanuel
Gaven, Eddie
Hesmer, Will (GK)
Lenhart, Steven
Marshall, Chad
Moffat, Adam
O’Rourke, Danny
Rogers, Robbie
Schelotto, Guillermo

FC Dallas
Benitez, Jair
Chavez, Marvin
Cunningham, Jeff
Davies, Kyle
Ferreira, David
Harris, Atiba
Hernandez, Daniel
Ihemelu, Ugo
John, George
McCarty, Dax
Pearce, Heath

D.C. United
Burch, Marc
Carreiro, Fred
Jakovic, Dejan
James, Julius
Moreno, Jaime
Namoff, Bryan
Pontius, Chris
Quaranta, Santino
Simms, Clyde
Szetela, Danny
Wallace, Rodney

Houston Dynamo
Ashe, Corey
Boswell, Bobby
Cameron, Geoff
Ching, Brian
Davis, Brad
Hall, Tally
Hainault, Andrew
Holden, Stuart
Mullan, Brian
Oduro, Dominic
Weaver, Cameron

Kansas City Wizards
Arnaud, Davy
Conrad, Jimmy
Harrington, Michael
Hercegfalvi, Zoltan
Jewsbury, Jack
Kamara, Kei
Leathers, Jonathan
Lopez, Claudio
Souter, Kevin
Wolff, Josh
Zusi, Graham

Los Angeles Galaxy
Beckham, David
Berhalter, Gregg
Birchall, Chris
Buddle, Edson
DeLagarza, AJ
Donovan, Landon
Franklin, Sean
Gonzalez, Omar
Kovalenko, Dema
Magee, Mike
Ricketts, Donovan

New England Revolution
Alston, Kevin
Barnes, Darrius
Dube, Mkhokheli
Joseph, Shalrie
Larentowicz, Jeff
Mansally, Abdoulie
Nyassi, Sainey
Osei, Emmanuel
Ralston, Steve
Reis, Matt
Twellman, Taylor

New York Red Bulls
Angel, Juan Pablo
Borman, Danleigh
Coundoul, Bouna
Goldthwaite, Kevin
Hall, Jeremy
Johnson, Carlos
Kandji, Macoumba
Mendes, Carlos
Obster, Ernst
Richards, Dane
Stammler, Seth

Real Salt Lake
Beckerman, Kyle
Beltran, Tony
Borchers, Nat
Espindola, Fabian
Findley, Robbie
Johnson, Will
Morales, Javier
Olave, Jamison
Rimando, Nick
Seitz, Chris
Wingert, Chris

San Jose Earthquakes
Alvarez, Arturo
Burling, Bobby
Cannon, Joe
Corrales, Ramiro
Glenn, Cornell
Hernandez, Jason
Johnson, Ryan
Leitch, Chris
Moreira, Andre Luiz
Sanchez, Ramon
McDonald, Brandon

Seattle Sounders FC
Alonso, Osvaldo
Evans, Brad
Gonzalez, Leo
Hurtado, Jhon Kennedy
Ianni, Patrick
Jaqua, Nate
Keller, Kasey
Ljungberg, Freddie
Marshall, Tyrone
Montero, Fredy
Zakuani, Steve

Toronto FC
Attakora-Gyan, Nana
Barrett, Chad
Brennan, Jim
Cronin, Sam
de Guzman, Julian
DeRosario, Dwayne
Gomez, Emmanuel
Sanyang, Amadou
Serioux, Adrian
White, O’Brian
Wynne, Marvell

Generation adidas Graduates
Alston, Kevin
Beltran, Tony
Gonzalez, Omar
Hall, Jeremy
Igwe, Amaechi
Nyarko, Patrick
Seitz, Chris
Wallace, Anthony
Wallace, Rodney
Zakuani, Steve

Toronto will certainly protect their stars but who won't be protected? (Getty Images)

The 15h and final club in our expansion draft speculation lists is Toronto FC. Yesterday they announced Preki as their new head coach and his first big task will be helping General Manager Mo Johnston with figuring out who to protect and who to leave exposed in the expansion draft.

Toronto will also come down to the GA contracts getting graduated or not before this draft. Should they graduate players Frei will certainly be protected over probably someone like Gerba.

Other than that I really had little problems coming up with who to protect and who not to out of this bunch. They have plenty of young talent and some high priced veterans. Seems wise to protect the younger guys and expose veterans like Guevara and Garcia.

See any issues with this? Let’s hear it!

We can't imagine Fredy Montero will be left exposed, who will join him in the protected list? (Getty Images)

Only a couple more clubs left to preview here for the expansion draft. Now we turn our attention to a previous expansion club, one that has set the standard for all expansion clubs to come, the Seattle Sounders FC.

Sigi Schmid was able to do well with last year’s expansion draft picks but will he be lucky enough to not have someone selected from his roster this year? Let’s find out.

A couple names may jump out but I figure high contracts will be the reason why they may get exposed. Lots of folks from Seattle are saying Jaqua is a candidate to be exposed over say Nyassi or Le Toux because of Jaqua’s higher salary (he makes like $200k). I also went back and forth on Riley, Nyassi and Ianni.

A lot comes down again to whether or not they graduate GA contracts before the draft, if they don’t then both Riley and Ianni are going to be protected. Should Zakuani graduate from his GA contract then it gets tough. At that point I’d probably take Ianni over Riley but that could go either way. The only other that could sneak in is Marshall but I couldn’t figure out to to replace him with.

See anyone I totally missed on here? Let’s hear it.

Will San Jose lose one of their players in the expansion draft? (Getty Images)

Today is the final day in our expansion draft coverage/speculation/etc. as we look at three clubs. First up this morning is the San Jose Earthquakes. Later on today I will have Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC to round out the lists.

The discussion on these lists have been great and I really appreciate the feedback, both positive and negative.

Now for the Quakes:

For me it came down to Wondolowski and Salinas. I think Wondo has a little more upside at this point than Salinas. Wondo’s experience out weights Salinas for me at this point in their careers. Plus I’ve never been a big Salinas guy.

I still have a feeling we will see a deal worked out for Convey to go to Philly here. I think it is very possible to see a trade worked out, maybe not next week during this draft but down the road for sure as I bet Frank Yallop would love to shed that salary off the books since Convey never really played well in San Jose this past year. Plus we have to figure Convey wants to play in Philly too since he is from near that area.

Then there is Joe Cannon and what they will do with him. I think they’ll still protect him here but don’t be shocked at all if Cannon is not a Quake in 2010.

See anything I missed? Let’s hear it.

RSL made it to MLS Cup this year, but who will they protect for another run in 2010? (Getty Images)

Our second club for the day as we get closer to finishing out our look at each 15 MLS clubs before next week’s expansion draft. Earlier in the day we took a look at the lowly New York Red Bulls, now we turn our attention to one of this year’s MLS Cup participants, Real Salt Lake.

Jason Kreis has an interesting mix of players on his roster and is set to lose a couple guys this winter already. No doubt he will have his hands full in deciding who to protect and who not to.

Beltran should have played enough to graduate from his GA contract but for now I am going to leave him in the exempt pile. Should the league graduate GA contracts before next week’s draft I’d take Russell out and place him in there.

After that I really see no argument for anyone else to get protected over the 10 I have here as Movsisyan is headed to Europe and I don’t see a reason to protect someone like Mathis with his higher contract. Maybe protect Grabavoy since he was kind enough to put away a PK that sent them through to the MLS Cup. But I really doubt it.

See anyone I missed on here? Let’s hear it.

Juan Pablo Angel will definitely be protected, but who will join him? (Getty Images)

Moving forward yet again on our quest to preview all 15 MLS clubs before the 2009 expansion draft next week. Today we turn our focus to the New York Red Bulls.

Hall should graduate from the GA program, the key word is should. If he does then I’d take Zimmerman off and put him on the protect list. We’ll have to wait and see, I’m still curious to see when players will graduate from GA contracts this year. If it comes before the draft it could change a lot of clubs lists.

Some may also think Borman may be protected, I don’t buy it or him for that matter. Either way I just don’t expect Philly to pick a player from one of the worst teams in league history.

See anyone I missed on here? Let’s hear it.

We know Steve Nicol stands to lose one quality player, who will it be? (Getty Images)

While the rest of the world is waiting for a couple World Cup qualifiers to finish up here we move forward here with our expansion draft coverage. Earlier in the day we discussed the LA Galaxy, now we take a gander at the New England Revolution.

A fun one to watch here. I put Dube in over Reis just because of the age of Reis and his contract, similar to why Houston has always left Pat Onstad unprotected. Plus I look at their backup situation right now with Knighton and think that they are okay for the future. But I just don’t see Philly taking a keeper in the draft, they’ll trade for a good one if they don’t sign one or draft one in January.

I did go back and forth on Phelan because he is young and has the potential to be a real stud for this club if Larentowicz doesn’t re-sign with the team. I just don’t see them not protecting Larentowicz here though, in years past they’ve always protected out-going players like Michael Parkhurst and Clint Dempsey. Just makes sense.

See anyone I whiffed on here? Let’s here it.