Expansion Draft Again: The Forwards

By: Laurie | November 19th, 2007

In my final draft-related post before ~~tomorrow’s~~ Wednesday’s Expansion Draft, I’m looking at the forwards. Which means yes, Landon, I’m lookin’ at you. (Update: Tomorrow is when the list of protected players comes out. Wednesday is the actual draft.)

On a marginally relevant note, did you know that it’s part of Landon Donovan’s contract that he can’t be traded out of LA? So, like David Beckham, unless he’s picked up by Chivas, he stays with the Galaxy. Not sure how that would work if Ruud said it was time for him to pack his bags. Does he just become a free agent? Anybody know?

But anyhoo. Forwards. Remember that I somehow ended up going 4-4-2, with one goalkeeper, four defenders, and four midfielders. Which means I can protect two forwards. Here’s our current roster, with my picks marked by asterisks:

Edson Buddle
Mike Caso
Landon Donovan*
Gavin Glinton*
Alan Gordon
Carlos Pavon

Okay, so Landon’s an obvious pick, especially now that he gets another year as a grandfathered DP. And I already mentioned that Carlos Pavon was going to be my one unprotected Senior International. But why do I want to keep Gavin Glinton? He’s not that young, and he’ll probably never be a super starter.

Thing is, I don’t think any of the others will either. Why not hold on to the Super Sub who can come in and change the game and start fresh for starters? Carlos makes $132,000 and Edson $140,000. I think we could do better for the money. Alan and Mike make a lot less, but Alan didn’t impress me all that much this year, and Mike is still unproven.

If Frank wants any one of them, well, best of luck.

And what I mean by that is, again, uh… No offense, guys?

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: Player News, Preparing for 2008

« Donovan Won’t Count as DP for 2008 | Home | CoJones Wins the Commissioner’s Award »

Laurie

Jack, that would be great. And yes, we do have access to your e-mail addresses (but fear not, we are all too lazy to stalk you and the site NEVER spams.) If you'd like I can e-mail you, or you can e-mail me at lagalaxy[at]theoffside[dot]com.

I agree with you about Glinton. And I think of the unprotected, he's one of the ones I'd most hate to see go.
JustJack

Laurie, I'll send you a spreadsheet (email add? Do mods see ours?). Ms. Jack (math teacher alert) pointed out a goof and I had to correct my figs... only one change (Lando came out above Glinton but all the others were the same ranking). I just have to run another layer with the salaries... Thanks for the link! I know, indeed waaaay too much time on my hands. Fun nonetheless.

To risk Glinton especially is not good. Yallop would be wise (shhhhhhh!) to steal him. We'd hurt losing him and Gordon. In terms of minutes played and making things happen these two were assets for us.
Laurie

WTF? They protected PAVON?!?! Over XAVIER?!?

I guess I can understand protecting Buddle, but... Crap. This sucks. We're going to lose Harmse. And if not Harmse, Glinton.
Nathanhj

Yallop might not take anyone from the Gals, but if I could only take one, I'd go for Harmse. Goff thinks Gordon is the second best striker for the contract in the entire draft after Cunliffe from CUSA. I'd choose Glinton myself as a second striker.
Nathanhj

LA Galaxy Exposed List:

Cronin, Steve
Caso, Mike
Friesz, Lance
Glinton, Gavin
Gordon, Alan
Gray, Kelly
Harmse, Kevin
Martino, Kyle
Mathis, Clint
Tudela, Josh
Vagenas, Peter
Veris, Kyle
Xavier, Abel

From Goff at the Insider:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com...
bluemeanies

No, they might be doing better now than they used to updating the list once a year.
Laurie

Jack, when you run the numbers (with all this extra strike-related time on your hands?) :-) let me know and I'll do a post on it.

Bluemeanies, that list has always seemed pretty complete and accurate to me, and they seem to update it frequently. (It had Israel Sesay within a week of his arrival.) Have I been counting on it too much?
bluemeanies

MLS players union list of figures; not everyone is on it.

http://www.mlsplayers.org/sala...
JustJack

Statistics again: In terms of effectiveness Shots for SOG (getting the ball on frame), SOG for actual goals scored (effective accuracy for SOG), then playing time facotred in (for the amount of minutes played, how many times the player gets the ball in the goal) the order of overall usefulness for our five Forwards is:

Glinton
Donovan
Buddle
Gordon
Pavon
and finally, equally unproven: Caso & Sesay

In terms of actual excitement on the pitch vs. how often a player frustrates the hell outta us, no stats for that, just a fan's subjective judgment.

Just for fun (in a sick Kapitalista sort of way), anyone know where you can find players' salaries? It'd be cool to figure out who's most "cost effective" overall.
bluemeanies

Salary cap has nothing to do with it because Dev players are not subject to the salary cap only senior ones. The Dev salaries aren't going to be redone until either the owners wise up or the Players Union renegotiates with the league in 2009 or 2010 when its contracts up. The strike in 2003 was before the dev category; has a set table for increases in the floor and is what gave all the players health insurance & 401ks.
Lee

Agreed on the salary cap. They really need to do
something to bring up the league minimums so the
DEV players aren't getting paid graduate student
wages.
glen

a increase in the cap of only $150,000 is ridiculous.
Laurie

A $150,000 increase? That's unbelievably lame.
Ronny

I agree, Lets keep a super sub that can come in and change the game, Gordon, I'm sorry , but i don't know how he has remained on our roster, yes, he'll score from time to time, but he misses more than he can make, and when he misses, there the EASIEST goals to, he can be frustrating to watch. Buddle, is ok, but just don't strike me as a threat
bluemeanies

Oh, btw Steven Goff at the post is saying there will likely be a rule change abolishing the distinction between senior and youth internationals for next year giving each non-Toronto team 7 internationals period. And the cap increase is only 150k.
bluemeanies

I believe Donovan does need protecting because he was protected in the nearly identical Toronto draft (and you know Trader Mo would have been on that).
Diane

I thought the same about Gavin Clinton, plus I love his attitude. Does Donovan need protecting if he can't be drafted because of his contract?