Expansion Draft Thoughts: Which Goalkeeper(s) and Defenders to Protect

By: Laurie | November 15th, 2007

More on the Expansion Draft. Here are my thoughts on which of our defensive-minded guys to protect from the clutches of the dastardly Frank Yallop and his San Jose Earthquakes.

First, here are the options. I’m going by position listed on the roster, not necessarily by position played most of the season. (Chris Klein, I’m looking at you.) I’m marking my picks with an asterisk, with explanations below.

Goalkeepers:

Joe Cannon*
Steve Cronin
Lance Friesz

Defenders:

Chris Albright*
Ty Harden*
Ante Jazic*
Quavas Kirk (Adidas)
Mike Randolph*
Troy Roberts
Kyle Veris
Abel Xavier

I know a lot of people are arguing against protecting Joe Cannon because of his salary, but I just can’t agree that it’s a good idea unless we have somebody better (and cheaper) under contract. Cannon saved our butts on multiple occasions this year. Also, somebody pointed out that Joe is a Frank Yallop acquisition, and Frank has shown that he is loyal to players he likes. I think leaving him unprotected is too risky. Steve Cronin has potential, but I don’t think he’s ready to be a starter yet, especially on a team as porous as the Galaxy were last year. I also don’t think Yallop will spend a pick on either he or newcomer Lance Friesz.

The defenders I’d protect are Chris Albright, Ty Harden, Ante Jazic and Mike Randolph. Quavas Kirk is a Generation Adidas player and still listed as a developmental player, so I don’t think he needs protecting. I really like Abel Xavier, but I don’t think Frank will be willing to pick up his salary. Plus I’m not sure what’s going on with him. Why didn’t he make the trip for these post-season games? Still injured, or is he on the way out the door?

Ante Jazic would be a question mark for me, except that since he’s a Senior International, I don’t think I could leave both he and Pavon unprotected. (Sorry, Melissa. But I did find some photos for you that I’ll post later.) More important for me, though, is to keep cheaper, talented youngsters like Mike Randolph and Ty Harden. And it would be a crime to leave Chris Albright unprotected when he’s gone through so much to come back this year and the team is going to need experience and cool heads in ‘08.

So those are the defenders/keeper I’d protect. And I am NOT going to imagine the eyes of all the other players staring at me and looking woeful to try to make me feel guilty. I’m just not, okay?

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

« Pictures and Interviews from the Minnesota-Galaxy Game | Home | More Expansion Draft Stuff: The Midfielders »

bluemeanies

If Gullit or Cobi is feeling risky they might expose Albright. Any expansion coach is going to be wary of 2 types of guys automatically: 1) Guys whose contract expire and might just hop to Europe or retire if they have to move and 2) Guys coming off a season ending injury, who knows what effect it will have on his play. Though Albright was a stalwart of the gals defence and a USNT player if it comes down to a tight either or decision Albright might be on a bubble.
Inara47

This is unrelated, but I was watching an episode of CSI (the original one which takes place in Vegas), and they showed a clip of these kids playing soccer, and one of them had an LA galaxy jersey. Naturally I thought of you, Laurie. The kid, btw, discovered a murder scene when he was chasing the ball into these trees.
Melissa

The more and more I read from you guys, the more I think Cronin is on the radar. He did do a fantastic job during one of those Open Cup games early in the season.

Or maybey its one of the young defenders or reserve guys. On this week's Chivas podcast, one of the hosts said they talked to Frank a few weeks ago and he said point blank that he was not allowed to use some reserve players he wanted to this season (although that may be directly referring to Ian Russell who I know very few people have an affinity for but I have to admit was getting better in his left back role before he got waived). Might be someone we don't really notice or had very little playing time from the Gals that goes.

Also - I am so pro calling San Jose SanHo. Since I grew up there, I first heard that years ago from a local radio station "shock jock" who at the end of the day, wasn't very shocking but was quite popular at the time.
bluemeanies

Going over that list actually I can hear all the dallas fans focusing their mental energy trying to get Frank to take Shaka Hislop if he doesn't retire.
bluemeanies

Is he? I hadn't heard. Then Conway protected, which makes Wells and Cronin and the Columbus 3rd wheel more in demand by Frank.
Laurie

Isn't Walrus retiring for NY?
bluemeanies

No way is KC leaving El Gato unprotected. I'd say the protected keepers league wide will be:

NE: Reis
Houston: Probably Onstad though they might leave the old vet out and protect Wells. Onstad is old San Jose
Toronto: Sutton
DC: Perkins
NY: Probably Walrus and Conway exposed- need new coach
Chivas: El Guzano. Even if he does go to Arsenal they don't want to lose him and have San Jose get the allocation.
KC: El Gato- last year they had bo freakin ohoshoni, think they want to be back on the market for a keep?
Dallas: No clue, they are way messed up at keep
RSL: Rimando (Seitz is Addidas)
Colorado: The Spider
Chicago: Pickens
Columbus: Hesmer? Grunebaum? Gaudette?

And then LA and Cannon. Toronto took a USL keep but they have canadian issues. San Jose will probably pick a good league backup and he will either be the starter or the San Jose backup. Cronin is in the running here.
JustJack

re: Keepers, can Frank take El Gato away from KC if Joe is left unprotected? Does Joe need to be protected really or would his salary function as his protection from SanHo's greedy little hands?

As much as I pine for the feisty toe-head back in goal at HDC, I agree, Joey's proven his worth more than a few times this season... I'll stick with the unstraightenable-kneed-one. In all of this I just wanna see us have a stable, healthy side with a blend of experience (old guys) and fiery flash (younger dudes) next season. It'd totally blow to have SanHo all brand new and shiny kickin' our arses end to end after plundering us and the rest of the league.

This stuff is more fun than I thought, but not nearly as fun as the game itself. European player swapping is way simpler, but once the price tags get attached it gets boring. Like Salieri, too many Euros.
Melissa

Hey, Cronin was at SJ for a bit although my memory is fuzzy whether it was under Yallop or Kinnear (I think Kinnear). Also, Yallop traded two established Galaxy players for Cannon so I won't be surprised to see Cannon back in the old - yet updated - Quakes uni again. BUT, because I read the Sideline Views religiously and Cannon seems to ramble on and on to those guys, I do know that he owns a house in Redondo Beach (Jazic is his roomate - man would I *love* kick it at Cannon's pad with those two) and doesn't want to leave LA until he brings the club and fans at least one trophy. Yes, Cannon is two scoops of awesome no matter what club he winds up at next year.

I think Albright's contract expired this year but if CoJones is the one making player decisions right now (highly likely), then I'm sure he wants Albright back and protected. I seriously have this hilarious vision of all the players sucking up to Cobi right now - buying him gifts and stuff to get put on the protected list. I think Yallop might try for one of the younger defenders he put in the starting line-up towards the end of the season. Randolph would be my guess... but then there was that whole thing about him being 10 minutes late one day?

As for Houston, I think a few of those guys may ask to return. DeRo just signed a new contract this year so it won't be him.

And I'm not thinking about Chivas. No no no.
bluemeanies

Also, Goff recently reported that Yallop gets to pick from 11 teams one player each and LA has got to have a player who is more attractive than anyone RSL or Toronto exposes (though the Canadian connection maybe?), so escaping a pick is highly unlikely.
Laurie

Oh. Crap. You're right about Xavier. So much for my logic. Okay, fine. I'll leave Harden unprotected.
bluemeanies

Isn't Abel Xavier also a senior international (don't trust MLS net, he's a senior international unless he has a green card).

If this expansion draft is like other expansion drafts Yallop will take only one keeper. If Cannon is available Yallop will be hard pressed not to take him. He is not only a Yallop acquisition but I believe a member of the championship teams from the Old Quakes and that fan base wants players from the old championship quakes back (so who he picks from Houston will be interesting). I think Houstons back-up whats his name (Stephen Wells?) is good but Houston is a hard team for this draft, if New York doesn't protect Conway there might be some interest there, Columbus has a number of not bad keepers with starting experience, Fat Zach Thornton will be exposed by Colorado if Frank is insane, Burpo is old but good but there will be a better pick from Chivas. Cronin does have some good games from open cup experience and might be a good choice especially if Frank isn't liking anyone else from LA and doesn't think highly of other keepers.