2012 Protected List

Whaaaaaaat?! 2 posts in 2 days? What’s going on?

Yeah, as soon as I make my triumphant return to blogging, some big news drops 2 hours after I update and post. Oh well. The Quakes released their protected list last night and some interesting names are on the list and off the list. We’ll look at the lists after the jump.

The original article can be found at SJEarthquakes.com. Maybe MLS changed the rules from last year, but I could have sworn that each team could only protect 10 players, plus any Generation Adidas players, who are automatically protected. But it looks like this year each team can protect up to 11 players. Here’s the list of protected and unprotected players for the Quakes:

Earthquakes Protected players
Baca, Rafael (M)
Beitashour, Steven (D)
Bingham, David (GK) (Generation adidas – not eligible for selection)
Busch, Jon (GK)
Cronin, Sam (M)
Dawkins, Simon (M)
Gordon, Alan (F)
Hernandez, Jason (D)
Lenhart, Steven (F)
Morrow, Justin (D)
Opara, Ike (D) (Generation adidas – not eligible for selection)
Stephenson, Khari (M)
Wondolowski, Chris (F)

Earthquakes Unprotected players
Ampaipitakwong, Anthony (M)
Attakora, Nana (D)
Burling, Bobby (D)
Convey, Bobby (M)
Corrales, Ramiro (D)
Gjertsen, Joey (M)
Griffin, Maxwell (F)
Leitch, Chris (D)
Luiz, Andre (M)
Luzunaris, Matt (F)
McLoughlin, Ellis (M)
Peterson, Jacob (M)
Ring, Brad (M)
Sealy, Scott (F)
Ward, Tim (D)
Weber, Andrew (GK)

Keep in mind that the Montreal Impact can only select 1 player from each team and if a team loses a player, they can not lose another. Last year each team could potentially lose 2 players as Vancouver and Portland both had a chance to pick players from every team in the league. The worst case scenario is that we lose 1 player from the unprotected list.

It’s always hard to pick and choose who to save for an expansion draft, but overall I’m happy with the protected list of players. More than half are 25 or younger and the average age of everyone is in the 20s if you exclude Busch. I think the only debatable player on the list would be Alan Gordon, and only because of his age for his position. However, I believe that Gordon can be a good veteran for Steven Lenhart to learn from, as well as the other big forwards on the team, Matt Luzunaris and Maxwell Griffin.

The unprotected list is where the consternation usually lies though. There are several players on the list, it can be argued, who could be on the protected list. I think Bobby Burling and Ramiro Corrales deserve to have protected status, but unfortunately the protected list is only 11 players long. I’d include Bobby Convey in that group but he’s already said that he doesn’t want to be here, at least under Frank Yallop’s coaching regime so no need to protect him.

Besides Convey, the other players I would not be upset about seeing leave are Andre Luiz, Brad Ring and Scott Sealy. Luiz has been injured since early 2010, and I have no idea why the club keeps him on the roster. If Luiz really wants to stick around the organization he should retire and move into the front office. He might make a good South American scout since he’s Brazilian and is most likely familiar with that system. Ring is very physical when playing and is often in jeopardy of picking up cards due to his tackling and rough play. He’s also more of a defensive mifielder and when he and Cronin are on the field together there is less attacking play in the midfield. Sealy hasn’t worked out since arriving in San Jose. He’s constantly battling hamstring or groin injuries and the Quakes have been unfortunate enough to make him play with his injuries on several occasions. His runs in the box have never looked threatening and he didn’t partner well with Wondo at all last year.

If you look at the protected list as the core of the team, we’ve got a great foundation to build on. Busch led the league in saves last year and Bingham was invited to the US National Under-23 squad’s training in Germany earlier in the month. He backstopped the team to a 1-1 draw with the Bayern Leverkusen under-23 team. The defense had some good performances last year, and with Morrow and Beitashour’s speed on the flanks, they can get into the attack and harass opponent’s backline and throw off the midfield with their runs. Hernandez was solid again, despite a couple games in late spring. If we can keep Dawkins, it would only benefit our team and Tottenham. He makes a great attacking mid, Cronin is a good defensive mid, and Baca can play on the left or right, although he is a right footer. With Wondo returning, and hopefully Lenhart, the forward corps is already strong, just need some younger guys, Luzunaris and Griffin, to learn the ropes from the vets.

I’m not sure when the expansion draft is, but it’s also possible that the Quakes could end up with players from the draft as well. Remember last year Portland picked up Arturo Alvarez and traded him to Real Salt Lake. We’ll see what happens soon.

GO QUAKES!

Category: Montreal Impact, Offseason Chat, Player News, Transfer News