Thursday, December 06, 2012

Re-Entry Draft Tomorrow

Tomorrow the MLS offseason continues to move along with the first stage of the Re-entry draft.  It's the third year MLS has had the re-entry draft with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and it's still just as confusing as it was in it's first season, so let's quickly run down the rules for players being eligible for the draft, specifically for stage one of the draft.

Players who are at least 23 years old and have a minimum of three years of MLS experience whose options were not exercised by their clubs (available at option salary for the next season).

Players who are at least 25 years old with a minimum of four years of MLS experience who are out of contract and whose club does not offer them a contract at their previous salary (available at previous season's salary).

Players who are at least 30 years old with a minimum of eight years of MLS experience who are out of contract and whose club does not wish to re-sign them (available for at least 105 percent of their previous season's salary).

If a player is selected in the first stage of the re-entry draft the team must exercise the player's option or extend a "bona fide offer."  If the player rejects the deal, the team retains the first right of refusal on the player.  Teams then have the ability to renegotiate with their players ahead of the second stage.

The first stage of the drat isn't used very much, in the two previous years of the draft, only 5 players have been taken.  The rest of the teams all passed on their picks, and even those that did make picks passed on the second attempt.  The real interest in the draft will take place in the second stage of the draft a week from tomorrow. 

I don't expect Sporting to make any movement in the draft tomorrow, no one on the list really stands out as someone to take in this stage of the draft.  There are a few guys that I would consider in the second phase, especially for center back depth, which KC needs when just looking at the roster.  Specifically Julius James and Ike Opara could add depth or challenge for starting spots for Kansas City.  The likes of Corben Bone or Blair Gavin could give KC some depth in the midfield.

As I said previously there's little movement in the first stage of the draft so I expect less than 5 players to be taken in tomorrow's draft. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

maicon santos was the only player taken today. he was one of the players that i thought we might consider in the second round, so much for that.

Dan said...

Santos would have been a horrible pick up. 1 goal in his final 17 appearances this season. We don't need another forward that struggles to score.