 |
| At least Buyer 1205 knows what he's getting...probably. |
Welcome to the…next one. Though Major League Soccer’s preseason has officially started for some and will start for others tomorrow, fans remain in that space in between 2021 and 2022. Which explains why The Mothership is running “stories” like “One reason every MLS team should feel optimistic as the 2022 preseason begins” (a slap in the face, frankly, to certain teams) and a pair of half-stale reminders about worries for each team in the Eastern and Western conferences. I get it. You do what you have to do to remind people you’re still pecking at the keyboard…as you can see…
That doesn’t mean the league hasn’t seen some eye-popping moves - e.g., Toronto FC singing Lorenzo Insigne (a move so big one only has to type “toronto fc italian” to find articles), the Seattle Sounders poaching Albert Rusnak from Real Salt Lake, and the mid-week mega-trade that sent Kellyn Acosta from the Colorado Rapids to Los Angeles FC (though didn’t the teams basically just swap defensive midfielders/No. 8s? And who would you rather have: Mark-Anthony Kaye or Acosta?). I acknowledge that’s a damned short list - and, surely, other, smaller trades are percolating as I type, even if some fall within comparatively meaningless reports of teams “showing interest” or “making a bid” - but the 2022 MLS SuperDraft has to count as last week’s biggest story.
Or is it nothing but a bright, shining lie?
With a nod to the hyped phrasing, I’m willing to let the reader decide. As for methodology, I reviewed all the MLS SuperDrafts since 2013 (and here are the rest of the links: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, and I wound up on nine years, because I can't count so good), looked at the total number of players picked or passed on, and weighed that against the number of players who have: 1) become reliable starters in MLS (or who later moved overseas), and 2) been able to secure reliable minutes, if fewer of them, aka, journeymen. Also, and because I might have noticed it for the first time, I looked at all the players signed as homegrown players since then to make a similar comparison. Two minor caveats on that: that sample did not include players who were eligible for one draft or another, but who signed elsewhere (e.g., Andrew Gutman for Scotland's Celtic), and who knew that the New England Revolution’s Matt Turner came into the league under “other notable player” in 2016, whatever that means.
Next, some definitions: “reliable starter” means a regular on one or more starting rosters since joining MLS, a definition that grows more flexible with the more recent SuperDrafts, e.g., I doubt anyone would quibble with calling Andrew Farrell or Walker Zimmerman a “reliable starter,” but that’s a tougher call with players like, say, DeJuan Jones, Chris Mueller, or even Richie Laryea. And yet I counted them all. Moreover, I drew a blurry line on either side of the players I dubbed “journeymen,” which group includes some now and former useful players, e.g., Kekuta Manneh, Dominique Badji, Tsubasa Endoh, Jonathan Lewis, Jacori Hayes, or even Danny Musovski. At any rate, I made the choices I did and if you want to look at the same source material and make your own calls, the links are above. For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’ll wind up on wildly different numbers if you do, but I also freely acknowledge that I no less about every team in MLS with each team they add.
That doesn’t mean the league hasn’t seen some eye-popping moves - e.g., Toronto FC singing Lorenzo Insigne (a move so big one only has to type “toronto fc italian” to find articles), the Seattle Sounders poaching Albert Rusnak from Real Salt Lake, and the mid-week mega-trade that sent Kellyn Acosta from the Colorado Rapids to Los Angeles FC (though didn’t the teams basically just swap defensive midfielders/No. 8s? And who would you rather have: Mark-Anthony Kaye or Acosta?). I acknowledge that’s a damned short list - and, surely, other, smaller trades are percolating as I type, even if some fall within comparatively meaningless reports of teams “showing interest” or “making a bid” - but the 2022 MLS SuperDraft has to count as last week’s biggest story.
Or is it nothing but a bright, shining lie?
With a nod to the hyped phrasing, I’m willing to let the reader decide. As for methodology, I reviewed all the MLS SuperDrafts since 2013 (and here are the rest of the links: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, and I wound up on nine years, because I can't count so good), looked at the total number of players picked or passed on, and weighed that against the number of players who have: 1) become reliable starters in MLS (or who later moved overseas), and 2) been able to secure reliable minutes, if fewer of them, aka, journeymen. Also, and because I might have noticed it for the first time, I looked at all the players signed as homegrown players since then to make a similar comparison. Two minor caveats on that: that sample did not include players who were eligible for one draft or another, but who signed elsewhere (e.g., Andrew Gutman for Scotland's Celtic), and who knew that the New England Revolution’s Matt Turner came into the league under “other notable player” in 2016, whatever that means.
Next, some definitions: “reliable starter” means a regular on one or more starting rosters since joining MLS, a definition that grows more flexible with the more recent SuperDrafts, e.g., I doubt anyone would quibble with calling Andrew Farrell or Walker Zimmerman a “reliable starter,” but that’s a tougher call with players like, say, DeJuan Jones, Chris Mueller, or even Richie Laryea. And yet I counted them all. Moreover, I drew a blurry line on either side of the players I dubbed “journeymen,” which group includes some now and former useful players, e.g., Kekuta Manneh, Dominique Badji, Tsubasa Endoh, Jonathan Lewis, Jacori Hayes, or even Danny Musovski. At any rate, I made the choices I did and if you want to look at the same source material and make your own calls, the links are above. For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’ll wind up on wildly different numbers if you do, but I also freely acknowledge that I no less about every team in MLS with each team they add.
