The Following Players Get to Rock These....

Seattle Sounders FC took the following players in the expansion draft that took place today:

1. Nate Jaqua (F, Houston)
2. Stephen King (M, Chicago)
3. Brad Evans (M, Coumbus)
4. Khano Smith (D/M, New England)
5. Jarrod Smith (F, Toronto)
6. Jeff Parke (D, New York)
7. Tyson Wahl (D, Kansas City)
8. Nathan Sturgis (D/M, RSL)
9. Peter Vagenas (M, Los Angeles)
10. James Riley (D, San Jose)

So I guess I am not very good at predictions, as I only guessed 4 out of 10 correctly. For me the selections fall into 3 categories: Nice pick, Wait and See, and Really?.

In the nice pick category, I have Nate Jaqua (Seattle boy, solid target forward), Stephen King (cheap, versatile midfielder out of Maryland), Tyson Wahl (Young, solid defender to pair with the veteran CB yet to be signed), and Brad Evans ( cheap, talented, box-to-box midfielder).

In the wait and see category, you got Khano Smith (tall, athletic winger, but with a heavy first touch and an occassional attitude problem), James Riley (versatile defender played lots of minutes for San Jose but did not consistently impress), Nathan Sturgis (young defender will turn out to be a great signing if he can stay healthy), and Jeff Parke (Solid, proven back but one who still has a suspension to serve and might bolt for Europe).

Finally, in the "Really?" category, there is Peter Vagenas (veteran midfielder would have been a great pick-up a few years back but at 30, a step slower, and with a $144,000 price tag seems like a strange pick) and Jarrod Smith (a young New Zealand international who only played in 6 games last year for TFC). These last two seem odd to me with talent like Jorge Flores, Aaron Pitchkolan, Johann Smith, and Francis Doe available. Seattle did not choose any players from DC, Dallas, Chivas, or Colorado.

Let the offseason trading begin....