2019 SuperDraft

[adam]

It's this Friday, January 11th. NYCFC has the 19th pick in the draft. Chances are we this pick won't see the pitch much, but we should still discuss. (oh and we traded away our 4th round pick too if you stick around that long). Here's the latest Mock Draft:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/01/03/armchair-analyst-2019-mock-superdraft-v1-0

Has us taking a MF, but all the teams around us taking a FB. I'd rather we take a FB for a young domestic depth option, especial RB behind Tinny (SAS' old spot).

Here are the GA Players Available (no cap hit): https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/01/04/mls-announces-2019-generation-adidas-class-ahead-combine

UCLA midfielder Frankie Amaya,
Syracuse winger Tajon Buchanan,
Indiana winger Griffin Dorsey,
Virginia Commonwealth winger Siad Haji
UNC defender John Nelson,
Maryland goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair
Kentucky forward JJ Williams

All of these players are projected picks 1-8 in the Mock Draft.

 

[Ulrich]

It's this Friday, January 11th. NYCFC has the 19th pick in the draft. Chances are we this pick won't see the pitch much, but we should still discuss. (oh and we traded away our 4th round pick too if you stick around that long). Here's the latest Mock Draft:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/01/03/armchair-analyst-2019-mock-superdraft-v1-0

Has us taking a MF, but all the teams around us taking a FB. I'd rather we take a FB for a young domestic depth option, especial RB behind Tinny (SAS' old spot).

Here are the GA Players Available (no cap hit): https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/01/04/mls-announces-2019-generation-adidas-class-ahead-combine

UCLA midfielder Frankie Amaya,
Syracuse winger Tajon Buchanan,
Indiana winger Griffin Dorsey,
Virginia Commonwealth winger Siad Haji
UNC defender John Nelson,
Maryland goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair
Kentucky forward JJ Williams

All of these players are projected picks 1-8 in the Mock Draft.

[Scally raises hand] - We might already have a HG as young, domestic talent behind Tinny.

 

[adam]

[Scally raises hand] - We might already have a HG as young, domestic talent behind Tinny.

haha, forgot about him! Poor kid, did he even get any minutes last season?

 

[dummyrun]

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/01/03/armchair-analyst-2019-mock-superdraft-v1-0

Has us taking a MF.

So basically an older, worse James Sands?

Honestly don't care who we get in the draft since he probably won't play anyway, but we might as well go for a center forward since that's one position where we're shallow and don't have kids coming up already.

 

[Shwafta]

So basically an older, worse James Sands?

Honestly don't care who we get in the draft since he probably won't play anyway, but we might as well go for a center forward since that's one position where we're shallow and don't have kids coming up already.

What if we are planning a trade out of the spot for some sort of minimal TAM/GAM or other allocation/roster spot?

 

[dummyrun]

What if we are planning a trade out of the spot for some sort of minimal TAM/GAM or other allocation/roster spot?

Fine by me. A late first round pick isn't worth much, around $50-$75k GAM, but maybe we can get an international slot out of it or something. These picks also tend to get bundled into draft day player trades.

 

[adam]

So basically an older, worse James Sands?

Honestly don't care who we get in the draft since he probably won't play anyway, but we might as well go for a center forward since that's one position where we're shallow and don't have kids coming up already.

Maybe one of these guys?

 

[Ulrich]

What if we are planning a trade out of the spot for some sort of minimal TAM/GAM or other allocation/roster spot?

Rather than trade up for a spot, we might as well send some AM to New England for the rights to their unsigned Academy kid Justin Rennicks (#9/2nd striker type). The kid doesn’t want to play for NE and is likely staying at Indiana - NE should take a trade because they’re never gonna sign the kid after the way they treated him following his training with Frankfort. We could use a young and talented u-20 forward that can play centrally or on the wing.

 

[SoupInNYC]

So basically an older, worse James Sands?

Honestly don't care who we get in the draft since he probably won't play anyway, but we might as well go for a center forward since that's one position where we're shallow and don't have kids coming up already.

This is where I am. Best option, trade the pick for something, though I still find that unlikely.

After that, look at what's coming up through our academy and where they could fill spots, then pick outside of that. Hopefully whoever we end up taking we can send out on loan to USL.

The Superdraft, especially when picking this far back, is mostly a "check the box" exercise IMO.

 

[413Blue]

Rather than trade up for a spot, we might as well send some AM to New England for the rights to their unsigned Academy kid Justin Rennicks (#9/2nd striker type). The kid doesn’t want to play for NE and is likely staying at Indiana - NE should take a trade because they’re never gonna sign the kid after the way they treated him following his training with Frankfort. We could use a young and talented u-20 forward that can play centrally or on the wing.

What young kid, with potential upside, would ever sign with New England?

 

[gbservis]

So basically an older, worse James Sands?

Honestly don't care who we get in the draft since he probably won't play anyway, but we might as well go for a center forward since that's one position where we're shallow and don't have kids coming up already.

I like the idea of going for a spot where like CF where we have depth issues. We need young, cheap American players to fill out the roster even if they only play in emergencies and the early rounds of the US open cup. I'd be okay with a CB as well. Young CBs seem to take a long time to develop, why not just stash one as our 5th CB and see if they can develop over time. Super draft picks after the top few seem to be fliers anyway.

Whatever we do I hope we don't burn TAM/GAM to get a few slots higher in the mid first round. We burned assets to get Awuhh and he only lasted 2 years. The depth just isn't there in the super draft to give away GAM that could be spent on a FA to take a flier on a super draft prospect.

 

[Ulrich]

What young kid, with potential upside, would ever sign with New England?

None, hence why the kid trained with Frankfort and then went the college route to Indiana. He wants to sign with MLS, just not with NE and they haven’t budged yet.... kinda like what they did with Lee Nguyen. Except now, they’re fcking around with a talented kid’s future.

 

[Rimil]

Eh, anyone in the draft a local kid? My money is on picking someone from the NY metro area.... parading him around on social media as local kid made good for a couple weeks, than never hearing from him again....... I mean that's the only thing that would make sense since we are in the perception influencing business; who actually cares if the guy can play a lick of soccer or not.

 

[413Blue]

Eh, anyone in the draft a local kid? My money is on picking someone from the NY metro area.... parading him around on social media as local kid made good for a couple weeks, than never hearing from him again....... I mean that's the only thing that would make sense since we are in the perception influencing business; who actually cares if the guy can play a lick of soccer or not.

(Local kid draft product) is the kind of guy you build a team around.

 

[dummyrun]

Sounds like everybody's figuring out what a draft pick is actually worth.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1082675918357839872

 

[adam]

Sounds like everybody's figuring out what a draft pick is actually worth.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1082675918357839872

Considering a minimum wage rookie would cost $60k vs the cap for a couple years while you see if he can hang with the big boys, $100k for a HG draft pick that cost $0 vs the cap on a 2 year flyer is not such a bad deal. And that's the low end.

Jonathan Lewis made $125k last year. And $115k in 2017. If we keep him for roughly the same $125k in 2019, that's over $350k in salary 'hidden' from the cap over 3 seasons. We paid $250k in GAM for him, so we're over $100k in the black already on Lewis cap wise, and now he's in the USMNT camp.

ETA, if Dallas or another top team is willing to trade down for $100k in GAM and JJ Williams is available, that solves our backup forward issue and we can use the Berget/DP money to focus on a starter. It would also give us the ability to play two 6'4" kids up top! NYCFC with the "Twin Towers", it's a TIFO waiting to happen.

 

[Rimil]

NYCFC with the "Twin Towers", it's a TIFO waiting to happen.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Considering a minimum wage rookie would cost $60k vs the cap for a couple years while you see if he can hang with the big boys, $100k for a HG draft pick that cost $0 vs the cap on a 2 year flyer is not such a bad deal. And that's the low end.

Jonathan Lewis made $125k last year. And $115k in 2017. If we keep him for roughly the same $125k in 2019, that's over $350k in salary 'hidden' from the cap over 3 seasons. We paid $250k in GAM for him, so we're over $100k in the black already on Lewis cap wise, and now he's in the USMNT camp.

ETA, if Dallas or another top team is willing to trade down for $100k in GAM and JJ Williams is available, that solves our backup forward issue and we can use the Berget/DP money to focus on a starter. It would also give us the ability to play two 6'4" kids up top! NYCFC with the "Twin Towers", it's a TIFO waiting to happen.

View attachment 9429

What is that screenshot from?

Suggesting that the Fire could find the successor to Nemanja Nikolic via the SuperDraft (especially these days when the draft is super watered down by homegrown signings and others going overseas) seems a bit much...

 

[Shwafta]

What is that screenshot from?

Suggesting that the Fire could find the successor to Nemanja Nikolic via the SuperDraft (especially these days when the draft is super watered down by homegrown signings and others going overseas) seems a bit much...

since when is Nikolic leaving?

 

[SoupInNYC]

since when is Nikolic leaving?

I don't think they're suggesting he's leaving now, it said long-term, so more eventual