2012 MLS Expansion Draft: Who Should We Protect?

So, amidst all the Steve Nicol farewells and the new coach speculation, the 2012 Expansion Draft is rapidly approaching (November 23^rd), and the Revs have some decisions to make-11 decisions, to be precise. For those unfamiliar with how the Expansion Draft works, here's a brief breakdown of the rules, per an October 19^th MLS Press Release:

NEW YORK (October 19, 2011) - Major League Soccer will hold the 2012 MLS Expansion Draft via conference call on Wednesday, November 23, at 2 p.m. ET.

The League's 19th team, the Montreal Impact, will select 10 players during the 10-round draft.

Each current MLS club will have the opportunity to protect 11 players from their 2011 roster.

Generation Adidas players (who will not graduate at the end of the 2011 season) and Homegrown Players on the team's Off-budget Roster are automatically protected and do not count against each team's 11 protected roster spots. Designated Players do not have to be protected unless the player has a no trade clause in his contract.

Clubs must submit their protected roster to MLS on Monday, November 21. The protected rosters will be made public later that day.

There is also a more extensive explanation of the rules here.

After the jump, a few things to consider:

• Players' contracts that expire at the end of 2011 are considered part of the team's roster, therefore Shalrie would need to be protected if we wanted him around next season
• Homegrown players are automatically protected, so we don't have to worry about using a roster spot on Diego Fagundez
• DP's are not automatically protected, so Caraglio would count against a roster spot if we wanted to keep him
• The Revs currently have 9 international players on their roster, thus according to the rules they cannot make more than 6 of them available in the draft

So, with all that in mind, we thought we would share our thoughts on which players we think should be protected. The three of us here at The Bent Musket each submitted our roster, and below are the players whom we unanimously agreed should be protected:

1)    A.J. Soares

2)    Benny Feilhaber

3)    Rajko Lekic

4)    Chris Tierney

5)    Milton Caraglio

6)    Monsef Zerka

7)    Darrius Barnes

8)    Shalrie Joseph

9)    Matt Reis

The players "on the bubble", whom we did not see eye to eye about protecting were

• Kevin Alston
• Stephen McCarthy
• Franco Coria
• Ryan Guy

Thus leaving the following players unprotected and able to be drafted and shipped up to the great white north:

• Bobby Shuttleworth
• Tim Murray
• Ryan Cochrane
• Otto Loewy
• Sainey Nyassi
• Kenny Mansally
• Ryan Kinne
• Andrew Sousa
• Alan Koger
• Kheli Dube
• Zack Schilawski
• Zak Boggs

I guess we'll just have to wait and see who makes the final roster, and whether it even matters in the end. For now, the hunt for a new manager continues. As do the MLS playoffs.

But we still want to hear from YOU! Please let us know your thoughts on the upcoming Expansion Draft. Do you agree or disagree with TBM's protected roster? Who would you like to ensure that the Revs keep around? Let us know in the comments section!