San Jose loses Riley to Seattle in Expansion Draft

Here is the list of players chosen by Seattle:

Nate Jaqua (Houston)
Brad Evans (Columbus)
Stephen King (Chicago)
Jeff Parke (New York
James Riley (San Jose)
Khano Smith (New England)
Jarrod Smith (Toronto FC)
Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake)
Peter Vagenas (Los Angeles)
Tyson Wahl (Kansas City)

Riley was only making $33,000 so the Sounders picked up a starter for what will be a low impact on their cap space. In Riley they also get a versatile player who can play both outside defender and a wing midfielder though most of his time with the Quakes was at the defender role. He played in 24 games this season and started 23 of those. He had 2 assists and 2 red cards to his name as well. Known for his speed and passing out of the back, he will be missed but for the sake of the Earthquakes they may be able to replace him with others currently on the roster. The Quakes can still field one of their top defensive lines using Hernandez at right back along with Garcia, Cochrane in the middle and Denton on the left. Look for the Quakes to add depth defensively over the offseason though.

Earthquakes List of Protected Players

San Jose Earthquakes
Alvarez, Arturo- midfielder
Cannon, Joe – goalkeeper
Cochrane, Ryan – defender
Corrales, Ramiro – midfielder
Garcia, Nick – defender
Hernandez, Jason – defender
Huckerby, Darren – midfielder
Johnson, Ryan - forward
Lima, Francisco – midfielder
Salinas, Shea – midfielder
Sealy, Scott – forward

Any players on this list you feel they should not have protected? Word was that Lima and Sealy may not be coming back anyways. Did protecting them leave other players needlessly exposed?

List of Quakes Exposed in Expansion Draft

San Jose Earthquakes Left Unprotected with Guaranteed Compensation

Arce, Miguel $12,900
Ayres, Jay Michael $17,700
Cunliffe, John $50,500
Denton, Eric $55,200
Ghebru, Michael $12,900
Glinton, Gavin $60,000
Grabavoy, Ned $90,000
Gray, Kelly $40,579
Gustavson, Michael $12,900
Hatzke, Matt $12,900
O'Brien, Ronnie $258,750
Riley, James $33,000
Roberts, Jamil $17,700
Smarte, Adam $17,700
Somma, Davide $12,900

Which player do you expect Seattle will pick given salaries and other factors involved?

Kirovski Traded to Galaxy

The San Jose Earthquakes announced that the team has traded forward Jovan Kirovski to the Los Angeles Galaxy in exchange for a conditional pick in the 2010 Supplemental Draft.
Kirovski played nine games for the Earthquakes in 2009 after arriving in a midseason trade from the Colorado Rapids. He made one start for San Jose. A foot injury in June caused him to miss six matches. According to the MLS Players Union, Kirovski's salary is listed at $220,000 though the Rapids may still have been on the hook to pay for a portion of that for some time period. This move is likely meant to clear salary cap room going into the offseason. He likely didn't fit into the plans of the team for next season at that salary.

Expansion Draft Coming Soon

Next week the MLS expansion draft will take place. All 14 current clubs have until 3 p.m. Monday to submit their list of 11 protected players to the league office. The full list of players available to the Seattle Sounders will than be released later that day. The draft itself will be held next Wednesday. The Sounders will be allowed to select 10 players in all, no more than one from each team, so 10 teams will be losing a player.

Which Earthquake players do you think will be made available and potentially lose to the Sounders?

MLS Best Goals of 2008

Enjoy!

Huckerby Earns MLS Newcomer of the Year for 2008

After an outstanding first season with the San Jose Earthquakes, Major League Soccer announced today that Quakes midfielder Darren Huckerby has been named the 2008 MLS Newcomer of the Year.

“Darren had phenomenal run for us right from his arrival to the team,” stated Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop. “He brought an attacking mentality to our team that helped spark us on our run for the playoffs. His experience and professionalism were also great assets to the team this year. He is very deserving of this award.”

Huckerby joined the Earthquakes July 14 when the team acquired his rights from Toronto FC. The former Norwich City star immediately made an impact on the field scoring in his first two home matches. He scored six goals and notched four assists in 14 games with the Quakes and won the team’s Most Valuable Player award. He also won the team’s Budweiser Golden Boot award with his six goals.

The native of Nottingham scored game-winning goals against the Kansas City Wizards on Aug. 30 and D.C. United on Sept. 6. After strong month of September he was named Major League Soccer Player of the Month, scoring three goals and notching one assist in the month. In Huckerby’s first eight matches with the team, the Quakes posted a 4-0-4 record, part of the Quakes league-high nine-game unbeaten streak.

The Quakes were 3-9-4 before Huckerby’s arrival and finished the season with a 5-4-5 record after he joined the team. Prior to his arrival in San Jose, Huckerby played in more than 200 matches and scored 32 goals for the Norwich City Canaries between 2003 and 2008. He is a two-time Norwich City player of the year and was named to Norwich City’s all-time Best XI. In his professional soccer career, which spans back to 1993, he appeared in matches for Lincoln City, Newcastle United, Millwall, Coventry City, Leeds United, and Nottingham Forest.

Huckerby becomes the second recipient of the MLS Newcomer of the Year award, introduced last year to recognize the first-year player with previous professional experience (and therefore not eligible for Rookie of the Year) who has made the biggest positive impact on his team.

The Newcomer of the Year winner is given the MLS player with the most votes in polling of MLS players, general managers, coaches, and members of the media.