Dallas is on the clock, but who do they pick?
/Today in the Chivas dispersal draft lottery, which, let's face it, is all kinds of depressing, FC Dallas took home the top allocated selection in the draft that is to take place next week. Now that the order has finally be established the question now becomes what exactly does Dallas with their selection?
As I see it there are two standing options:
First, they can select whomever they feel has the greatest trade value then simply try to leverage their run of luck into something a bit more tangible (note: the pick itself is not free to be traded, rather only the product of the pick). This seems more than possible as the pickings from Chivas' roster are a little slim.
There will be some dollar value associated with the pick and the goal of Luiz Muzzi, Dan Hunt, Brent Erwin and Oscar Pareja is to cumulatively come to an agreement of who they believe has that greatest value.
The follow-up question is whether they in turn trade that value for allocation monies or, maybe, and in my mind more probable, another player that fits more of the team mold that Oscar Pareja is trying to build.
Or, Secondly/alternatively, they can pick a player that best matches the needs of the club and they utilize the pick to build depth, either by way of finding some mash-up of quality and financial cost. Which despite the overall team results, there are players of value on the Chivas roster and, as pointed out by Matt Doyle, there are even a few that could make an impact on some MLS roster this coming season.
While there are many different points of view on the subject of value, I'm approaching this from the angle of creating scoring chances and goals. This is something that is a bit of a tough subject to approach when speaking to all players because it doesn't really cover the full gambit of details that are needed to make accurate assertions.
But, when you are trying to find value and, specifically, trying to identify places of need it helps to look at certain details that are maybe under served by the present roster. I'm not trying to use a metric to identify who is the best or claim someone is better than anyone else. This is just an exercise in possibly feeling holes in the Dallas roster.
We all know the first name on any ones lips to leave is Dan Kennedy but let's skip him right now, and place him on hold for another time. Also, since we have no clue what's going on with Erick Torres let's pass on him too. With all the cavets now out of the way I present to you my three selections that are, admittedly a little out of the box.
First things first. Let's talk defense and let's talk... Jhon Kennedy Hurtado. Yep, that guy.
Again, I'm not trying to say that he's better than anyone else. But I find him intriguing on a few different levels. First, he has the highest expected goals (expected goals + expected assists) per 90 minutes played for defenders for either Chivas USA or FC Dallas. He also finished in the top-30 for aerial duels won which leads to his ability to how he's creating shots, off set pieces.
Squawka doesn't think a lot of Hurtado's defensive abilities and rates him pretty middle of the road. Which I think is a fair assessment. He's probably a back-up on a very good team. The thing is that kind of is exactly what Dallas needs right now. Sure, they just kept Seattle to one goal over a two legged series. But that's not a accurate portrayal of performance and it doesn't speak to the lack of depth and experience with central defenders.
If Dallas front office feels that their time with George John is up, and I wouldn't be surprised for him to not be in Dallas at the start of the season, then Hurtado makes a lot of sense as depth and becomes extremely useful as a late sub on set pieces.
Next up, Martin Rivero.
Okay, so, I'm probably not the only person that's going to connect the dots from Rivero tand his time with the Rapids to Oscar Pareja and his new gig with Dallas. Now, I have no idea if the two even liked each other. It's possible, maybe even probable, that they didn't. Though it's possible their the best of friends. I really don't know the whole story and I doubt few really do. There is the thing about Rivero missing a sizable amount of time in 2013 due to a combination of injury and... well, "coaches decision". Anyways, speculate away. What do I care?
What I do know about Rivero is that he's still has time to grow professionally. Only 24 and just two years removed from posting a +10 total expected goals season, Rivero is a starting caliber talent that some how ended up buried on one of the leagues worst teams.
He's also only making a slight bump above league minimum according to the Players Union and considering the issues of the depth at the central midfield it may behoove Dallas to find a cheap understudy of sorts for Mauro Diaz. Maybe.
I was really impressed with him in Colorado, when he saw time on the pitch, and I would enjoy seeing him find himself once more within MLS. 2015 Dark horse for Comeback Player of the Year. You heard it hear first.
Last is Leandro Barrera.
Berrera a 23 year old from Argentina produced 5+ TxG this season from 36 shots scattered across a rough 2,000 minutes. Not exactly blow out material from a young forward paired with one of the leagues hottest young talents. However, his shot distance (average of 25 meters) coupled with his xAssists (3.43, sadly leading Chivas) could conjure the thought that his role was more of supplier for his Mexican strike partner.
The long shots were probably more of a tactical imprint in an attempt to "prove" to defenders/wandering midfielders that they needed to mark him outside of the 18 or he'd be inclined to pop off a shot or two. This in a vain attempt to take at least some focus away from Torres.
Much like Rivero above, he's making peanuts. But adjusting for his positional cost he's really making even less than fellow countryman. Barrera is a bargain and one that has talent and could be a change of pace up top to that of Blas Perez or any of the giant sized lumbermen that sit up top. His small stature and quickness to slip around the box could make him an interesting candidate to act as depth for Castillo out wide or to slip back into the middle for Diaz.
Barrera is a super deal and while most people would place him third or even fourth on the Chivas USA forward depth chart Caleb Calvert has more risk and is more of an investment while Ryan Finley is basically the second coming of Eddie Johnson. Do Hoop fans deserve to endure another EJ experience? I think not.
There are a lot of things to consider over the next week as Dallas weights it's options. It should be interesting to see how this goes down.