So long Shea
By Jeff Carlisle · November 25, 2009
The San Jose Earthquakes knew they were taking a calculated risk by leaving winger Shea Salinas exposed in Wednesday’s expansion draft. As it turned out, their worst fears were realized, with the Philadelphia Union selecting the Furman product, along with nine other players.
Salinas is a player who has yet to fully realize his potential, but an extended run in the team towards the latter half of the season saw him record five assists, and he provided the Quakes with a high-energy defensive presence out on the right flank.
Salinas also had a significant impact on the local community, winning the Andrew Bedard Memorial Spirit of the Game Award, which is given by Soccer Silicon Valley to the Quakes player who best exemplifies community service.
Salinas’ departure means that Arturo Alvarez will likely return to the right flank, the good and the bad of that. Good in that he remains a dynamic attacking player, capable of beating players off the dribble. Bad in that his tendency to cut inside and strike at goal makes him very predictable, and his defense still needs plenty of work.
Could the Quakes have done something to avoid losing Salinas? Of course, although hindsight always helps. The decision to protect Bobby Burling instead of Salinas almost certainly would have produced a better outcome. It makes me wonder just how concerned the team is about Jason Hernandez’s ability to recover from his ankle surgery.
WTF?!? I waited with anticipation for this moment and I just don’t know what’s going through the heads of the Earthquakes management. Let’s protect Corrales (yes somewhat reliable in what he does but rarely spectacular play and who has said he will retire in a couple years) and Burling (who has yet proved himself as part of our team and is currently only a backup to our main central defenders) and lose a young player with tons of potential. Thanks for screwing us once again. Hopefully they’ve got something spectacular up their sleeve for next season… but I’m not feeling optimistic at the moment.
Jeff are you going to have a chance to ask yallop & co. what there logic was?! they could of left not only burling but also corrales(let’s be honest , nowak knows he’s avg. at best & he’s old). It’s just getting very hard to support this crap.
NOOOO! Trade some draft picks to get him back or something. Not like Frank and Co. seem to value the draft much anyway.
Why the F*** was Burling protected. Please ask our management that.
I don’t usually agree with bashing on Frank et al, but in this case I find it hard not to.
Burling is a back up who i don’t think anyone sees the same potential in as Shea displayed. I think particuarly with Hucks gone I would be more worried about keeping depth on the wings than in back. Moreover, I really can’t imagine Philly would have jumped at the chance to take burling there were better central defenders left unprocted.
you know, i still haven’t renewed my season tickets yet. i’m just wondering what they’re thinking, but it looks like frank & john are gonna bet their jobs on Convey as Left Mid next year, or else they’re planning to deal him for a draft pick. it’s still way early, but the GM decisions better start making more sense between now and march.
this is the most disappointing outcome we could have seen come out of this day…..i want doyle and yallop to sit down and explain to the season ticket holders why the decision was made to protect who they chose to, and why they felt salinas was expendable…..if they really wanted to hang on to salinas, i want to know which brain-dead imbecile decided to expose him to the draft……i realize that salinas was far from a finished product, but he was one of the few exciting players we had, and one of the few able to go at a defender 1 v.1 and create a decent scoring chance…..and since, collectively, the quakes lack the soccer IQ to work as a team to create scoring chances, we are left needing players who might luck into half a chance
To AngryQuakesFan
Why the F*** was Corrales protected????/
I’m bummed. I really liked Shea!
The guys got tremendous potential. I’d hate to see it come back and bite Quake ass in the next season.
well the injury concern w/ Jason helps explain the decision, but just points out yet another weakness. agree with tmack, we’re still long on questions and short on answers.
Bad move. This was someone who was on the rise. Quakes leave him open only to let it bite them where it hurts. One reason why I hate the team is run–they focus on their bottom line dollar wise in regards to salaries and not on the team as a whole…
What happened to moneyball? Shea is playing well over his salary…
I still haven’t forgiven the team for Ronnie O’Brien’s treatment. Now they pull this? I’m not sure I’ve given up on Yallop yet, but Doyle has got to go. I don’t even want to watch the games anymore because I know they’re going to lose anyway. They’ve become the Newcastle of MLS.
Terrible!!!!! Stupid short-term thinking. If these guys can’t see that Shea Salinas was about the only bright spot (other than Cannon and Johnson) last year, then they have no clue. Doyle’s comment that Shea may be a star in the future but maybe not reveal what a DOLT Doyle is.
Not protecting Shea, but protecting Corrales and Burling, is SO DUMB that we fans have to begin to demand a change in the front office NOW. Including the coach.
Quakes fans are too damn nice. We saw terrible play last year, bad decisions on Yallop’s part all year (shuffling players around to cover up a lack of offensive strategy, especially in the midfield), questionable player acquisitions (Andre Luiz had NO goals and NO assists yet was praised as the answer in the middle), and on and on.
I”m an outraged season ticket holder who would NOT have renewed had I known this. Anybody need tickets?
this is the stupidest move since ROB! Corrales should have been on that list NOT SALINAS. You are sure lucky we can’t vote out our GM. Their would have been torches and pitchforks after this one!!!!!
Wow, Doyle messed this up.
Why keep Corrales? Can he even run anymore???
James, I feel your pain. I also agree with everything you say. I’ve been howling for Doyle and Yallop’s heads for months. They did a terrible job building the squad in ‘08, but had some good middle of the season signings. Then they did a terrible job in the off season, but had some decent signings in the summer transfer window again. So why are we giving them a third chance to ruin the start of our season? Yallop is clearly not preparing the guys well, nor can he tell who his best players are. He should have played Zaher every available minute the last half the season so that he could develop into the kind of left back we need. Instead, Frank wanted to play Convey and or Corrales at any cost. I’m convinced that both Frank and Doyle have lost their ability to recognize talented players. How else do we explain Convey, Elliott, and Corrales getting so many minutes? And Fabio?! Really? Why did Frank bench Zaher and Ribeiro after they turned in good games? Not that Ribeiro is great mind you, but he’s way better than Corrales or Elliott in central midfield. If nothing else, he’s faster, tackles harder, and wins more headers. Whatever. I’m depressed.