Quakes hoping draft homework pays off
The San Jose Earthquakes haven’t had much in the way of draft picks the last two years. In both instances they didn’t have a pick until the second round. But this season, the Quakes find themselves among the teams with a surplus of selections, and general manager John Doyle indicated they intend to use them.
At present, the Quakes own the #3, #19, #28, #30, #37, #51 picks. For that reason Doyle indicated that San Jose has been dedicating more resources towards evaluating college talent.
“We’ve been scouting college games earlier, and we’ve been trying to nail things down earlier,” said Doyle. “We’ve scouted over 100 college games, which is well ahead of past seasons.
“We have a lot of picks, and we’re probably going to use them. In the past, we were trying to get a competitive team on the field. Now we’re trying to add to it.”
Doyle added that the he wasn’t averse to dealing a pick or two away if the right player were offered, but he likes what he sees from this year’s class.
Of course, Doyle didn’t divulge what areas of the field the team would try to shore up, but with the loss of Shea Salinas in the expansion draft, and the retirement of Darren Huckerby, it would appear that augmenting the wing midfield positions is high on his list of priorities.
Doyle also added he was encouraged by the practice performances of last year’s second round pick, Brad Ring, who missed the entire season due to a hip injury.
“Ring did a good job during the last part of the season,” said Doyle. “He could help us.”
Cool, thx for the update. SBI mentioned MLS signed 3 columbian centerbacks. Any word on whether we claimed any of em?
Doyle should look for Generation Adidas players because they offer more protection in a draft, but wait, Doyle doesn’t get it, so… another year of rebuilding for the Quakes.
Hallelujah! definitely need to add to the team and am glad to hear they’ve been scouting as much as possible. need to take best available player w/ each pick:
Forwards- Bunbury, Bone, Akpan
MF’s – Tchani, Stahl, Da Luz
Def’s – Rice, Loyd, Sarkodie
Please don’t make draft an injured player again and please pick up strikers!
WK – good job on the names – those are top guys but SJ CAN ONLY GET ONE of them at the #3 pick: the rest will be gone BEFORE # 19. BTW: Bone was an outside and central MF his entire career at Wake Forest so move him to that list and add say Mwanga of OSU and Walker UCSB to the forwards. Heck, since they know UCSB you can add Hedevag to the Defenders. He’s no Opara or Schuler (Creighton) but he’s physical as hell! See how crazy it gets- 4 deep at 3 areas and you still have only a slim chance of getting one of those guys at # 19! There are less studs but maybe more diamonds in the rough in this class.
Dear Front office:
Please! please! please! don’t just focus on defenders, I know both Frank and John played the position but we need an attacking mentality to be competitive so focus on some forwards or attacking midfielders. It doesn’t matter if we give up less goals than most of the other teams if we can’t score any ourselves.