Justin Mapp?! Yura Movsisyan?! Ives spills the gossip

[Ossington Mental Youth]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns...ot=mls&cc=4716

The Chicago Fire had a pretty exciting draft day, in part for a trade almost made and for one that almost wasn't. After seeing a potential deal with Toronto FC involving Justin Mapp and the No. 2 and No. 4 picks fall through, the Fire scored with a last-minute deal that sent the rights to goalkeeper Matt Pickens to Colorado for an allocation (believed to be between $100,000 and $150,000) and a swap of second-round picks that allowed Chicago to move up eight spots.

What other players nearly were moved during draft week? Yura Movsisyan was a Toronto FC target in a potential deal for high draft picks, while Jonathan Bornstein was shopped around by Chivas USA and still looks like a good bet to be dealt amid word that he and head coach Preki aren't exactly seeing eye to eye.

[Shakes McQueen]

But another midfielder was just what we needed!

- Scott

[Ossington Mental Youth]

HAHAHA
i think we did ok.
Little surprised that no defenders were involved, guess that means Mo has some on the way (i bloody well hope)
Really glad we didnt get Yura

[Shakes McQueen]

While neither player is terrible, I wouldn't trade our draft picks for either of them.

- Scott

[BuSaPuNk]

^ Complelely agree. I'm more happy with the 3 picks that we had. Don't need more midfielders and average players.

[Damien]

Is it just me or do a lot of players not see eye-to-eye with Preki?

[Oldtimer]

Drafting a good midfield potential will give us depth.
We didn't really need Mapp, or Mike Magee either for depth.

Mo must be looking outside of the draft/trades to bolster our D.

[Lucky Strike]

Mapp and Movsisyan are good players, but honestly not exactly what we need at this time. There'd be someone along the line who would be unhappy with his lack of playing time.

[Oldtimer]

With the No. 13 pick still in hand, Toronto got wind of the strong likelihood that Chivas USA would have to take a midfielder at No. 9 rather than Frei, whom the Goats had strongly coveted. Knowing Frei might slide all the way to No. 13, Johnston made the bold move of grabbing injured but highly regarded UConn forward O'Brian White with the No. 4 pick. The pick may have seemed like a reach, considering White will be out until May or June recovering from knee surgery, but teams were ready to grab him before TFC would choose again at with the 13th pick. The gamble paid off, as Frei slid all the way down to No. 13, helping Toronto score what could wind up the best first-round haul in MLS history.

Mo Knew what he was doing in the draft. How he managed to correctly calculate what other GMs were going to do shows why drafting is his strength.

[Steve]

Mo Knew what he was doing in the draft. How he managed to correctly calculate what other GMs were going to do shows why drafting is his strength.

Exactly. Here's the thing everyone else has to understand: The draft isn't a single player game. Your choices aren't only based on what you need. Hell, your choices aren't only based on what the best player is available at the time, your choices are based on what you think everyone else is going to do. If you have two players you want (like White and Frei) with a lot of teams picking in between you have to be able to read the field and make the choice most likely to net you both. In this case, Mo thought Frei would fall farther than White. He turned out to be right (how many here would have made that choice?).

[ccopela]

Mo Knew what he was doing in the draft. How he managed to correctly calculate what other GMs were going to do shows why drafting is his strength.

I'm pretty sure Ives said something similar last year when we took Phelan and James in the first round and then ended up getting Edwards and Lapira in later rounds.

[Stryker]

Jonathan Bornstein was shopped around by Chivas USA and still looks like a good bet to be dealt amid word that he and head coach Preki aren't exactly seeing eye to eye

Who does Preki get along with. Him and Guevara have daggers for each other too.

[Pachuco]

While neither player is terrible, I wouldn't trade our draft picks for either of them.

- Scott

Really though, Mapp is a heck of a proven midfielder in the MLS. We have never seen these draft picks play and they all could bomb for all we know, I'm not so sure I mysefl wouldn't have traded to get Mapp.

[VPjr]

^ I'm inclined to agree that I'd rather have a sure fire player in Mapp over a draft pick who is just as likely to flop as he is to thrive.

Nonetheless, Mo picked good players and now the team has a lot of competition at key positions and internal competition is a VERY GOOD thing.

[ensco]

For me, it is very hard to call Mo a genius, as he very obviously reached for White, and just got lucky on Frei. (I'm not saying he's an idiot, I'm just pointing out the obvious.)

If nothing else, I would have been more impressed if Mo had traded down to number 7 or 8 and nabbed White there (although there's always the chance someone else grabs him).

[Oldtimer]

For me, it is very hard to call Mo a genius, as he very obviously reached for White, and just got lucky on Frei. (I'm not saying he's an idiot, I'm just pointing out the obvious.)

If nothing else, I would have been more impressed if Mo had traded down to number 7 or 8 and nabbed White there (although there's always the chance someone else grabs him).

He didn't "just get lucky" on Frei, it was a strategic move. You're treating it as if it was winning the 649, it was more like a complicated labour negotiation.

Suggesting that Mo would have been better to trade down assumes:

(1) 7 or 8 was available
(2) That they wouldn't try to take Mo knowing that he wanted white
(3) that anything we'd get for trading down would be worth anything more than a bag of balls.

The descriptions of that day do not mention anyone offering a deal like that. He could have traded down to the third round, but White wouldn't have been available.