Monday MLS Breakdown: Supplemental Extinction

By Kyle McCarthy 

When I first heard the MLS Supplemental Draft might follow the dodo bird into extinction, the following thought coursed through my mind. 

Please let it be true. 

Given the lengthy list of successful players who joined the league through the Supplemental Draft, my reaction doesn't make much sense.  

Former Fire captain Chris Armas went in the first round in 1996. Ezra Hendrickson and Carlos Llamosa joined the league through the Supplemental Draft in 1997, while C.J. Brown was the top pick in 1998. Those are just the key players from the first three years. Other notable Supplemental Draftees include Brandon Prideaux (1999), Brian Ching (2003), John Wolyniec (2003), Jason Hernandez (2005), Jeff Larentowicz (2005), Devon McTavish (2006), Danny Cepero (2007) and Kheli Dube (2008). 

Despite the success of those players, there won't be a moment's grief from this pundit when and if an official announcement finally arrives and the SuperDraft becomes the only draft we need to monitor during the off-season. Players, coaches and fans won't hold vigils either, wishing and hoping the de facto fifth through eighth rounds of the SuperDraft would remain in place even as rosters shrink.  

That reaction comes out of compassion for those marginal or overlooked players who stand to gain so much if the Supplemental Draft get scrapped. If I was a good, but not outstanding, college soccer player who just scraped into the Combine and may or may not get picked in the SuperDraft, I might just hold a party in honor of the Supplemental Draft's demise because my options just expanded considerably.  

Compare the situations of a Supplemental draftee and an undrafted free agent. 

Take a possible third-rounder as the example. A third-round supplemental draft pick faces long odds just to make the developmental roster. Red Bulls midfielder John Gilkerson was the only player to stick this year, while Kosuke Kimura (Colorado) and Erik Ustruck (Houston) remain with the team that drafted them from the 2007 edition. 

Talent is part of the problem for the drafted players who wash out or never get started, but the situation doesn't help either. In a draft setting, teams can weigh individual situations, but talent and potential are the overriding factors without regards to externalities. Coaches don't get hired and fired based on cutting a talented player a break and letting him play closer to home because he isn't making any money. 

Considering the financial stakes, those externalities aren't insignificant. Teams offer developmental salaries well below the poverty line as the reward for potentially moving halfway across the country to chase the professional soccer dream for a short period of time. Location becomes a real question for these players when teams ask players to move across the country for small dollars and small opportunities or risk not having another chance to play in the league unless the local team or a closer team is willing to give up considerations for a player who might sneak onto the end of its roster.  

Everything changes when less-heralded players aren't tied to particular clubs. 

For those players, it means there is now a choice on the table other than the binary “MLS or something else” decision. Players who just missed out on selection through the SuperDraft might be able to pick from a couple of different teams who show interest. Others might be able to talk their way into camp with a local team just because no other team holds their rights.  The odds of making a team might improve depending on the situation. Even if the odds don't change, the players hold more of the cards.  

Individual clubs may reap even more benefits than the impacted players. Instead of taking a chance on a player an assistant coach or quasi-scout saw once or twice during the year before the SuperDraft Combine, teams can pick and choose which players to bring in to compete for the bottom spots on the roster. That means bringing in players that might increase the level of play in pre-season as the first-team prepares for the start of the MLS season. At the very least, teams are getting known quantities who will come in and fight for spots and won't have to worry about whether the potential player's parents have enough money to bankroll him for a while. 

That isn't to say that clubs should try to eliminate the draft system altogether. Individual clubs don't have the money to scout thoroughly enough to stock their teams through individual player scouting, nor should a single-entity league create a situation where the incoming cheap labor is not, at least theoretically, disbursed equally throughout the league.  

But in this particular instance, with developmental rosters shrinking and good, but not great, college players facing increasingly long odds to make MLS, eschewing the Supplemental Draft just makes sense. If players living on a longshot want to take a chance and live that dream, the league and its teams should at least give them the opportunity and choice about how to pursue it.  

Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and blogs frequently during the week for Goal.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kylemccarthy@gmail.com.