In my previous post about the Superdraft, I showed that some teams drafted better than others based on Superdrafts from 2010 to 2012. But, some teams like Seattle have done very well even though they did not find any gems in Superdrafts between 2010 to 2012; only one of their recruits (Alex Caskey) has played more than 1000 minutes in his first two years So why is that? There are multiple ways to acquire talent and now I'll take a look at another source - international players.
I'll take a look at another source of talent - overseas clubs. Most clubs have at least couple of their starters recruited internationally, mostly from CONCACAF countries or South American countries though rich clubs like LA and New York have recruited some of the top players from Europe.
Not all overseas recruits make an impact for their MLS clubs though, in fact less than half have done it. I have made a list of overseas players who have made to either Castrol Index or PAR list in at least one of the years from 2011 to 2013. PAR list is not widely known, so let me tell a bit about it. It stands for Points Above Replacement and was created by Dave Laidig, and is modeled after baseball’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) stats. More details can be found at www.par-stat.com. I found that the list of names are mostly common but a few players who have played very well for few games but didn't play much did not make it to the Castrol Index list but made it to the PAR list. This is because Castrol Index gives high weight to number of minutes played. One example is Vancouver's Kekuta Manneh (recruited via Superdraft)
-One of the tools many MLS clubs utilize is agent Alejandro Taraciuk. Taracuik is a former MLS intern-turned-agent who helped establish Real Salt Lake's 2009 championship team by recommending Fabian Espindola, Javier Morales, and Jamison Olave. Taracuik pratically represents MLS in South America; he also brought Jorge Perlaza, Diego Chara, and Diego Valeri to Portland as well as Fredy Montero and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado to Seattle. Taraciuk also said, "I have been responsible for bringing approximately 70 players to the league and without doubt Diego Valeri is one of the best players I have placed in MLS." It would be interesting to find the role of agents in international players coming in. Teams also seem to focus around certain regions like Montreal in Italy.
-It is worth noting that there is no direct co-relation between recruiting quality players from overseas clubs and success in MLS. Dallas has recruited 9 international players and Vancouver has 10 players who have been starters for them, still they had far less success than San Jose, who have just two significant overseas recruits during the same period - and Simon Dawkins of them was on loan from parent club Tottenham. So really they just have Victor Bernardez to show for.
So, there are more ways to assemble a good team, than drafting and overseas scouting. I'll cover it in a future post.
I'll take a look at another source of talent - overseas clubs. Most clubs have at least couple of their starters recruited internationally, mostly from CONCACAF countries or South American countries though rich clubs like LA and New York have recruited some of the top players from Europe.
Not all overseas recruits make an impact for their MLS clubs though, in fact less than half have done it. I have made a list of overseas players who have made to either Castrol Index or PAR list in at least one of the years from 2011 to 2013. PAR list is not widely known, so let me tell a bit about it. It stands for Points Above Replacement and was created by Dave Laidig, and is modeled after baseball’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) stats. More details can be found at www.par-stat.com. I found that the list of names are mostly common but a few players who have played very well for few games but didn't play much did not make it to the Castrol Index list but made it to the PAR list. This is because Castrol Index gives high weight to number of minutes played. One example is Vancouver's Kekuta Manneh (recruited via Superdraft)
| Team | Number of overseas recruits who has made the top 150 list at least one of the seasons 2011 or 2012 or 2013 | Three best overseas recruits |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 6 | Marco Pappa Arne Friedrich Alex |
| Chivas | 4 | Maicon Santos Erick Torres Michael Umana |
| Colorado | 3 | Hendry Thomas Jaime Castrillon Jamie Smith |
| Columbus | 6 | Federico Higuaín Jairo Arrieta Emilio Renteria |
| DC United | 1 | Hamdi Salihi |
| Dallas | 9 | David Ferreira Jair Benitez Marvin Chavez |
| Houston | 5 | Oscar Boniek García Jermaine Taylor Lovel Palmer |
| LA Galaxy | 9 | Robbie Keane David Beckham Juninho |
| Montreal | 6 | Marco Di Vaio Felipe Martins Alessandro Nesta |
| New England | 5 | Jose Gonçalves Saer Sene Jerry Bengtson |
| New York | 11 | Tim Cahill Thierry Henry Juan Pablo Angel |
| Philadelphia | 3 | Lionard Pajoy Keon Daniel Carlos Valdes |
| Portland | 6 | Diego Valeri Pa-Modou Kah Diego Chara |
| Real Salt Lake | 6 | Javier Morales Fabian Espindola Jamison Olave |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 2 | Victor Bernardez Simon Dawkins |
| Seattle | 12 | Osvaldo Alonso Mauro Rosales Fredy Montero |
| Sporting Kansas City | 6 | Aurelien Collin Jimmy Nielsen Oriol Rosell |
| Toronto | 7 | Danny Kovermans Adrian Cann Robert Earnshaw |
| Vancouver | 10 | Camilo Gershon Koffie Lee Young-Pyo |
-One of the tools many MLS clubs utilize is agent Alejandro Taraciuk. Taracuik is a former MLS intern-turned-agent who helped establish Real Salt Lake's 2009 championship team by recommending Fabian Espindola, Javier Morales, and Jamison Olave. Taracuik pratically represents MLS in South America; he also brought Jorge Perlaza, Diego Chara, and Diego Valeri to Portland as well as Fredy Montero and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado to Seattle. Taraciuk also said, "I have been responsible for bringing approximately 70 players to the league and without doubt Diego Valeri is one of the best players I have placed in MLS." It would be interesting to find the role of agents in international players coming in. Teams also seem to focus around certain regions like Montreal in Italy.
-It is worth noting that there is no direct co-relation between recruiting quality players from overseas clubs and success in MLS. Dallas has recruited 9 international players and Vancouver has 10 players who have been starters for them, still they had far less success than San Jose, who have just two significant overseas recruits during the same period - and Simon Dawkins of them was on loan from parent club Tottenham. So really they just have Victor Bernardez to show for.
So, there are more ways to assemble a good team, than drafting and overseas scouting. I'll cover it in a future post.
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