There were some major trades that happened this Women’s Professional Soccer off-season, and they all involved 2010 WPS Draft picks. Now that those selections have been made, the exchange value of each trade is more apparent.
The final effectiveness of each trade to respective teams is something that has to be monitored over a long period of time, and it is only years from now that final analysis of each trade can be made. However, now that some of these draft picks that were traded now have players associated with them, it is a good time to check in on these recent trades to see exactly what was traded away by each team. See if you can follow this chain of transactions:
Sept. 29, 2009: The Boston Breakers traded Amy Rodriguez and their first pick in the 2010 WPS Draft (fifth overall) to the Philadelphia Independence for its first and second picks in the 2010 WPS Draft (second and 11th overall).
Oct. 7, 2009: The Los Angeles Sol traded Allison Falk and Valerie Henderson to the Philadelphia Independence for its first round pick (5th overall) and its third round pick (22nd overall) in the 2010 WPS Draft.
Oct. 29, 2009: FC Gold Pride traded Allison Whitworth and its third round pick (23rd overall) in the 2010 WPS Draft to the Atlanta Beat for its second pick (10th overall) and second round pick (12th overall) in the 2010 WPS Draft.
Jan. 7, 2010: FC Gold Pride traded Tina DiMartino, the 14th overall pick in the 2010 WPS Draft and the rights to a 2009 international discovery player to the Los Angeles Sol for Camille Abily and the 20th overall pick in the 2010 WPS Draft.
Jan. 8, 2010: The Los Angeles Sol traded the rights to an international discovery player and its seventh round pick (65th overall) in the 2010 WPS Draft to the Boston Breakers for its third round pick (25th overall) in the 2010 WPS Draft.
Now the fun begins. Boston traded Rodriguez and the No. 5-overall pick to Philadelphia and got the Independence’s No. 2 and No. 11-overall selections in return. Boston would keep those two selections and use them on Lauren Cheney (at No. 2) and Alyssa Naeher (No. 11).
Philadelphia then took that No. 5-overall selection and sent it to Los Angeles along with the No. 22-overall pick in exchange for Falk and Henderson. By the time those picks are done traveling Philadelphia essentially picked up Rodriguez, Falk and Henderson while giving up Cheney and Naeher to Boston and Nikki Washington (No. 5-overall) and Kiki Bosio (No. 22-overall), if you care to look at things that way.
At this point, it is really tough to say who got the best of this series of deals. Cheney might be the best player of the bunch, but they are all unproven talents thus far. Rodriguez still needs to prove her worth at the WPS level and while Falk did well with LA in 2009, she needs to prove that she was not a beneficiary of a good team. Right now, there is too much uncertainty around these deals to figure out which team benefited the most, although Boston did get rid of A-Rod and pick up a strong athlete in Cheney, who may be considered a big upgrade in the eyes of Breakers fans.
FC Gold Pride got involved in the market in early October and came out with an absolute steal
2010 then came, but the dealing was not done. FC Gold Pride sent DiMartino, the No. 14-overall pick and the rights to an international discovery player to Los Angeles for 2009 midfield stud Camille Abily and the No. 20 pick. LA would use the No. 14 pick on Michelle Enyeart, while FC Gold Pride would use the No. 20 selection on Kaley Fountain. Simply put: Advantage FC Gold Pride.
Finally, we saw Los Angeles send the rights to former FC Indiana and current Frankfurt star Laura Del Rio, along with the last pick in the draft (No. 65) to Boston for the No. 25-overall pick. The Sol selected Defender Estelle Johnson with that pick. Right now this is a fairly under the radar trade, but if Boston can convince Del Rio to sign with the team, it will be a major plus for the Breakers.
It is no coincidence that the same few teams kept dealing and re-dealing. FC Gold Pride and Boston underperformed, while falling short of a championship was enough of a disappointment for Los Angeles to want more. Then, of course, are the two expansion teams looking to build rosters in Philadelphia and Atlanta.
Also not to be forgotten is the most recent blockbuster deal, which saw Chicago ship out Lindsay Tarpley to Saint Louis for goalkeeper Jillian Loyden in the only trade not involving draft picks. As unfair as that trade may seem for Chicago, it helps fill a need for both teams.
Granted, if different teams selected in different positions, the players chosen would be different, but the draftees still represent what each team got in return. Obviously, these deals cannot be fully evaluated until things play out on the field, but there seem to be some winners thus far.
| 3 Comments… read them below or post one |
| Anonymous said… |
| Both are interesting points. I don’t think Chicago “got screwed,” because Loyden is one of the best keepers that would be available, and the Red Stars need a goalkeeper. It may end up being beneficial to both teams. Chicago gets a fresh start and Saint Louis gets a quality player. All of these trades need to play out in the coming months… -JEFF |
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| Anonymous said… |
| Tarpley is world class, and Chicago is dense for trading her away. |
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| Anonymous said… |
| So it sounds like you’re saying Chicago got screwed in that Tarpley deal. We’ll just have to wait and see how well her knee rehabs to know for sure. |
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