Where Sporting Kc Stacked Up Against MLS Clubs In 2011

I haven't really seen anyone do this so I decided I'd give it a try. I've gathered a series of data points for Sporting Kc  from the MLS website and will be posting them below. I know it's pretty basic and almost anyone could do it but I just haven't seen it done in KC yet. Plus, I want to do it so fans can easily look down here and break down some of Sporting Kc's season themselves.

So here are the stats:

Category: Ranking in MLS out of 18 teams - Number of "points" in that category

Goals: 2nd - 50
Assists*: 14th - 35
Shots: 1st - 488
Shots on Goal: 2nd - 159
Fouls Conceded: 5th - 425
Fouls Suffered: 8th - 416
Offsides: 16th - 71
Corners: 8th - 161
Penalty Kick Goals: 9th - 4

*assists may seem inflated for some teams but MLS counts "secondary assists"
If you want to FULLY break down the rest of the MLS then you can go here. 

So as you can see Sporting Kc were quite easily one of the best attacking teams in the MLS all season. Recording 488 shots on goal throughout the 2011 campaign, a league best. One of their lowest indicators however was their offside's calls. Sporting Kc were only called offside 71 times, one of the leagues lowest at 16th. But it's actually a good thing seeing as it indicates that our front line is calm and composed. Besides, I'm fairly certain Bravo had about half of those.

Sporting Kc Waive Jeferson, Rocastle, Lorenz, and Stojcev

Following the loss of Seth Sinovic to Montreal in the 2012 Expansion draft Sporting Kc have announced that 4 other players will not be with them at the start of next season. SKC have released Jeferson, Craig Rocastle, Scott Lorenz, and Milos Stojcev from their roster and are now free agents.

All 4 players except for Lorenz spent some decent time on the pitch early in the season for KC but then faded away and didn't get much if any playing time at the end of the season. However, I do see Jeferson and Stojcev returning to their respective countries to seek first team action while Lorenz and Rocastle could be picked up by another MLS team.

Regardless, this is most likely just another stepping stone to a big move by Sporting Kc, I can smell it...

Montreal Impact Acquire Seth Sinovic From Sporting KC In 2012 Expansion Draft

The Montreal Impact has chosen Seth Sinovic as their 10th and final pick in the 2012 Expansion Draft. Seth was left off of Sporting Kc's protected list that consisted of 11 players. Some other notable players left un-protected were: Omar Bravo, Michael Harrington, and Soony Saad.

Seth joins other decent MLSers like Justin Mapp, Zarek Valentin, and Sanna Nyassi in Montreal. But there is certainly more trading to be done and I wouldn't be surprised if Seth doesn't start the 2012 season in a Montreal shirt. I encourage you to stay tuned into Montreal very closely over the next few days, to monitor the deals that will occur up there.

Top 11 Players Left Unprotected In the MLS Expansion Draft 2012

One of the more surprising names left unprotected, Freddy Adu

Yesterday, every club in the MLS including Sporting Kansas City had to give the league their protected list ahead of the 2012 expansion draft which will be held tomorrow at 2 pm. The Montreal Impact have the luxury/burden of raking in 10 of MLS' "under-par" players. But which players should Nick De Santis bring to Canada's third and possibly final team?

Well, essentially De Santis will be drafting a lot of players that won't end up in Montreal at the start of the 2012 season (i.e. Dax McCarty), and there are under the table deals going on between MLS clubs and their managers right now as you are reading this. Throw in the fact that Montreal can only pay 'X' amount of players 'X' amount of money before they reach their league wide salary limit and Nick and the rest of his staff will be hard-pressed to do the best they can to get Montreal's season started off right.

Well, lets say De Santis was allowed 11 players to choose from (instead of 10) and he didn't have to worry about the salary cap. Who would he bring in? I would love to look inside his head and see his thought process behind this draft.

But, if I was choosing 11 unprotected-players to fill a blank starting XI from the whole league and there was no salary cap, this would be my starting 11:

Unfortunately there is a salary cap and Nick is limited to only 10 players. Who he will choose and what trades he will make is between him, his staff, and God. Luckily all will be revealed shortly. Like tomorrow shortly and the following days will cause unprecedented havoc and chaos for every club's manager and staff in the MLS. You thought the season was over didn't you? Wrong, it's just starting.

Additional Links:

2012 Expansion Draft Rules

List of all protected and unprotected lists in MLS

Sporting Kc Player Salaries Released, Omar Bravo Earning Only $120,000

Omar Bravo celebrates scoring a goal with his teammates .

On May 1st the MLS Players Union released this. The MLS player salaries. Such a great resource for fans to look at and analyze.

Top Earners In MLS:
LA - David Beckham - $5,500,000
NY - Thierry Henry - $5,000,000
NY - Rafa Marquez - $4,600,000
LA - Landon Donovon - $2,300,000
TFC - Julian de Guzman - $1,863,996

Top Earners For SKC:
Davy Arnaud - $250,000
Julio Cesar - $210,000
Jimmy Nielsen - $200,000
Kei Kamara - $200,000
Shavar Thomas - $160,000


Summarized:
 If you notice on the actual list, the Players Union lists Omar Bravo as earning only $120,000. But for a player of his caliber and the fact that he is a DP, this is nearly impossible. So I assumed he earns $1,200,000. However, I was wrong, Bravo somehow only makes 120,000 , as revealed by the Full 90 .

You can actually analyze the list and see a lot behind Sporting's salaries.

• SKC wants to keep Teal Bunbury, Michael Harrington, and Roger Espinoza (see guaranteed compensation)   
• SKC believes in Kamara, making him the 5th highest earning player in the squad
• SKC does not have much left in the salary cap
• SKC pays Cesar far too much
• Draft picks don't earn much

Does anyone earn too much? Does anyone earn too little? Tell me in the comment section below.