‘D.C. United vs. New York, 2006 Eastern Conference Semifinals, October 29, 2006’
courtesy of ‘The West End’
D.C. United made a big move yesterday heading into the MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia: they went after their old keeper, Troy Perkins. With Josh Wicks sidelined until the middle of spring due to an injury, and two much much younger keepers on the roster, United courted a face they knew and managed to get Perkins to come back from Norway to play in the Black and Red again.
So, here’s how this all works. Perkins is coming back from Europe, which means he’s eligible for the SuperDraft. United was to pick 7th overall in the draft, but wanted to ensure that Perkins came home to DC, so they traded for 1st pick in the SuperDraft, which belonged to the Philadelphia expansion team. United sent Fred, allocation cash, and their 7th pick in the draft just up the road so that they could secure Perkins for 2010.
We will miss Fred, and wish him well in Philadelphia, but it’s great to have a winning keeper back on our side.
Update: Via D.C. United’s Kyle Sheldon: “The way in which we acquired Perkins was actually via the allocation order – separate from the SuperDraft. The SuperDraft, which takes place today is only for college players who have made themselves eligible. The allocation order is a separate ranking order used to obtain players who have signed with MLS, but are not yet with a team. It is just coincidence that both Philly’s spot (1st) and our spot (7th) is the same in both the SuperDraft and the allocation order.”
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
I just wanted to correct a little bit, since MLS rules can be complicated. Basically, MLS has a system where there can’t be bidding wars for players, no matter how they arrive here. When you’re in the situation of Perkins, returning from abroad, the team you left would have rights to you unless you were compensated for his departure, which DC United was (they transferred him, essentially traded him for cash) for $750,000.
So instead of just coming back to DC, his rights go into an ‘allocation order’, in reverse order of last year’s finish, unless you’ve already used yours. Philly, being an expansion team, went to the head of the pack. So for any returning US player*, we would have had to trade to Philly to get to the head of the line.
* (Well, actually, he has to have been good enough to get at least a little time with the National Team to count for this allocation order thingy.)