By Ben Knight

 

“Trader Mo” was quiet on draft day. 

Left with only a second- and fourth-round pick in the annual MLS auction of NCAA product, TFC GM Mo Johnston resisted the temptation to make headlines dealing up into the first round.  He settled for a long-term project and a longshot, and the Reds roster remained relatively unruffled.

Good.

I admit I’m one who finds Trader Mo a bit of a carnival sideshow.  I’d honestly be happier if the tents came down and the carts moved on. 

But there’s a very good reason why Toronto FC didn’t have a lot of selections in this dubiously legal exercise in restraint of trade: they cleaned up last year.

Sam Cronin, Stefan Frei, O’Brian White.  The first two instantly became solid, bankable MLS starters.  White, battling back from a career-threatening knee injury, showed significant promise in limited playing time.

As soon as all those deals went down, Johnston fired off his top 2010 pick down to Texas to FC Fairground-Fun-For-Frolicking-Families for Canadian international Adrian Serioux. 

TFC is now a team loaded with promising youth.  Gambians Emmanuel Gomez and Amadou Sanyang wandered in later, and Fuad Ibrahim is still a hot prospect – and will still be a teenager for another year and two thirds.

The Reds also have some front-line stars in Dwayne de Rosario and Julian de Guzman.

In other words, they don’t need any more kids.  Toronto’s gaping holes – striker, wing play, central defence – would be better filled by … players.  Just some good, effective better-than-average pros would pretty much nail it.   

The parallel truth is, there aren’t that many current TFC players who could ever be dealt straight-up for a draft pick.  Carl Robinson or Marvell Wynne – both rumoured to be on the move yesterday – just can’t match the future potential of top young college kids who won’t count against the salary cap for a while.

When Mo finally got his moment, with the 24th pick overall, he grabbed 17-year-old central defender Zac Herold.  How is a desperately young kid going to fill a position that cries out for veteran leadership?  He isn’t.  The hook here is he’s got six years of “Generation Adidas” exemption from the salary cap.  He’s free, in other words.  If he can play in three years, great.  If not, he’s a really useful throw-in for a future hole-filling trade.

Pure game-playing, in other words – which is most of what this silly draft exercise consists of, anyway.

Overall, I’m giving Trader Mo a solid B for his drafting yesterday.  It was a time to do nothing, he knew it, and got a couple of spare parts that might actually help him solve one of his many larger problems.

Now we need a new CBA, so everyone knows how much money there actually is to spend.  Then Johnston’s got to get to work filling holes for real.

And while we’re in the neighbourhood, am I the only one who’s getting concerned that Nick Garcia is still on the Toronto roster?  The veteran defender showed neither speed nor height last season, and opposing teams were deliberately – and successfully – running stunts on him down the stretch.

Garcia, of course, was Johnston’s teammate for many years in Kansas City, but new coach Preki builds on his back four, so that’s got to be the end of that, right?

Except Garcia, of course, was Preki’s teammate for many years in Kansas City as well. 

I understand the real dealing hasn’t started yet, but there are few Toronto players with more miniscule trade value.  Why is he still here?

Onward!