5 Things the Revs Can Do with the 33rd Pick

By Brian O'Connell
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Updated: January 14, 2015

Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz

No, Revolution fans, Wikipedia does not deceive you: For the first time seven years, the local XI approach draft day without a top 10 pick. Or a first-round pick. Or even an early second-rounder, for that matter.

After trading this year’s first round pick – which would’ve been #20 – to Sporting Kansas City for the newly re-signed Teal Bunbury, the Revolution won’t be selecting until the second round, specifically, the 33rd spot. Cue the vulture sounds and rolling tumbleweeds.

So what can the Revolution do with that pick considering that many pundits have deemed this year’s draft weak sauce? Well, let’s explore the options.

1. Select a project pick. Let’s be honest: no front office is has the insight or has made enough deals with the devil to select a bona fide hidden gem midway through the second round. Need proof? Here’s a sample of some the luminaries taken with the 33rd pick: Dan Delgado (2012), Anthony Ampaipitakwong (2011), Chris Blais (2010) and, who could forget, Henry Ring (2001). Imagine the XI you could build with that kind of talent. All wisecracks aside, the one thing going for the Revolution is that they aren’t in a position of desperation going into the draft. So taking a guy like Seth Casiple fron Cal, or Sergio Campbell from UConn won’t get anyone fired. Both players have potential. Then again, both could simply turn into prime candidates for a season-long assignment to picturesque western New York. Whomever the Revolution pick at 33rd is not going to make or break the club’s fortunes. Is it a boring pick? Yes. But boring isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

2. Package it to move up in this year’s draft. The question isn’t who in the world would want the 33d pick. The question is who wouldn’t want the 33rd pick. OK, so that may be a stretch. But given how often picks are exchanged in MLS, the 33rd pick isn’t the worst deal sweetener. Heck, we live in a world in which Brad Knighton, a quality backup keeper was traded for a fourth-rounder last winter. All draft picks have value, even second-round picks, especially for clubs in rebuild or flat out build mode. Of course, a second round pick can’t be the only part of a draft-day deal. To give any attempt to move up on the draft board some legs, you have to throw in something more intriguing. Something like Juan Agudelo’s rights, or Jermaine Jones’ rhinestone shoes.

3. Use it to acquire a veteran player. As we mentioned before, all it took to acquire a quality veteran like Knighton was a fourth-round pick. Yes, it was a conditional pick, one which could’ve presumably turned into a second or first rounder had Knighton become the second coming of Matt Reis. But the point stands: value can be added through the shrewd use of picks. All you need to do is find the right trading partner. And after each club essentially tipped its hand when the unprotected lists were revealed ahead of the expansion draft, it’s not hard to find which players could be available for a deal.

4. Trade it for allocation dough. We don’t know what the going rate for a second-round pick is these days, or any days for that matter. Allocation figures are rarely disclosed, so it’s hard to pinpoint just how many bags of cash or penny rolls any pick is worth. Either way, why not use any money a 33rd pick can attract and apply it to, say, the raise that Lee Nguyen deserves? Or use it to acquire a player straight up? Like, remember that time when the front office wanted Agudelo, and instead of trading someone to get him, they just told Chivas USA, “Hey, here’s a check”? Do you remember that? Yeah, that was pretty awesome.