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Kevin Payne is winning praise for his wheeling and dealing during the 2013 MLS SuperDraft. The new general manager and president of the club was the talk of the draft, after making moves down the table and picking up valuable allocation money along the way. Like a merchant making money on the road to the market, Payne managed to pick up a commodity early, and then took the first round draft pick and leeched cash out of it.
The main story, however, is a distinctly Canadian one - Toronto FC doubled down on Canada, picking up Kyle Bekker at number three and his long time teammate, Emery Welshman, at 16. Prior to the draft, Payne had told reporters he was not interested in Bekker, but his little white lie ended with Bekker coming to Toronto FC.
It's not the number three pick that created a fervour amongst viewers; rather, it was pick number one that caused the most commotion. Payne first traded the pick to New England in exchange for pick number four and allocation money; he then turned that number four selection into the number 10 pick, trading to Vancouver and adding, you guessed it, allocation money. Finally, Payne and company took a risk and traded the tenth pick to Seattle in exchange for the sixteenth pick.
Oh, and also, more allocation money. Toronto FC called it a day soon after and chose Emery Welshman.
Payne turned an otherwise straightforward draft pick and turned it into cash, a commodity that the team can use to sign players from abroad. This is an area that Payne has already addressed, making it clear that not only will Toronto FC use this allocation to sign foreign players, they will specifically look to South America for talent.
But, before we dissect allocation, lets talk about the players. Bekker, who was once the fancy of Toronto FC's eye back in 2011, will finally don the red of TFC. He's a defensive midfielder, scored twice in the combine in Fort Lauderdale (though that's not something to judge a player on alone) and holds the record at Boston College for assists, recording 22 last season.
Welshman is a forward who was described as smart on the line and capable of getting behind opposing defenders. He supposedly has a keen sense of taking defenders on but could be more clinical in his finishing.
Both players are valuable depth options, with Bekker being the more MLS-ready. It's possible that Bekker could start for Toronto FC, partnering up with either Torsten Frings or Julio Cesar, perhaps both, should Toronto FC use him as a left midfielder. Bekker is an interesting option because he supposedly has a strong first touch and if he's anything like Frings and is capable of controlling the flow of midfield, the argument can be made that he should start ahead of the German.
Let us face reality - this is Frings' last year at the club. His value to the roster will be split between leadership on the field and off, but his actual, tangible contribution may be detrimental to Toronto FC, both in the short term and long. If Bekker is capable of starting, there is no point starting Frings; give Bekker the spot and let him learn the MLS style, much like Morgan.
Bold moves like the ones Payne made, when they work, makes the man looks like a genius. However, hindsight can be quite cruel to those managers in the draft who have made similar moves and paid the price. Consider that if Eric Hassli leaves now, Toronto FC will be chastised for giving away their first round draft pick for next year, a waste of what might have been a very high pick.
What happened at this years' draft is distinctly Torontonian in nature; we picked two players based on their passports. If Toronto FC were interested in drafting the best players available, Welshman being selected is not the best example.
Think of it this way - if Bekker and Welshman were Americans, would they have been selected? Would fans be pleased with the results of the draft knowing that we could have kept picks one and three and picked up better American players?
Now, allocation money can be a very valuable commodity, too - Toronto FC has regained 20 per cent of their salary cap back, according to Payne. He has also outlined a need for difference makers and hinted that a DP-quality player could be signed for non-DP price. This may be crucial to Toronto FC's season, since the team has their hands tied with three hefty DP contracts alongside two inflated salaries in Richard Eckersley and Darren O'Dea.
Payne needs to convert this allocation money into at least two players of noticeable quality, which isn't difficult to do if the team has the kind of resources that Payne has hinted at. The exact number for the allocation money TFC has now is unknown, but there have been hints that it could be anywhere from $200,000 to over half a million dollars.
However, the only way Payne will "win" the draft is if Bekker works out. At 16, Welshman can be forgiven for not panning out, since picks that low rarely do. If Bekker doesn't make a difference, people may look back at this years' draft and say Toronto FC wasted its picks, the same way some look back at the 2009 draft and say "we could have taken Omar Gonzalez."
Hindsight is cruel, but it's also unfair to the teams. There's nothing you can do. Sometimes, lower picks work out, higher picks fail spectacularly, and players who no one expected to do well break out and become stars.
The draft is only successful when the players you pick end up working out. If they don't, then most move on, but if Bekker doesn't work out, the hindsight will be even more brutal because of what Toronto FC gave up for what they got.
That's really the only barometer that Toronto FC fans can judge this entire draft by, anyway, while many may look at Payne making many moves and "bossing" the draft, there is an equally valid outlook when considering our future hindsight - can this be seen as the draft that saw Toronto FC give away future stars like Andrew Farrell, Walker Zimmerman, or Eriq Zavaleta in exchange for money and a Canadian duo?
Right now, we have a pair of local players who have done well, not amazing, not terrible, but okay, in their college years. Will it translate to MLS?
We'll just have to wait and see!
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