Sounders Lose Noonan, Jaqua and Acquire Burch In Re-Entry Draft

As expected, as opposed to a fairly lifeless first round, the second round of the Re-Entry was quite active. Several clubs picked up one or more players, and the Sounders were among those to make acquisitions. While initially ranking in at the fourteenth spot, the Sounders traded up to the number one spot by dealing out their third round pick in 2014's draft to the Vancouver Whitecaps. With their first spot selection, clearly in a move to fill the void left by the loss of Tyson Wahl, the Sounders picked up DC United left back Marc Burch. Notably, Burch has previously played under Sigi Schmid at Columbus.

Not only did the today's draft see the Sounders make an acquisition, but two losses as well. Immediately after the Sounders made their selection the New England Revolution selected Nate Jaqua, and then in the following selection the LA Galaxy picked up Pat Noonan. Both players have certainly made their contributions to the club, but both have been plagued with injuries during most of the duration of their stay with the Sounders that saw that impact lessened as time wore on. Hopefully the moves work out and they get their share of playing time and serve their new clubs well.

Re-Entry Draft Next Week

This morning MLS announced the players available for the upcoming Re-Entry Draft, players who are either out of contract or whose club declined to pick up their option. It's notable that there are several goalkeepers on the list, most notably Vancouver's two primary keepers from last season Jay Nolly and Joe Cannon. Other highlights on the list include San Jose leftback Bobby Convey (who's leaving due to issues with the technical staff), DC United midfielder Santino Quaranta who should prove quite attractive to other clubs, as well as two strikers from FC Dallas (Maicon Santos and Maykel Galindo) who are already quite light on strikers.

The Sounders declined the options for Pat Noonan, Nate Jaqua, and Taylor Graham., which seems to be a bit of a no brainer seeing that for the past season they proved to be nothing more than dead weight. Jaqua has certainly made significant contributions to the club, carrying them through the Open Cup in the 2010 season, scoring nine goals in 2009, and scoring the series winner against Panama FC in the play-in round for the 2011-2012 CCL back in August, but he has been plagued with injury issues since the close of the 2009 season and hasn't proven to have much of an impact or place on the team since. Not much can be said of Noonan or Graham, they both saw very limited playing time with the first team during their duration with the team.

To view the entire list of available players, head here.