Dynamo protect 12 players ahead of 2024 Expansion Draft

(image via Houston Dynamo FC)

The 29 Major League Soccer teams, including the Houston Dynamo, have submitted their list of protected players ahead of tomorrow’s Expansion Draft for new club San Diego FC. Each team could protect 12 players, with San Diego getting to make five picks, with a maximum of one per team.

The Dynamo had four players automatically protected: Stephen Annor (Generation adidas), Brooklyn Raines (Homegrown Player), Kieran Sargeant (Homegrown Player), and Xavier Valdez (Homegrown Player). The club then got to protect 12 more players, with the rest becoming available for selection by San Diego.

The 12 players that Houston have protected are:

• Amine Bassi

• Coco Carrasquilla

• Artur

• Griffin Dorsey

• Micael

• Lawrence Ennali

• Franco Escobar

• Aliyu Ibrahim

• Ezequiel Ponce

• Nelson Quinones

• Erik Sviatchenko

• Andrew Tarbell

That means the following players are available for selection tomorrow by San Diego:

• Exon Arzu

• Ethan Bartlow

• Latif Blessing

• Steve Clark

• Sebastian Ferreira

• McKinze Gaines

• Jan Gregus

• Hector Herrera

• Sebastian Kowalczyk

• Junior Moreno

• Tate Schmitt

• Gabe Segal

• Brad Smith

• Daniel Steres

• Ousmane Sylla

• Jefferson Valverde

Some of these players had options declined and will no longer be on the Dynamo in 2025, but the list goes off players under contract in 2024. Players like Herrera, Clark, and Steres are now free agents so it wouldn’t make sense for San Diego to use one of their five picks on them when they can just sign them.

The two names that are probably the biggest surprise on the list that are not protected are Sebastian Kowalczyk and Ethan Bartlow. Keep in mind, San Diego only gets five picks from 29 MLS teams. And they can only take one player from a team. At most, Houston will lose just one player. Even the odds of that happening are low with 28 other teams to also choose a player from.

It remains to be seen what strategy San Diego will have coming into this. Will they pick players that they can trade to other teams? Will they look for cheaper, domestic players to help build their roster? We will have to wait until 9:30 PM tomorrow to see just what they do. Could they take Bartlow or Kowalczyk? I think Bartlow has a much higher shot of being picked than Kowalczyk does and that is still a low percentage.

Will the Dynamo lose a player to San Diego tomorrow? Let us know.