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First of all, before going too far on this rant, it’s unavoidable that landing Troy Perkins totally erases a major concern the team had going into the season. Having spent the better part of the last two years being strangely unable to find a keeper in a league that produces them seemingly at will, DC has got a guy that could legitimately solve their keeper problem for the next ten years. Plus, since all signs pointed to Perkins desperately wanting to come back to DC, Nowak was in the catbird seat to fleece DC which might be a bit of karmic backlash, but there you go.

However, reports seem to suggest Fred and the money were more valuable to Philly than that seventh pick, so it makes one wonder if something else could have been offered instead. Still, be that as it may, that golden first round pick is gone. DC also traded away their second round pick in the deal to get Christian Gomez back last year, and their third round pick somehow found its way to LA, maybe to complete considerations for the Quaranta or Kirk deals from the last few years. Whatever, it was gone too.

So, all DC has to show for this draft is Jordan Graye, a defender out of North Carolina, maybe the next Eddie Pope or maybe the next David Stokes, hopefully more the former than the latter. But, that’s only if he actually makes the roster which is never a sure thing for any draft pick much less a fourth rounder. Still, no matter how you look at it, DC simply seems to disregard the draft.

Now, perhaps that incredible uncertainty about the young players you are drafting is why United takes the draft so lightly, the fact that it is such a crapshoot. At least it is for a team who obviously scouts college players pretty poorly as evidenced by their dreadful record of draft success. Case in point, of the 13 first round picks they’ve had since 2002, only four have mounted to anything and two of them (Pontius and Wallace) came last year in the deepest draft in MLS history. Plus, Freddy fell into their laps thanks to MLS wanting to keep a 14 year old happy and he wasn’t all that important a player anyway, leaving Alecko as the other somewhat successful story (MLS Cup MVP before being brained by Reis and later moved on for part of the money that was used for either Fred or Emilio).

But, the real horror story is looking at how those other 9 premium first round picks were used. 5 of the 9 other times, DC used the pick to draft a player and were almost completely disappointed. Mapp and Kante in 2002, Stokes in 2003, Moose in 2006, and “Mookie” Arguez in 2007. None contributed anything of note, although Mapp was traded for Dema, and at least Arguez was sold for some of the money used to pay down a salary of one of those South American gunslingers of 2008, or maybe help with Vanney’s salary, either way not much to show for him or those other picks. Even worse, Stokes was part of the return for trading away Pope, Moreno and Richie in 2003, and Kante part of the return for trading away Albright.

Surely, the other four out of those nine times United had a number one pick, and instead of using it, traded it away instead for an actual experienced player, they got someone good in return? After all, an experienced player shouldn’t be a crapshoot, should he? Nope, DC wasted those picks too. DC’s natural 1st rounder in 2004 went to Dallas for Cerritos (3 goals, 2 assists in 20 games), 2005’s first rounder simply disappeared, “future considerations” of some sort from some earlier deal probably. Let’s hope it wasn’t from the Devin Barclay or Jason Thompson deals, but whatever, it was gone for nothing essentially. Then, “lightning” Rod Dyachenko was famously re-acquired for a number one pick in 2008, enough said about that, leaving only Perkins this year as the sole hope that trading away a number one pick might actually be a good idea.

And for the record, United’s use of second round picks is pretty frightening too. I’ll spare you the recitation, but suffice it to say Brian Carroll and one year of Stoitchkov’s flamboyance is about all DC has had to show for second round picks in the last 8 years. In fact, Josh Gros (fourth round) is about the only player worth a hill of beans DC has drafted outside the first round the entire Kasper tenure, and the vast numbers of slots and players traded away for nothing would make you shudder.

But, recent history is really the point isn’t it? Surely the fact that this year’s number one pick clearly went for a solid player who could solve the goalkeeper position and undoubtedly upgrade the leaky paint bucket that has been DC’s defense the last few years is by far more relevant than any of this ancient history?

I don’t think so. Leaving aside the point that teams who draft well do well, as that is generally true in my opinion, but certainly debatable. No, the real problem is that now DC simply has to go out and buy or find marginal players for depth who will not be as economical as players you can find in the draft. Granted in the past some of DC’s coaches have had a pretty sketchy record developing talent, but Onalfo does not have that stain on his character. He is deemed pretty good developing talent for the most part. As good as anyone not named Nicol or Kinnear anyway. So, why not give him a crack at it?

Anyway, point is that now DC will have to trade for depth players from around the league, which means giving up more draft picks in the future (or losing roster players who are decent enough to develop), AND the new guys they are always more expensive than a draftee. Which is bad policy in such a tightly capped league. Or even worse than that, DC will have to go out and buy players on the regional market, and the success rate of imports is already no better than the draft. Plus, it’s a bigger investment of money and cuts into the budgets for the truly crucial big money striker position and central midfield positions DC already has to fill on the transfer market.

In addition, constantly buying or trading for players does not develop a sense of team. It often develops a mercenary attitude that flat out undermines the team building process. DC already has problems in those areas because of the wicked turnover the past few years top to bottom of the roster. So, whatever new guys they bring in this year could be hesitant to really bond with the United Way since they know they could be gone as quick as they came based on DC’s roster decisions the past few years.

Finally, this bears repeating from one of my earlier articles. Leaving aside Arena as that is not a fair comparison since most of his players were drafted, the DC coach who had the most draft picks contributing regularly was Nowak, and he’s the only DC coach to have an MLS Cup this century. I do not think that is a coincidence. In fact if you look at the breakdowns at the end of the Nowak years, as well as the entire Soehn tenure of failures, it was an almost utter lack of decent depth outside the first XI that scuttled the team. DC couldn’t buy a deep enough roster, and pretty much refused to develop it, so they failed when push came to shove. So, what has changed this year?

Bottom line, Perkins coming back to DC is a very good thing, even the loss of an overpaid Fred and some of the huge stack of money DC is stockpiling isn’t really a bad thing. But, the loss of that one lone seventh round draft pick (even if it is a crapshoot), is not a good thing at all. Maybe if it was truly the only way Philly makes the deal, then there you go. But, considering the quotes and actions being uncovered recently, it seems Nowak was way more interested in Fred and the money than the pick.

If that’s the case, DC fans have reason to fear nothing has changed in the mindset of the front office. All the shiny new players that are bought and sold will not erase the fact that United appears to be stuck in an endless loop of trying to buy their way to the top by focusing on the on the icing before they even bake the cake. Long past time to put a stop to this practice. Hopefully, this is the end of an era of dissing the draft.

Bottom line, it’s easy to excuse this particular deal because Perkins is such a known quantity and the loss of one lone quality pick seems so insignificant, but the revolving door has to stop. It’s one thing to continually buy the top flight talent, the Emilio’s, the Gallardo’s and the Gomez’ of the world. That’s expected and somewhat imperative in MLS. But to continually shun the economical advantages of the draft to flesh out the worker bees of the team, to mortgage the future in order to buy your fantasy team now, and to simply refuse to be smart about developing home grown young talent who can step in when the chips are down is a recipe for disaster.