BIG THANKS TO ZACH FOR HELPING ME GET THIS TO POST

Sometimes being bored has its advantages.

After an hour of being undercaffeinated while listening to a lecture about the philosophy of coaching Under 8's waaaaay too early on a Saturday morning, my thoughts drifted to the Orangemen (apologies to anyone Irish for that reference). These musings soon found their way to paper.

As playoff races tighten up, each result seems exponentially magnified, increasing the closer a team is to the cut-off line. For a team in Year 1 of a partial rebuild, a subtext underlies the playoff hunt- whatever happens on the field will help determine next year's roster. Hopefully, this will be a parallel process as we will be playing for the now, and also evaluating and planning for the later.

Several questions come to mind:

1. Where does Cameron play- now and/or next year?

            This decision should affect many other decisions.

2. Is Boswell a starter or a sub?

            As above.

3. Who will start next year- Sarkodie or Freeman?

4. Who pairs with Ching?

5. Will we ever have a deep enough roster to rest Ching effectively and not suffer the results (discounting April's record)?

6. Who plays at Central Attacking Midfield (spin off question- do we keep the diamond midfield)?

7. Are Costly and Camargo players we want for next year?

If no, then we need to already be planning when, how, and where to look for next season.

8. In the next expansion draft, what 11 do we protect? Given our roster, there's gonna be 

    some really tough decisions.

Last yrs rules: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/official-mls-expansion-draft-rules

9. Looking outside the 11 protected, we probably want some value for players likely to get selected in the expansion draft. Who do we need to trade before we lose them (if unprotected)? Who is dead weight?

10. Who are the cornerstones of our rebuild?