Dynamo Quiet in First Stage of Re-Entry Draft

The Houston Dynamo did not select a player during today's first stage of the Re-Entry Draft. The 2nd stage will be held next Monday.

While 16 teams passed with their picks, three did make moves. Chivas USA selected forward Arturo Alvarez from Real Salt Lake, defender Carlos Mendes moves from the New York Red Bulls to the Columbus Crew and Danleigh Borman was selected by the New England Revolution from Toronto FC.

Mendes immediately joins the Crew's roster as they picked up his current contract. Borman and Alvarez have been given Bona Fide contract offers (nobody knows what that means so don't feel bad) that they can accept or reject. Should they reject the offers, their rights would remain with the clubs and they must either retire, leave MLS or work a trade...confused yet?

Dynamo players Jason Garey, Hunter Freeman and Eddie Robinson were not selected in the first stage of the draft.

Players that were available in the first stage have until 5pm ET on December 9th to negotiate new contracts with their previous clubs. Stage 2 gives clubs a bit more flexibility in being able to re-work contracts with selected players, so there's a good chance we could see more movement next Monday. Should a player go through Stage 2 unselected, their services are available to any MLS club on a first come, first serve basis...just don't call it free agency!

If you're curious why MLS goes through all this nonsense, it's the compromise worked out during the last collective bargaining agreement between the players and the league. It's a quasi-free agency system that allows players to move around when their contract options are declined and provides some wonderfully confusing situations for fans.