Union release trialist Clésio Bauque, unsigned draft Aodhan Quinn
On Monday, the Union decided to not retain the services of two players: midfielder Aodhan Quinn, a Supplemental Draft pick, and forward Clésio Bauque, a trialist.
UPDATED Tuesday: I should have offered an explanation of a way that the Union could keep both Fred and Keon Daniel, so I've added that.
Also, someone asked in the comments why McLaughlin and Pfeffer are exempt from the cap but Hernández is not. Teams were only allowed to exempt two players from the cap in the 2013 roster rules, and Hernández had the lowest salary of the Union's three HGPs.
Major League Soccer's roster compliance deadline came and went this past Saturday without the Philadelphia Union making any formal moves.
You may have wondered why that was the case, since the Union took more than the 30 players allowed on a squad on their trip to the Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando.
The answer is actually pretty straightforward: the trialists and all the draft picks except Andre Blake were not actually signed to contracts. Blake was the exception because as a Generation Adidas player, he signed with the league before the SuperDraft.
On Monday, the Union decided to not retain the services of two of those unsigned players: midfielder Aodhan Quinn, a Supplemental Draft pick, and forward Clésio Bauque, a trialist.
As of now, two draft picks remain unsigned: midfielder Pedro Ribeiro and defender Richard Marquez. The Union also have to decide whether to sign veteran Brazilian midfielder Fred, a former Union fan favorite who has been back with the team this winter as a trialist.
If they sign Fred, he'd have to take up a coveted place among the 20 on-budget players in the Union's roster. Right now, all 20 of those places are full, so the Union would have to send someone packing in order to sign him.
(Here's the update: They could also move Aaron Wheeler, who made the off-budget maximum salary in 2013, to that part of the roster. And the more I think about it, the more it seems likely they do that.)
Here is my latest 30-man roster projection.
Goalkeepers
1. Zac MacMath
Defenders
2. Austin Berry
3. Fabinho
4. Ray Gaddis
5. Amobi Okugo
6. Sheanon Williams
7. Ethan White
Midfielders
8. Corben Bone
9. Brian Carroll
10. Danny Cruz
11. Fred da Silva
12. Keon Daniel
13. Maurice Edu (Designated Player)
14. Michael Lahoud
15. Sébastien Le Toux
16. Cristian Maidana (Designated Player)
17. Vincent Nogueira
Forwards
18. Conor Casey
19. Antoine Hoppenot
20. Jack McInerney
High salary class (at least $46,500 by 2013 roster rules)
21. D Matt Kassel
22. M Cristhian Hernández (Homegrown)
23. M Pedro Ribeiro
24. F Aaron Wheeler
Low salary class (at least $35,125 by 2013 roster rules)
25. GK Brian Holt
26. D Richard Marquez
27. M Leo Fernandes
Exempt from salary cap
28. GK Andre Blake (Generation Adidas)
29. M Jimmy McLaughlin (Homegrown)
30. M Zach Pfeffer (Homegrown)