Timbers expand roster through expansion draft

NEWEST PORTLAND TIMBERS

Eric Brunner, defender, 6-4, 170. The 24-year-old Columbus-area native played 39 matches over the past two seasons with the Columbus Crew (36 starts). Has scored two MLS goals. Acquired: Selected from Columbus in the second round (third overall) of the MLS expansion draft.

Jordan Graye, defender, 6-2, 170. The 23-year-old Washington, D.C. native played in 20 matches in 2010 as a rookie with D.C. United. Acquired: Selected from D.C. United in the ninth round (17th overall) of the MLS expansion draft.

Jeremy Hall, defender/midfielder, 5-11, 175. The 22-year-old from Tampa, Fla., played in most of the New York Red Bulls 2009 matches as a rookie. Limited to 13 matches (nine starts) for New York because of injury in 2010. Acquired: By trade with New York Red Bulls for a third-round pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft.

David Horst, defender, 6-4, 210. The 25-year-old Pennsylvanian played on loan with the Puerto Rico Islanders in 2010, helping the team to the USSF Division 2 Pro League title and on a deep run in the CONCACAF Champions League tournament. Acquired: Selected ninth overall from Real Salt Lake in the 2010 MLS expansion draft.

Adam Moffat, midfielder, 6-0, 175. The 24-year-old from Glasgow, Scotland, is a six-year pro who has played in 44 MLS matches over four seasons with the Columbus Crew. Acquired: Selected from the Columbus Crew with the fifth overall selection in the MLS expansion draft.

Rodney Wallace, midfielder, 5-11, 155. The 22-year-old led D.C. United in minutes as a rookie in 2009. Played in 11 matches before missing most of 2010 to injury. Was a teammate of Jeremy Hall on Maryland’s national championship team in 2008. Acquired: By trade with D.C. United for Dax McCarty.

PORTLAND — Three of their selections were quickly traded away and two of their later picks are not expected to play Major League Soccer next season, but the Portland Timbers management expressed delight at the results of Wednesday’s MLS expansion draft.

“We took a giant step today in building a very good soccer foundation for the next couple of years,” Timbers coach John Spencer said.

Building the roster that will debut in March figures to be a fluid process in the coming weeks and months, but Wednesday was a significant step for the 2011 expansion teams.

The Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday each selected 10 players from current MLS teams as part of the process of building their rosters. The existing clubs each protected 11 players from the expansion draft.

The Timbers picked first in each round, starting with FC Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty. Within hours, McCarty was traded to D.C. United for Rodney Wallace, a 22-year-old midfielder/defender.

Within hours of the draft, Portland had also traded away picks Anthony Wallace and Arturo Alvarez, Anthony Wallace, who Portland picked with the seventh overall selection in Wednesday’s draft, was sent back to the Colorado Rapids for an undisclosed amount of allocation money. Alvarez, picked with the Timbers 10th expansion draft selection, was traded to Real Salt Lake for the 22nd overall selection in January’s SuperDraft of college players.

As of late Wednesday, it appeared five of the 10 players selected in the expansion draft could be among the estimated 35 players who will be included in the preseason training camp that will form the squad.

Portland’s second and third selections were both from the Columbus Crew: defender Eric Brunner and midfielder Adam Moffat.

“The two guys from Columbus came from a top class organization,” Spencer said of the two 24-year-olds. “They are experienced players who have played in some big games.”

Defender David Horst, midfielder Peter Lowry and defender Jordan Graye were the other three expansion picks who might have a shot at playing for the Timbers in 2011.

Less likely to become Timbers are a pair of U.S. national team players who have said they intend to play internationally in 2011: forward Robbie Findley and defender Jonathan Bornstein.

Findley, who played at Oregon state, reportedly will explore playing in Europe. Bornstein is expected to join Tigres in Mexico’s top league.

“We might never need these guys, but they’ll be of value to us if they come back to the league,” Spencer said.

General manager Gavin Wilkinson indicated there might soon be other signings announced. Those could include both international players and players who played for the Timbers in the U.S. Soccer Division 2 Pro League this season.

Wilkinson also said he is in no hurry to finalize the roster.

“We’re not in any rush,” Wilkinson said. “We’ll take a lot of players into preseason and make the final decisions there. You’ll also see potentially a few more foreign players coming into the mix now, and maybe a few more trades.”

Including Bornstein and Findley, the Timbers have 13 players on their roster. The club earlier signed forwards Bright Dike (Dee-kay) and Eddie Johnson, midfielder Ryan Pore and goalkeeper Steve Cronin to MLS contracts.

Though only a few of players selected on Wednesday might end up playing for him, Spencer was all smiles as he met with media after the draft.

“Although it doesn’t look like I’m very excited — I’m very tired, I must say — but I’m very, very excited,” the coach said.

“We think we got a number of guys today that could be here for a long, long time.”