The San Jose Earthquakes are on pace to tie the all-time single season points mark. If they keep up their two points per game pace the rest of the way, they will finish with 68 points, which would tie them with the 1998 LA Galaxy.
It’s a remarkable turnaround. The Quakes finished 2011 with 38 points. Yesterday they captured their 40th point of the season.
Let’s look at how Frank Yallop put together the roster that has become the most surprising of 2012.
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Listed in order of most minutes played to fewest (International and Generation Adidas slots indicated):
Defender Justin Morrow -- 2nd Round draft pick 2010– loaned to D2 while developed)
Defender Steven Beitashour -- 2nd Round draft pick in 2010
Forward Chris Wondolowski -- Trade with Houston for Cam Weaver in 2009
Goalkeeper Jon Busch -- Signed as a free after being released by Chicago in 2010
Midfielder Rafael Baca (Mexico) – discovery signing, mid-season 2011
Midfielder Sam Cronin - Trade with Toronto for allocation money in 2010
Defender Jason Hernandez -- original expansion draft pick in 2008
Midfielder Ramiro Corrales – discovery signing in 2008
Midfielder Marvin Chávez (Honduras) – Trade with Dallas for allocation money in 2011
Defender Víctor Bernárdez (Honduras) – Discovery singing in 2012
Forward Steven Lenhart -- Trade with Columbus for the 2011 15th draft pick (Justin Meram) and allocation
Forward Simon Dawkins (England) – Loaned from Spurs in 2011, extended in 2012
Midfielder Khari Stephenson (Jamaica) – discovery signing in 2010
Midfielder Shea Salinas -- Trade with Vancouver for allocation money
Forward Alan Gordon -- Trade with Toronto (along with Nana Attakora and Jacob Peterson) for Ryan Johnson in 2011
Midfielder Tressor Moreno – loaned from Santiago Wanderers in 2012
Defender Ike Opara (GA) -- 3rd overall pick in the 2010 Draft
Goalkeeper David Bingham (GA) -- Acquired via weighted lottery in 2011
Forward Sercan Güvenışık (Turkey) – Discovery signing in 2012
Forward Sam Garza (GA) -- 6th overall pick in the 2012 Draft
Midfielder Brad Ring -- 2nd round draft pick in the 2009 Draft
Forward Cesar Diaz Pizarro (Peru) – Discovery signing in 2012
Midfielder Jean Alexandre (Haiti) – Trade with Salt Lake for a 2012 Supplementary Draft pick, loaned to D2 currently.
The first thing that jumps out is the lack of big names. The Quakes have been helped in that regard by Wondolowski. No one could have predicted his form when the trade was made with Houston, so the Dynamo can’t feel too bad by the fact Weaver only has 10 goals for them since the move (Wondo has 18 this year).
Another fact that’s reinforced is how important it is to keep a core together for a while. The roster by year acquired:
2008 -- 2
2009 -- 2
2010 -- 6
2011 -- 6
2012 – 6
With 10 players having played at least three years with the Quakes familiarity has been allowed to develop. The numbers are even more impressive when you only look at the top 11 minutes earners:
2008 – 2
2009 – 1
2010 – 4
2011 – 3
2012 – 1
Seven out of 11 with three years or more in San Jose.
Another thing that jumps out is that the Earthquakes have not used any single type of method to find players. The roster by way acquired:
Draft -- 5
Trade -- 7
Discovery -- 6
Loan -- 2
Other – 2
That’s a pretty even distribution (although a special hat tip for still having an original Expansion Draft pick hanging around – he should be the one to accept the MLS Cup…).
The one really exceptional thing to jump out is how successful they have been in trades. With the exception of the Gordon, Peterson and Attakora for Jonhson swap the Quakes have been far and away winners on every trade they’ve made
They’ve acquired a couple key pieces for allocation money (including, TFC fans well know, Sam Cronin), which speaks to another factor.
The Earthquakes have opted to go after established MLS players, or young domestic players with a good college pedigree, rather than the big name splash. As a result that’s allowed the Quakes to use allocation money as trade bait.
That’s the third, less sexy, use allocation can have. In addition to paying down cap hits and transfer fees, allocation can be a good way to pry solid MLS players away from teams that are fishing for stars.
That’s a lesson many in not just Toronto, but also Montreal and Vancouver might want to learn.
The final point we can draw is to look at the lack of reliance on international players. To borrow an old Canadian Football League adage, the team with the best (domestics) wins. Domestic players are more stable and generally stick around longer. That, in turn, allows clubs to keep a core together long enough to grow and succeed.
There is, of course, more than one way to skin the cat. But, history tells us the most likely way to succeed is to follow the model used by San Jose.
The “Canada factor” (smaller domestic pool, reluctance of some Americans to play in Canada) might prevent Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver from following that model. However, we won’t know until one of the three teams tries to build things that way.
Current evidence – with seemingly a DP signing a day in the Great White North – suggests we’ll be waiting a while.