The Seattle Sounders have announced their protected list for Wednesday's expansion draft, in which Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps will select from the unprotected players to help form their squads for 2011.
Protected Players
Osvaldo Alonso
Brad Evans
Alvaro Fernandez
Mike Fucito
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado
Nate Jaqua
Kasey Keller
Fredy Montero
Jeff Parke
James Riley
Steve Zakuani
Unprotected Players
Julien Baudet
Terry Boss
Danny Earls
David Estrada
Leo Gonzalez
Taylor Graham
Patrick Ianni
Roger Levesque
Tyrone Marshall
Miguel Montaño
Blaise Nkufo
Pat Noonan
Sanna Nyassi
Zach Scott
Michael Seamon
Nathan Sturgis
Tyson Wahl
So after the Sounders announce the trade of Pete Vagenas to Colorado Rapids in exchange for Julien Baudet and Danny Earls, Seattle elected to leave their two newest players unprotected.
While there aren't many big surprises on this list--many had hoped Blaise Nkufo would stick around, but most who follow the Sounders realized there was a great likelihood that he would be left unprotected--Sounders supporters shouldn't fret too much if one of their favorite players is on the unprotected list. After all, Seattle can only lose two players in this expansion draft. The true worry is seeing one of our favorites wearing a Whitecaps kit, or even worse, donning yellow and green.