Real Salt Lake: Russell left exposed in expansion draft

Monday was a bit of a bittersweet day for Robbie Russell and Ned Grabavoy. The night after playing an integral role for Real Salt Lake in its MLS Cup-clinching victory over Los Angeles, with Russell even burying the winning penalty kick, the pair were among 12 RSL players whose fate is now up in the air.

Shortly after arriving home from Seattle, Real Salt Lake unveiled the 11 players it will be protecting from the Philadelphia Union expansion draft on Wednesday. Russell and Grabavoy weren't on the protected list, which means in less than 48 hours they might be with a new club.

"It would be nice to have some control of the situation, but right now I have no say in it. It's a little awkward, but it's just the way it is," said Russell.

The 11 players RSL is protecting are Javier Morales, Jamison Olave, Fabian Espindola, Chris Seitz, Nick Rimando, Robbie Findley, Kyle Beckerman, Nat Borchers, Will Johnson, Chris Wingert and Tony Beltran.

Philadelphia is allowed to pick 10 total players from the 15 MLS teams, and existing teams can lose a maximum of one player. Along with Russell and Grabavoy, Pablo Campos was probably the other most notable player on the unprotected list.

Even though fan favorite Andy Williams has been left unprotected, it's unlikely Philadelphia would be interested in veteran players like him and Clint Mathis as it looks to build a foundation for the future.

RSL also left Yura Movsisyan unprotected, no big surprise really considering he's leaving for Denmark in January. Philadelphia could gamble and take Movsisyan anyway, and it would own his rights if he ever returns to Major League Soccer.

Grabavoy has played for four different teams in six years in MLS and is the type of experienced player Philadelphia might want to build an expansion team around. He'd prefer to stay with Real Salt Lake though.

"I want to be a part of great organizations. I've played with some good ones and I've played with some pretty bad ones as well. To be honest, when I'm done playing it's going to be based on how many championships I have, and that's how I'm going to look at my career," said Grabavoy, who has now won two MLS Cups. "I think Real Salt Lake has the right pieces in place, they're doing the right things as an organization to make this club competitive every year."

For general manager Garth Lagerwey, he's adamant that dealing with the expansion draft is the worst part of his job.

"No matter what we do we will lose," he said. "It's not that we're going to be second guessed ... anybody we lose we don't want to lose."

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com