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Major Leaguse Soccer announced today that nine players have opted out of the Re-entry Draft. Of those nine players, one was Chicago Fire midfielder Daniel Paladini. Jeff Crandall wrote a good article earlier this week that explains some of the ins and outs of the Re-entry Draft. Here is what Crandall had to write about players opting out:
Players have until 4pm CT Wednesday to opt out of the Re-Entry Draft, which is usually the case when a deal is imminent with their current club. This was the case with defender Gonzalo Segares this time last year, who was originally Re-Entry listed before deciding to re-sign with the Fire the night before Phase 1 in 2012.
The other reason is that teams that pick players in Phase 1 on Thursday must exercise the option (and pick up the player’s salary) or in the case of out of contract players, extend a "bona fide" offer. If that player rejects the offer, the drafting club will hold the right of first refusal for that player in MLS.
So either this means that Paladini will be returning to the Fire or another team has picked him up. With Segares' situation last year, the Fire worked out a new deal. I can not see the same happening for Paladini. My guess is that he got picked up by another club, but we all won't know for sure until later today.
An odd thing that has been happening this morning is that another player who opted out of the Re-entry Draft - former Houston Dynamo defender Mike Chabala - has begun to follow some people in the #cf97 community on twitter. Could Mike Chabala be joining the Men in Red soon? That's another answer that we will have to wait a few more hours for.
Or, as I write this, I found out that I could be somewhat wrong and right at the same time. Guillermo Rivera is speculating a trade might be going down between Houston and Chicago for Mike Chabala and Daniel Paladini. This seems to make the most sense out of this nonsense.
@jefftobin means he's either cut a new deal with his old team or he's been traded and deal hasn't been finalized as he cuts deal w new team
— Guillermo Rivera (@FireConf) December 12, 2013
Stay tuned, folks.
