Putting Lloyd on the unprotected list will also ensure that the Red Stars get to keep either Oakes or Spilger (I hope both eventually). Both players showed great effort shoring up the Red Stars defense in the 2nd half of the season.

Hope to read the thoughts of other Red Stars fans.

There seemed to be a gaping hole in the center of midfield more often than not. Klein as the holding mid was forced to step up faster to deal with the attack, rather than playing deeper and protecting our center backs. We rarely saw any attack generated up the middle from Lloyd. This allowed teams to concentrate on shutting down Carney & Rapinoe on the wings. This also limited Tarpley who couldn't escape the attention of center backs - since they rarely had to step up to deal with an effective attacking mid.

In the long run, I think we could see the always hustling Rapinoe or Garriock step into the attacking midfield role and do a great job, especially with Klein as their holding mid. A change of scenery may also help Lloyd jump start her WPS career. At this point, I think the Red Stars have enough "personalties" to handle the marketing effort so losing Lloyd's USWNT status should not be a big deal.