MLS Releases Protected Lists; Borchers Bumps Villafana

With the deadline for submission today, the Portland Timbers have released their list of players who will be protected in Wednesday's Expansion Draft for Orlando City SC and New York City FC.

On the list are Fanendo Adi, Nat Borchers, Diego Chara, Will Johnson, Darlington Nagbe, Alvas Powell, Liam Ridgewell, Maximiliano Urruti, Diego Valeri, Rodney Wallace, and Ben Zemanski. This leaves Gaston Fernandez and Jorge Villafana as the two players that were widely expected to be protected for the Timbers, who are instead available for selection.

While the core of the list is as expected, this morning's trade for Nat Borchers forced the Timbers to make a tough decision on who to leave off the list. Protecting Johnson and Ridgewell forced the Timbers to leave Villafana and Fernandez exposed.

Despite Diego Valeri's injury, Fernandez's current contract talks make him look like a much less likely target than if he was already signed and on a known wage. Villafana, meanwhile, is in a tough position with the recent signing of largely unknown new arrival Jeanderson.

Here is the Timbers' full protected list:

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Available Players

Alhassan, Kalif

Fernandez, Gaston

Jewsbury, Jack

Kah, Pa Modou

McKenzie, Rauwshan

O'Rourke, Danny

Paparatto, Norberto

Ricketts, Donovan

Villafana, Jorge

Fochive, George

Gallego, Bryan

Gleeson, Jake

Nanchoff, Michael

Peay, Taylor

Weber, Andrew

Protected Players

Adi, Fanendo

Borchers, Nat

Chara, Diego

Johnson, Will

Nagbe, Darlington

Powell, Alvas

Ridgewell, Liam

Urruti, Maximiliano

Valeri, Diego

Wallace, Rodney

Zemanski, Ben

Homegrown Players exempt from selection

Evans, Steven

Generation adidas Players exempt from selection

Tshuma, Ntokozo