{"id":11659,"date":"2017-12-15T16:34:39","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T21:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=11659"},"modified":"2017-12-15T17:53:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T22:53:19","slug":"mike-grella-tyrone-mears-mls-re-entry-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2017\/12\/15\/mike-grella-tyrone-mears-mls-re-entry-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Grella and Tyrone Mears Selected in Stage One of 2017 MLS Re-Entry Draft, Grella Traded"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>New York, New York (December 15, 2017)<\/strong> &#8211; The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/post\/2017\/12\/15\/mike-grella-colorado-tyrone-mears-goes-minnesota-re-entry-draft\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">results<\/a> for Stage 1 of the 2017 MLS Re-Entry Draft are in. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/rapids\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colorado Rapids<\/a> selected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/mike-grella\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Grella<\/a>, midfielder who played with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/rbny\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Red Bulls<\/a> in 2017. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/minnesota-united\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota United FC<\/a> selected veteran outside back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/tyrone-mears\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrone Mears<\/a>, formerly of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/atlanta-united\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atlanta United FC<\/a>. Every other team passed.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Mike Grella and Tyrone Mears Selected in Stage 1 of 2017 MLS Re-Entry Draft<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The Rapids almost immediately traded Grella to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/crew\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Columbus Crew SC<\/a> in exchange for their natural second round pick in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">NEWS: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CrewSC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#CrewSC<\/a> has acquired midfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeGrella10?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MikeGrella10<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ColoradoRapids?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ColoradoRapids<\/a> in exchange for a Second Round selection in the 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MLS<\/a> SuperDraft.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to Crew SC, Mike!<\/p>\n<p>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ujC1e0i6dT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/ujC1e0i6dT<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Rapids96?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Rapids96<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XE05ZBe9Ml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/XE05ZBe9Ml<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Columbus Crew SC (@ColumbusCrewSC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ColumbusCrewSC\/status\/941777645913690117?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Grella played college soccer at Duke University. He was drafted by Toronto FC in 2009, but chose to pursue options in Europe. He later ended up with the Carolina Railhawks in the NASL before getting picked up by the New York Red Bulls. Grella played three seasons in Harrison, NJ. He made 73 appearances, recording 16 goals and 13 assists. He was excellent in 2015 and 2016, but struggled for playing time with injuries this year.<\/p>\n<p>Mears spent time various tiers of the English Pyramid before coming to MLS in 2015 with the Seattle Sounders. In two seasons, the defender played in 65 games, recording a goal and five assists for the <em>Rave Green<\/em>. Mears was selected in the MLS Expansion Draft by Atlanta United FC last year. He played in 20 games, getting a goal and an assist.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Transaction:<\/strong> Colorado Rapids select Mike Grella in Stage One of the 2017 MLS Re-Entry Draft, then trade him to Columbus Crew SC for their natural second round pick in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Transaction:<\/strong> Minnesota United select Tyrone Mears in Stage One of the 2017 MLS Re-Entry Draft.<\/p>\n<h2>Last Word<\/h2>\n<p>These are two solid MLS players at not unreasonable prices. Grella and Mears both a bit old now (Mike Grella will be 31-years-old next month, Mears is 34-years-old), but they can still contribute. Mears should help sure up the defense for <em>the Loons<\/em>. Grella will likely be a bench attacking option for Columbus.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"BVZs0_P_RHRjxsofBtjPIQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/696492560\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'BVZs0_P_RHRjxsofBtjPIQ',sig:'aZjafbSb2txNoPrOfoQFC1dSbsuXAvd9bOq1tzCvDhg=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'696492560',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mike Grella and Tyrone Mears are selected in the 2017 MLS Re-Entry Draft. Grella was selected by Colorado before being traded. Mears is headed to Minnesota.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1044,"featured_media":11662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,12,67,119,3],"tags":[1582,35,245,122,290,57,1584],"class_list":["post-11659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rapids","category-crew","category-minnesota-united","category-mls","category-news","tag-2017-mls-re-entry-draft","tag-colorado-rapids","tag-columbus-crew-sc","tag-mike-grella","tag-minnesota-united-fc","tag-mls","tag-tyron-mears"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1044"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}