Though MLS Cup is barely in the rearview mirror, the league’s offseason is in full swing. Earlier this week, FC Cincinnati selected five players in the expansion draft. The next day, four players found new teams in the waiver draft. On Friday afternoon, the last in-league roster-building mechanism takes place: the re-entry draft.



The re-entry draft is held in two stages, and it gives teams the opportunity to select from a pool of players whose options were not picked up by their previous teams. If a player is selected in the first round of the draft, later today, the team will be committing to picking up that player’s 2019 option from his current contract. If a team selects a player in the second round of the re-entry draft, set for Tuesday, they will be able to negotiate a new contract with that player.



It’s an important distinction. Some players available in this draft were left available only because teams are hoping to restructure their deals.